What does Lullaby mean?

Nickelback: Lullaby Meaning

Album cover for Lullaby album cover

Song Released: 2011


Lullaby Lyrics

Well I know the feeling
Of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge
And there ain't no healing
From cutting yourself with the jagged edge
I'm telling you that
It's never that bad
And take it from someone who's been where you're at
Laid out...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 27th 2017 !⃝

    STORY BEHIND THE SONG:
    When Chad Kroeger was 4 years old and his brother Mike was 6, they lived in a trailer park in a very small town called Orion. Their mother was a bartender at a local tavern. They had a babysitter named Arlene who was 15 years old. One night about 1 a.m. Arlene was watching the boys (who were in bed) and some of her friends came to the door. They told her that her boyfriend had been killed racing his motorbike. She was extremely upset and after they left she didn't want Chad and Mike to hear her crying, so she reached over to the stereo and turned it up. (The song that was playing was Take the Long Way Home by Supertramp. Chad says that the harmonica solo in that song is still haunting to him to this day.) Chad heard the music being turned up and got scared. He came out of his room and saw her having a breakdown. Years later, he told this story to some guys that he was sitting with in a bar in Nashville. They decided that they should write a song about it.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 13th 2016 !⃝

    I stoped eating because a friend stabed me in the back and her friends told me to commit suicide and when I heard this song I knew there's something other than the dark but there's light somewhere.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 22nd 2011 !⃝

    Yes, that is a possibility; however, don't narrow the focus so much due to the title of the song. The term 'lullaby" simply refers to a soothing song. Not saying it couldn't be from a father to a daughter, but I feel like it is more from the standpoint of a person more experienced with life, talking to someone who is much younger that is having some kind of major problem, one pushing that individual to contemplating suicide. This song sounds like a desperate plea from the older/more experienced person to the younger person saying not to give up, that there are better times coming and not to give up. Of course, being that Chad Kroeger wrote this song, it would be a male to female point of view, but could easily be role reversed.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 14th 2019 !⃝

    I take the song as him singing to a specific person as well as trying to help others. I know from a personal experience that this song can help to get someone through a tough time and the way the words are sang makes it get emotional to any person

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 2nd 2018 !⃝

    this song is to anyone who has ever attempted suicide... and i am one of the people who has harmed them self and my good friend who is like a sister to me (at the time) showed me this song and told me this but im not sure if it was true so i started to look up the meaning of this song. she told me that Chad the lead singer had a hard childhood so he harmed himself, and had scars, so he got tattoos to cover up his scars (Past). and he knows that there are more people like that and he wants them to reach out and get help so they don't jump to conclusions and make a permanent solution to a temporary problem. i almost did that, but this song helped me through that, after 3 times of harming and to this day i still have suicidal thoughts but this song helps me through those thoughts and I think this song can help anyone who has those thoughts.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 4th 2017 !⃝

    The song is clearly about suicide. From the beginning, "Out on a ledge" and "cutting yourself" are both forms of suicide.
    "Out of the Darkness" and "Into the Light" are both Suicide Prevention programs/groups.

    "I'm scared as hell 'cause I can't get you on the telephone" is not a feeling that I would wish on anyone. When you know your family member is suffering from depression, they feel hurt and alone. When they take off somewhere - and they don't answer their phone, this feeling is scary as hell.

    I know the feeling
    Of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge
    And there ain't no healing
    From cuttin' yourself with the jagged edge
    I'm tellin' you that it's never that bad
    And take it from someone who's been where you’re at
    You're laid out on the floor and you're not sure
    You can take this anymore

    So just give it one more try
    With a lullaby
    And turn this up on the radio
    If you can hear me now
    I'm reachin' out to let you know
    That you're not alone

    And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell
    'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
    So just close your eyes
    Well honey here comes a lullaby
    Your very own lullaby
    Please let me take you
    Out of the darkness and into the light
    'Cause I have faith in you
    That you're gonna make it through another night
    Stop thinkin' about the easy way out
    There's no need to go and blow the candle out
    Because you're not done, you're far too young
    And the best is yet to come

    So just give it one more try
    With a lullaby
    And turn this up on the radio
    If you can hear me now
    I'm reachin' out to let you know
    That you're not alone

    And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell
    'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
    So just close your eyes
    Well honey here comes a lullaby
    Your very own lullaby

    Well everybody's hit the bottom
    And everybody's been forgotten
    Well everybody's tired of being alone
    Yeah everybody's been abandoned
    And left a little empty handed
    So if you're out there barely hangin', on
    Just give it one more try
    With a lullaby
    And turn this up on the radio
    If you can hear me now
    I'm reachin' out to let you know
    That you're not alone

    And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell
    'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
    So just close your eyes
    Well honey here comes a lullaby
    Your very own lullaby
    Well honey here comes a lullaby
    Your very own lullaby

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 25th 2017 !⃝

    I was going to commit two weeks ago, and this song played why I was in the hospital. It's his way of reaching out to his audience and creating hope. Because no matter what fear you have, having hope will beat that.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 26th 2017 !⃝

    This song is speaking out to those suffering a mental illness, self harm and perhaps contemplating suicide,
    As a self harmed myself this song really spoke to me.
    The lyrics "there ain't no healing, from cutting yourself with the jagged edge. I'm telling you that, it's never that bad, take it from someone that's been where you're at, laid out on the floor and you're not sure you can take this anymore." Showed me that by what I was doing, it wasn't going to make me feel any better, if not momentarily, it reminded me that sometimes situations can appear worse than they seem. I've scared myself from cutting and that's not going to heal now it'll leave scars and I'll be lucky if the scars fade. It's easy to feel alone and this song made me feel like there was someone out there that did care as stupid as that sounds.

    It doesn't matter if the speaker in this song is speaking to a male or a female, it uses the terms "radio" as a collective because everyone would hear it, he could be talking to someone he knows who was feeling low and wanting to end it all and because he has been through that he could comfort her better like a boyfriend would for his girlfriend or even someone he cares for a lot.

    I interpreted this as Chad wanting to reach out to those who are suffering in silence and scared to be called "attention seekers" if they spoke out because of the stigma that goes with depression, self harming and other illnesses that other people can't see underneath people's fake smiles.

    I think Chad has taken into consideration every possible avenue people could punish themselves because of their emotions and it speaks sense into the listener. It makes the listener feel valued because he wants to "take [them] out of the darkness and into the light" because depression can make people feel like they're in a black hole and it tells them that they're too young to do anything rash because the best of them is yet to come so it gives them hope.

  9. Kevin Brooker
    click a star to vote
    Jan 29th 2017 !⃝

    http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=24721

    This sweet tempered Country-tinged ballad was penned by Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger with Nashville songwriters Chris Tomkins (Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats"), Craig Wiseman (Blake Shelton's "Hillbilly Bone") and Rodney Clawson (George Strait's "I Saw God Today").

    The song is based on an experience in Chad and Mike Kroeger's childhood when they found their babysitter crying her eyes out as her boyfriend had died in a motorcycle accident.

    Not suicide

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 31st 2016 !⃝

    This song is about suicide and it's a call out to all of those at there edge. To the person that says that there is always someone there that is false. I know because I have been there. Unless you have been there u have no right to say that. Suicide is not the answer but never say there is always someone. Because nobody has ever helped me when I tried to commit suicide. The only thing you can do if you know someone contemplating these thoughts is talk to them but also call the police so they know what's going on. Don't let them know your calling the police because they will refuse help. Then talk to them and stall then from doing it. Try to distract them. Make sure that you do everything u can to try to prevent them from succeeding.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 13th 2016 !⃝

    I stoped eating because a friend stabed me in the back and her friends told me to commit suicide and when I heard this song I knew there's something other than the dark but there's light somewhere.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 13th 2016 !⃝

    I stoped eating because a friend stabed me in the back and her friends told me to commit suicide and when I heard this song I knew there's something other than the dark but there's light somewhere.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 24th 2016 !⃝

    My best friend she wanted to kill herself she was close she did it at school witha pair of scissors and she did it because she had no friends i moved away the summer before i trued to call but there was no answer i got really scared i allways have thought like what is she did die and nobody told me

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 14th 2016 !⃝

    I don't know why but I always hear the song when something isn't right. When I hear it I know I have to reach my daughter. The song plays every time she needs me to call

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 13th 2015 !⃝

    I think that this is the most beautiful song that I have ever heard and it actually made me cry the first time I had it, I just want you to all know that suicide isn't the right decision even if you are going through an extremely hard time. Just know that there is always someone there and they are there for you to talk to.

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 28th 2014 !⃝

    The song is about Suicide and self harm.
    I know the feeling of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge.
    means that being stuck out on the ledge is only being able to move forward and that way means certain death.








    SO SAD :'(''''''

  17. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 5th 2014 !⃝

    I think that this song is about suicide and self harm ("And there ain't no healing
    From cutting yourself with the jagged edge").

    I think that the song is also saying that everyone goes through bad moments in life and there is always a solution other then self harm and suicide ("I'm telling you that, it's never that bad
    Take it from someone who's been where you're at...I'm reaching out To let you know that you're not alone").

    This is one of my favourite songs by Nickelback!
    But I don't understand what the music video has to do with the meaning of the song...

  18. xxxx
    click a star to vote
    Feb 15th 2014 !⃝

    This song really speaks to me. It has helped to realise that things will get better... My friend committed suicide a while ago and he wouldn't answer me, I tried calling, he wouldnt answer. Since then, I've had suicidal thoughts and it's hard to overcome that.

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