What does Elevator mean?

Box Car Racer: Elevator Meaning

Tagged: 9/11 [suggest]
Album cover for Elevator album cover

Elevator Lyrics

[Tom]
The building turned it's back ignored my call,
The concrete looks too thin to break my fall,
The sunset stretched across this nighttime scene,
I counted people as I neared the street below,
Whoa-oa-oa
Below
Whoa-oa-oa

[Mark]
I...

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  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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     Jul 8th 2009 !⃝

    Tom had said in the live shows of BCR that Elevator was written as a tribute to those who died in the September 11th attacks. I think the parts about "Sunset" and the "Night Time Scene" are metaphors for death, as the moment when the sun goes down (Sunset) and darkness sets in (Night Time Scene) can be similar to the moment right before dying (closing your eyes as death overtakes you).

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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     Jun 17th 2008 !⃝

    It wasn't written before the world trade center. 2003 is after 2001. It is about the world trade center jumpers. blink 182 was producing the music video for stay together for the kids on September 11th, so I imagine they took the tragedy together. They sung the song as the members of blink 182 because it happened when they were together. The sunset is setting the mood, and I'm not sure on when the towers fell but I imagine there were jumpers until the thing crashed and I wouldn't doubt that the towers could have stayed up till sunset but I'm not sure on that part at all. lets forget this all move on: mark is hurt that he wasn't asked to be a member of box car racer, but obviously you can't have the same members of a different band in another band or else its just a band changing their name. blink 182 was a great band, but who could've taken them seriously? they sung songs about being punk kids. They sung this tribute to 9-11 song to forgetting 9 11 and forgetting the insult to mark by not having him as a part of box car racer (for every song but this one obviously)

  3. anonymous
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     Dec 1st 2012 !⃝

    Guys it's about 9/11. Even in the "I Feel So" music video, the track listing is on the painted on the wall, but Elevator is listed as "9/11"..

  4. anonymous
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     Apr 26th 2012 !⃝

    "The sunset stretched across this nighttime scene" The smoke of the towers covered the sun. The nightime scene sets the mood as sad.

  5. anonymous
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     Feb 14th 2012 !⃝

    ppl, ppl! i really think this song is about both meanings: suicide & 9/11. boxcar racer was released when, 01/02/02? something like that.. anyways, they probably already had this song b4 the tragedy in setember, or maybe they tweaked it 2 reflect the meaning of the events if 9/11. personally, i do think it is abut september eleventh, even though the video had a different view 2 the song. when it says "the sunset stretched across this nitetime scene", i think its when the 1st building collapsed & that huge cloud of dust covered manhattan. rip 2 ALL the victims of 9/11, in dc., ny, & pa. we miss & love u guys always!

  6. anonymous
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     Jan 6th 2012 !⃝

    The shadow and the darkness, I think its about the buildings, the smoke of the collapse.

  7. Santi Rungaroon
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     Sep 11th 2011 !⃝

    "The building turned it's back ignored my call,
    The concrete looks too thin to break my fall"
    The building is a reference to the twin towers. the jumper was jumping with the hope of saving himself. The concrete was supposed to break his fall, not kill him.


    "The sunset stretched across this nighttime scene,
    I counted people as I neared the street below...
    I saw it all I saw it all go down,
    The shadow grew as he approached the ground,
    The sunset stretched across this nighttime scene,
    They turned away as he came near the street below"
    this is a a metaphor for how the jump would have been a long distance. I am pretty sure that jumping out of a flaming building to end your life would have seemed like a really long time.

    "Lets forget this all move on"
    This is about how we didn't dwell on the sadness of the incident, instead we pulled together as a nation and moved on. it doesn't mean forget those who died.

  8. anonymous
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     Jan 6th 2011 !⃝

    I see this song as a song about Blink 182.

    Tom tried to venture out and failed. He's falling. Mark watched it all go down and turned his back on Tom's failture. Then they both want to forget it and move on from it.

  9. anonymous
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     Jan 1st 2011 !⃝

    I feel like this song is about everyone in the world. It seems like the song talks about high points in peoples lives and low points. During our low points in life we look for solid ground, or somebody to lean on. When Tom says "the concrete looks to thin to break my fall" I feel like this means that most things are too weak and you need to find something sustaining.

  10. anonymous
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     Sep 15th 2009 !⃝

    I really love the whole BCR album, but until now had never seen the song elevator as a song tribute to 9/11. I don't know whether this song is about it or not but can really see obvious similarities between the two. It nice to see tom or mark who ever wrote it to be able to take such a negative and hateful experience and just forget it. 'Let forget this all, move on' whether or not its more a forceful move to have to let go or just not wanting to dwell on such horrific events. and I think for this reason the song does not refer to 9/11.

  11. anonymous
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     Jun 11th 2009 !⃝

    how can it be about 9 11 if its talking about a sunset and a night time seen when 9 11 happened in the morning and both towers collapsing before noon. i think its about suicide

  12. anonymous
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     Jan 26th 2009 !⃝

    Tom has said numerous times when the song would be played at live shows that Elevator was written in memory of the events of September 11, 2001...

  13. anonymous
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     Oct 8th 2008 !⃝

    This has nothing to do about 9/11 it's about a guy witnessing a family member or someone close to him committing suicide after they got into a fight "lets forget this thought move on" as in forgiving each other.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. anonymous
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     Jun 9th 2008 !⃝

    This song isn't about the world trade center etc. because it was written before all that shit happened.

    It's about a guy committing suicide (obviously).

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  15. anonymous
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     Dec 30th 2007 !⃝

    Yeah I think it's about a guy committing suicide. I just don't understand why every member in Blink was in this song (travis drumming).

  16. anonymous
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     May 26th 2007 !⃝

    The song is definitely about a guy committing suicide by jumping off a building, the sunset part is just setting the scene, same with "They turned away as he came near the street below" is describing the people that also saw him jump turn their heads and look away, as you would if you didn't want to see sumone hit the ground and die.

    It's all there to add feeling to the song. Mark sings from the onlooker point of view as he watches the man fall towards the ground and Tom sings from the point of view of the man that is jumping and watching the ground get closer to him as he falls. Then, at the end, both minds are thinking the same thing.

    Geo! and yeah where is "I Feel So"??

  17. anonymous
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     Mar 17th 2007 !⃝

    But, what's the sunset got to do with world trade center?

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