What does Tourniquet mean?

Evanescence: Tourniquet Meaning

Album cover for Tourniquet album cover

Tourniquet Lyrics

I tried to kill my pain
but only brought more.
(so much more)
I lay dying
and i'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal.
I'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming!
Am i too lost to be saved?
Am i too lost?

My God my tourniquet
return to...

  1. anonymous
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    May 2nd 2011 !⃝

    she lets someone become her everything and when she loses him she attempts suicide, but changes her mind at the last moment. she wishes for him to save her, for him to come back and heal her pain.

  2. anonymous
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    Apr 21st 2011 !⃝

    I think that when she talks about suicide, she is not saying it literally. She yearns for deliverance, but the world is pulling her away and distracting her. The whole cutting thing is the world angering her and her sinning.
    hope this helps somebody:)

  3. anonymous
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    Feb 15th 2011 !⃝

    I use this song frequently during Music Therapy groups at an inpatient facility for people struggling with drug dependency. Most can identify with this message because though they are not literally committing suicide, they are turning away from a Higher Power, experiencing spiritual bankruptcy, and using to the point of near death. Many people have to find serenity, and their spirituality again in order to recover. I think this song can represent that. Many people use drugs/alcohol to kill pain, but it always ends up bringing more. So, it is a vicious cycle of turning away God, until they are able to find salvation.

  4. anonymous
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    Feb 4th 2011 !⃝

    I believe that tourniquet is about a girl/boy who has tried or is trying to commit suicide and then at the last moment realizes she doesn't want to die and wants god to forgive her. In the part when Amy says will I be denied they wanted to know if she'd be denied the chance to go to heaven.

  5. anonymous
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    Jan 16th 2011 !⃝

    You are never too lost to be saved.

  6. anonymous
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    Jan 15th 2011 !⃝

    I agree with famciliari...
    We read the lyrics the way they are sang by Amy. But sometimes the real punctuation of a poem, when it becomes lyrics for a song, must be changed in order to keep its melodic line and we all agree that changing punctuation also changes the meaning of a phrase. I will not make an interpretation of the song, but I suggest to make the correspondence between the song's title (which has the sense of protection) with the meaning given by the lyrics.
    So, in my interpretation, we must change, just a little, some punctuation in the lyrics:
    1. I'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming "Am I too lost to be saved?... Am I too lost?" (think about a child's voice, crying "Do I have to be punished? (Is there a way to repair what I have done?)")
    2. Will I be denied, Christ - Tourniquet, my suicide? (This kind of question is asked when the response is already knew, meaning: Will my suicide be granted? - No!")

    Perhaps there are some more punctuation to be changed, but I think those two give the correct sense of the song.

  7. Aneal
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    Nov 11th 2010 !⃝

    This song is about destiny...all those who choose a path from before and work towards it...later they feel that no one is with them..all alone...they decide to go on struggling harder but then even God feels nowhere to be seen...in the end it makes some of us stronger alone but many cant handle it and try suicide....my wounds cry for the grave...my soul cries for deliverance...even the suicider is not willing to take the step but there is no option left...at the end of the song the tone changes...makes us realise we cant win against the glory and will of God..all that is left is acceptance of the things that come by in life...

  8. anonymous
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    Oct 7th 2010 !⃝

    I indeed believe also that this song is about commiting suicide... In the beginning of the song she talks about rying to kill the pain, which from my perspective is attempt suicide. she lays dying pouring crimson regret, crimson means red so as she tried to take her own life she lays there dying pouring with blood regretting what she has done... in the chours she talks about God and salvation. God being her torniquet the one who can stop the pain and stop the bleeding... In the second verse she talks about does God even remeber her because she has been away from him for so long, she hopes that he will still be there no matter what she did... in the last verse it basically states she wants to die she doenst want to live her life anymore and as she thinks about committing suicide she wonder will God forgive her and will she be denied christ for taking her own life... But when you hear the music in the beginning its sounds dark and glooming more devil like, but at the end of the song its so soft and sweet more Godly like... I believe the music in the end of the song indicates that God has forgiving her and still loves her no matter what she does...

  9. anonymous
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    Sep 27th 2010 !⃝

    This song is actually about someone who just committed suicide
    "I tried to kill the pain, but only brought more"
    She hurt herself to kill herself but has brought incredible pain instead.
    "I lay dying, and I'm pouring crimson regret, and betrayal"
    She is dying, bleeding and now wishes she had not done that.
    "I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming/"
    That's what she's doing at the moment
    "Am I too lost to be saved? Am I too lost?"
    Many people say that God will not rescue you if you commit suicide. Amy is expressing her fear of that.
    "My God, My Tourniquet, return to me salvation"
    She is calling God, her tourniquet, to deliver her peace instead of the pain she is feeling now.
    " Do you remember me lost for so long?"
    She's wondering if she's still important in the mind of God.
    "Will you be on the other side or will you forget me."
    She is wondering if God will not deliver her.
    "My wounds cry for the grave"
    She just wants to die already
    "My soul cries for deliverance."
    She wants to be delivered.
    "Will I be denied, Christ, Tourniquet, My suicide."
    She is wondering if she will be turned down by her tourniquet, her God.

  10. MYTHOUGHTS
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    Jul 10th 2010 !⃝

    This song is no doubt a suicide song. Amy lee has an angelic voice. Her voice interprets the emotions of a girl who wants to commit a suicide but fears GODS RAGE so awesomely.
    Sometimes in life, we face pain so bad that we are ready to take death instead and that too with a smle.
    She is a christian girl. Believes strongly that suicide is a sin. But still she is wanting to die cause she sees no light to guide her, no direction to go. She questions God if she is too lost to be saved and want HIM to become her TORNIQUET.
    She has already tried to kill herself once and says that those wounds have not healed. she still bleeds, screams and is in intense pain. SHE NEEDS SALVATION

  11. anonymous
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    Apr 18th 2010 !⃝

    This song is about Amy wondering whether you will get into heaven if you commit suicide.

    "I tried to kill the pain but only brought more" - Tried to kill emotional pain but self harming, but only brought the physical pain

    "I lay dying and I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal" - Crimson is red, red is blood. Pouring with blood, possibly gone too far with self harming as a result of a betrayal or mistake made which is deeply regretted

    "I'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming. Am I too lost to be saved? Am I too lost?" - Wondering whether she will get into heaven as a result of her attempted suicide.

    "My God, my tourniquet. Return to me salvation. My God, my tourniquet. Return to me salvation" - Tourniquet is a device which is tightly pulled around main arteries, obviously she was bleeding a lot. Salvation is a concept where God delivers humanity from spiritual death, so she's asking for deliverance while bleeding out

    "Do you remember me? Lost for so long. Will you be on the other side? Will you forget me?" - Asking whether God will accept her and grant her passage to the other side

    "[I want to die!]" - Self explanitory

    "My wounds cry for the grave. My soul cries for deliverance. Will I be denied? Christ - tourniquet - my suicide" - Same as before, just not as subtly with the phrasing, obviously

  12. CJ.Evanescence
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    Jun 1st 2009 !⃝

    Deep song!

    We all know that it's about suicide. it' about someone that was going to kill themselves, but changed their minds. Now they don't want to die and their asking God for forgiveness. A tourniquet is something that stops bleeding, so she's saying that God is the only one that can keep her alive if he forgives her.
    This must be one of the songs that put them under the Christian rock category lol.

  13. anonymous
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    Apr 28th 2009 !⃝

    This song is about a person who just attempted suicide, and in the moments before her life flickers out, she wonders whether or not God will accept her. She realizes that she should have used God as a tourniquet for her pain, rather than her own blood (in a sense). And then, near the end of the song, she dies. What happens after that, we can only guess.

  14. Samuel
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    Apr 6th 2009 !⃝

    I agree with lily whatever tourniquet means this song is about suicide, and that sucks cause there are people out there who really need to listen to this song so that they understand that you dont need to be "emo" to cut

  15. anonymous
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    Mar 31st 2009 !⃝

    This song is about someone who has committed suicide and they are asking god to forgive them. rocky has explained it before.look it up.




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