In an interview with USA Today , lead singer Isaac Slade explained that he wrote this song about an experience he had working at a camp for troubled youths: "One of the kids I was paired up with was a musician. Here I was, a protected suburbanite, and he was just 17 and had all these problems. And no one could write a manual on how to save him. I got a lot of email about it. One kid died in a car accident, and I guess it had been the last song he downloaded from his computer. They played it at his funeral, and some of his friends got 'Save a life' tattooed on their arms. The response has been overwhelming."