Red – What You Keep Alive lyrics

I feel this song is the tipping point in a story Red created through their album "Of Beauty and Rage". And at this point he may have found a peace in "Yours Again" but that demon, or addiction, or pain, or depression still has a hold on him and it is coming back at full force to take away the happiness and healing he had finally found in "Yours Again". For the most part this demon or symbol of pain is singing back to him until he finally gets his word in with:

"I can't pay this ransom, does any hope remain?
I love my enemy, I can feel you in my veins
And now I'm letting go, watch you suffocate"

And its him crying out that he can't take this anymore, its all too much for him to handle. I feel he is crying out to God to help him, others interpret at his crying out to the girl. Either way, his plea is short because it is again quickly overtaken by the words of the demon, emphasizing the man's weakness to get rid of the knife that is killing him.

The man recognizes his own weakness, his own inability to quench the pain and to allow himself freedom.

"Waking, the nightmare it's over
I'll fight you, your darkness feeding
I keep you alive"

And whether you are Christian or not, I feel anyone can sympathize with this pain, after finding peace, happiness, love, no matter where from or how; we still feel the pain of the demons we chose to keep alive, and sometimes it too hard to kill them.

However, if you listen to the album, this pain and this demon is finally terminated in "Gravity Lies", the next song.