What does When It Rains mean?

Paramore: When It Rains Meaning

Tagged: Suicide | Rain [suggest]
Album cover for When It Rains album cover

When It Rains Lyrics

And when it rains
On this side of town it touches everything
Just say it again and mean it
We don't miss a thing

You made yourself a bed
At the bottom of the blackest hole
And convinced yourself that it's not the reason
You don't see the...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Apr 17th 2010 !⃝

    This song is about Hayley's friend committing suicide. Thats why it says;;
    "You made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole" basically saying, she was buried.
    This song explains how sad and sorry the band feels about this girl.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 13th 2010 !⃝

    And when it rains
    On this side of town it touches everything
    Just say it again and mean it
    We don't miss a thing
    [I think that this first verse suggests that when bad times happen, it can affect everything and we all say things we don't mean. but will always be there]

    You made yourself a bed
    At the bottom of the blackest hole
    And convinced yourself that it's not the reason
    You don't see the sun anymore
    [This could mean that the person has made themselves so used to living in darkness and with a grey cloud over them, that they can't see themselves happy anymore. But trying to pretend that they are]

    And oh, oh, how could you do it?
    Oh I, I never saw it coming
    Oh, oh, I need the ending
    So why can't you stay just long enough to explain?
    [In the chorus, I think that it could be from the point of view of a close friend of someone who has tried to run away or end their life. And this leads to the confusion of the friend as they never expected it]

    And when it rains
    Will you always find an escape?
    Just running away
    [The two lines above could explain how the friend thinks that the person is just being a coward and always looking for the easy way out]
    From all of the ones who love you
    From everything


    You made yourself a bed
    At the bottom of the blackest hole
    And you'll sleep 'til May and you'll say
    That you don't want to see the sun anymore
    [I think that this is when the person finally admited to their friend that they don't want to see the 'light'. Because they have been down for so long, and can't pretend to be happy anymore]

    And oh, oh, how could you do it?
    Oh I, I never saw it coming
    Oh, oh, I need the ending
    So why can't you stay just long enough to explain?
    [In this last line, I think that is it the friend trying to get the person to stop what they're doing to explain it to them. It is almost as if she is pleading with them]

    Take your time
    Take my time
    [This part shows that the friend is now telling them to take their time to explaining, but also letting them know that they are taking up her time aswell]

    Take these chances to turn it around
    (Take your time)
    [In these two lines, it is telling the person that is down, to try and turn things around, but in their own time.]
    Just take these chances, we'll make it somehow
    [I think that this is the friend telling them that together they will manage to find a way through the hard times]
    And take these chances to turn it around
    (Take my)
    Just turn it around

    And oh, how could you do it?
    Oh I, I never saw it coming
    Oh, oh, how could you do it?
    Oh I, I never saw it coming
    [In the chorus, I think that it could be from the point of view of a close friend of someone who has tried to run away or end their life. And this leads to the confusion of the friend as they never expected it and is clearly confused by what has happened, knowing that her help didn't work]

    Oh, oh, how could you do it?
    Oh I, I never saw it coming
    Oh, oh I need an ending
    So why can't you stay just long enough to explain?

    You can take your time
    Take my time
    [In this last two lines, the friend is saying to the person that is struggling, that they just need to be patient, and take her time to sort things out. And that she can take her friends time aswell to help.]

  3. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 8th 2017 !⃝

    It's not clear if the song talks about suicide, but it's a strong posibility, the song talks about someone who hates himself (you made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole, and convince yourself that is not the reason, you don't, see the sun anymore) and when he falls in sadness, all is ruined (and when it rains, on this side of town it touches, everything), but the parts who can say the suicide are (i need a ending, so why can't you stay just long enough to explain) or (Will you always find an escape?, Just running away, From all of the ones who love you, From everything.), but it's clearly talk about a person who is in a depression for hate himself and doesn't know what to do

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 18th 2015 !⃝

    I think it's about giving up too easliy wen confronted with a bad situation,not trying to take a chance@ trying to make it better or letting people around u be of help of sort u gradually and totally let it consume u up.can also be applicable for someone who never tries to make it work in a relationship that also backs out wen it's actually an issue that can be worked out wen trashed out wen the person is willing to try and work it out

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 5th 2013 !⃝

    I realized that this shows that Hayley had someone very close decide that they felt more self hate. They pretended to be fine but they weren't. The person did it, seemingly out of the blue, and she looked back and realized that they'd changed.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 15th 2012 !⃝

    I actually thought that this song is about heartbreak, break ups-- everything that has got to do with failed relationships, because my friend made me listen to it when she and her girlfriend broke up and she told me that she can relate to this song. Apparently, the song is about Hayley's friend committing a suicide. So what I'm trying to say is, this song is about people who can't seem to find the light, people who are in the dark. This song expresses how we could help these people who experience such dilemmas in their lives for example, heart breaks, family problems, etc. And during those hard times we should journey along with them, meaning, we should be patient and let them know that it's okay to get hurt, most people experience it and no matter how hard it may seem we should let them ***feel that they're not alone and we'll stand along with them.... "YOU CAN YOUR TIME,TAKE MY TIME..."

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 15th 2012 !⃝

    I actually thought that this song is about heartbreak, break ups-- everything that has got to do with failed relationships, because my friend made me listen to it when she and her girlfriend broke up and she told me that she can relate to this song. Apparently, the song is about Hayley's friend committing a suicide. So what I'm trying to say is, this song is about people who can't seem to find the light, people who are in the dark. This song expresses how we could help these people who experience such dilemmas in their lives for example, heart breaks, family problems, etc. And during those hard times we should journey along with them, meaning, we should be patient and let them know that it's okay to get hurt, most people experience it and no matter how hard it may seem we should let them fell that they're not alone and we'll stand along with them.... "YOU CAN YOUR TIME,TAKE MY TIME..."

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 10th 2012 !⃝

    It seemed to me like this song was about her dad - or either of her parents, really. We all know how affected she was by their divorce.

    "And when it rains, on this side of town it touches everything." When drama happens in small town, like a couple getting divorced in a place like Franklin, everyone is affected to some degree.

    "Just say it again and mean it." Hayley might be referring to their wedding vows here. She wants them to go back and actually mean everything they said when they were wed.

    "We don't miss a thing." No one was fooled by any charade of happiness; it's been obvious, even though she wishes it wasn't true.

    "You made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole and convinced yourself that it's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore." Her parents have brought so much pain on themselves and each other and yet refuse to take blame for it.

    "And oh, oh, how could you do it? Oh, I, I never saw it coming." She can't believe her parents could do something like that to themselves, to each other, to her. When she was young and naive, she believed they'd always be together and thus wouldn't have seen it coming.

    "Oh, oh, I need the ending, so why can't you stay just long enough to explain?" She needs to know that everyone will still have a happy ending, so she needs an explanation as to how this is going to make anything better.

    "And when it rains, well you always find an escape." When her parents would fight, they'd skirt around all the larger underlying issues instead of facing them and working them out like adults.

    "Just running away from all of the ones who love you, from everything." When loved ones would try to offer help to keep them together, they may have insisted that they keep it between them and refuse anyone else's possibly valuable attempts at helping them.

    "And you'll sleep til May, and you'll say that you don't wanna see the sun anymore." They're both retreating for a little while, emotionally fatigued, and when they get back up, they aren't going to delude themselves into thinking life is going to be happy.

    "Take your time, take my time." Their marriage took up years of their lives and most of hers.

    "Take these chances to turn it around, just take these chances, we'll make it somehow, just turn it around." Her mindframe, when she was younger, was that they could take opportunities to fix their relationship and turn all their lives around for the better. Maybe she even still believes that there's hope left for their dysfunctional family.

    So that's my interpretation. It's vastly different than the suicide one; this is just the vibe I always got from the song.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 8th 2011 !⃝

    This song is actually about Hayley's friend committing suicide and when she says you made a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole, she is saying that her friend involved herself in the darkest things, including cutting yourself and suicide, and she didn't want to come out of black hole and she was just involved in self hate

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 26th 2011 !⃝

    I agree with the theory depression. although suicide would make sense, i feel like the mood of this poem is less devastation and more questioning of "why?" Why are you doing this? Rain may represent the problems this person is facing, and it effects everyone around that person. And taking chances to turn things around is admitting you have a problem, which most depressed people fail to do. So, this is a before-suicide/ I'm trying to help you song if you get what I'm saying...

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 4th 2011 !⃝

    It is about someone committing suicide.
    "How could you do it?
    Oh I I never saw it coming"
    typical things people say when someone commits suicide

  12. anonymous
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    Jun 18th 2010 !⃝

    It said in an article in Twist magazine that the song was about teen depression

  13. anonymous
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    May 19th 2010 !⃝

    I think it's about a relationship. The guy breaks up with her and from one day to another he changes and dumps her (oh how could you do this oh I never saw it coming). So the guy breaks up with her and she doesn't know why (so why can't you stay just long enough to explain).

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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