"Lithium" is a song by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on January 8, 2007, as the second single from their second studio album, The Open Door. It was solely written by Amy Lee, and has no connection to the song of the same name by grunge band Nirvana, which several fans mistakenly thought before its release.
Amy Lee describes the song as a song "which embraces feeling over numbness." The song was inspired by her relationship with ex-boyfriend Shaun Morgan, lead vocalist of Seether. During an interview with VH1, Lee said, "I wrote the chorus on the guitar when I was about 16. I always thought it was a cool chorus, but I never used it for anything. I started playing it on the piano and the verses came out. I have a pile of pieces stowed away in my mind that maybe I'll use some day. In a way it's an old song, but not really. It grew up."
In another interview with MTV Italy, Lee said, "It's not literal, it's not literal about the drug for me, I've never taken lithium before. It's sort of a metaphor about numbness and happiness and sort of like, it's me looking at happiness in a negative way because I've always been, you know, kind of afraid to be happy. Like with the band and the art and everything else, it's always like I'm never letting myself break through into the happiness it seems like, because it's not cool or something. And describing happiness is lithium, it's like saying 'that's numbness, I won't be able to be an artist anymore if I'm happy', which is hilarious because that's just not true, I'm happy. So it's like this fight within the song of like 'do I do this and get out of here and get happy or do I wallow in it like I always do?' and it's cool because at the end of the song I say 'I'm going to let it go', like I am going to be happy."
The drug itself, lithium carbonate, is typically used as a mood stabilizer to prevent acute manic behavior patients with bipolar disorder suffer.
Lyrics:
Lithium - don't want to lock me up inside
Lithium - don't want to forget how it feels without
Lithium - I want to stay in love with my sorrow
Oh but God I want to let it go
Come to bed, don't make me sleep alone
Couldn't hide the emptiness - you let it show
Never wanted it to be so cold
Just didn't drink enough to say you love me
I can't hold on to me
Wonder what's wrong with me
Lithium - don't want to lock me up inside
Lithium - don't want to forget how it feels without
Lithium - I want to stay in love with my sorrow
Don't want to let it lay me down this time
Drown my will to fly
Here in the darkness I know myself
Can't break free until I let it go
Let me go
Darling, I forgive you after all
Anything is better than to be alone
And in the end I guess I had to fall
Always find my place among the ashes
I can't hold on to me
Wonder what's wrong with me
Lithium - don't want to lock me up inside
Lithium - don't want to forget how it feels without
Lithium - I want to stay in love with my sorrow
Oh but God I want to let it go
Enjoy!