Hello
-Located on the album(s): "Fallen LP" as Track #9; the 2001 - 2002 Demo is featured on the "Fallen Promotional LP" as Track #6
-BMI Work #6389443
-Length Time: 3:34 (2001 - 2002 Demo); 3:40 (Fallen LP)
-Acoustic Version Available? [NO]
-Live Version Available? [NO] - SEE NOTES
-Acapella Version Available? [NO]
-Instrumental Version Available? [NO]
Lyrics:
Hello - 2001 - 2002 Demo0:00 - 0:16
Playground school bell rings again
Rain clouds come to play again
Has no one told you she’s not breathing?
Hello I am your mind giving you
Someone to talk to
Hello
1:08 - 1:18
If I smile and don’t believe
Soon I know I’ll wake from this dream
Don’t try to fix me I’m not broken
Hello I am the lie living for you so you can hide
Don’t cry
2:13 - 2:41
Suddenly I know I’m not sleeping
Hello I’m still here all that’s left of yesterday
3:10 - 3:33
Song:
Hello - Fallen Version0:00 – 0:16
Playground school bell rings again
Rain clouds come to play again
Has no one told you she’s not breathing?
Hello I’m your mind giving you
Someone to talk to
Hello
1:10 – 1:25
If I smile and don’t believe
Soon I know I’ll wake from this dream
Don’t try to fix me I’m not broken
Hello I’m the lie living for you so you can hide
Don’t cry
2:20 – 2:47
Suddenly I know I’m not sleeping
Hello I’m still here
All that’s left of yesterday
3:18 – 3:40
Song:
Some Things To Think About/Debate Over
-An important fact needs to be established first and foremost before we go anywhere: Amy had a sister (it is polite not to name her in the EvCommunity, unless this has changed) who died when Amy was 6 (the sister was 3). As a result, this effected the way Amy viewed the world and Amy would go on to write two songs specifically about this: "Hello" on Fallen and "Like You" on The Open Door.
"When that happened, my whole perception of life changed," Lee says. "It sounds stupid, but that was when I became an artist. The music is my attempt to heal myself. Things like that can destroy you, or you can get through it."
SOURCE-There was an EvRumor on EvBoard that if you reverse the song (especially in its demo form), you can hear "It hurts me all over" when she says "Hello, I'm still here." This due to (if I get my psychology correct) the human brain's susceptibility to suggestion. If someone says that is what it says, then the brain (who is listening to gibberish when you reverse the song) is looking for known patterns in the gibberish. Since your brain is already
looking for "It hurts me all over," that is indeed what you will hear in the gibberish, because of the expectation that you will hear it and the brain's desire to make sense of the nonsense.
-'Hello' was never played live, despite the fact that Amy stated she was going to a few times (below). In mid-2005, a version called Hello (Live Practice Sessions) was created and released to make it seem like Amy had practiced the song. It was the Fallen Version with an added echo to make it seem like she rehearsed it in a theatre/on a stage. This was nothing more than a fan-made version (I liked it though
). Hello was kinda-sorta played live at her home when Casey (the boy who bought her piano) came by. They played 'Hello' and the piano bit of 'Eternal' (video below). This doesn't really count as a 'live' though.
"So yeah, we are going to start playing [Breathe No More] live and probably "Hello," so we can have a longer set."
SOURCEAmy: That's one song [mumbles] a live singer.
John: I've never heard you sing that live.
Amy: We never have . . . not yet! Cause I might.
SOURCE (Begin at 1:32) -EvRumor states that Amy would likely not have been able to sing the song without becoming emotional, although I tend to view this theory as a being a bit much. 'Hello' would have never seen the light of day if, just by hearing/performing it, Amy would burst into hysterics. Also, why would she agree to play/sing that song with Casey (the boy who bought her piano - video link above) if she was so uncomfortable with it? The following is from ev.it's FAQ (circa 2005), which was likely to have contributed to the idea of Amy's being uncomfortable with the song:
How come they don't ever play 'Hello' during live shows?
John Lee (Amy's father) posted on EvBoard about this song.
Amy wrote the song for the younger sister she lost when she was only 6 years old.
She doesn't play it live 'cause it would cause some feelings she couldn't handle during a live show.
-Another EvRumor claimed that Amy can be heard "getting emotional" (whatever that is supposed to mean) in the 2001 - 2002 demo recording of Hello. I too find this silly and likely just people trying to stir things up.
-The only part of 'Hello' that WAS played live, however, was the cello part found towards the end. This was used, in combination with Imaginary's intro, Tourniquet's I-WANT-TO-DIE, and Whisper's chanting, in the Intro to the Fallen Tours (2003). Some examples include the intros to the Hard Rock Café 2003 and Rock AM Ring 2003 live sets.
-According to Music Notes:
(1) Hello is written in B Minor.
(2) It is set in a time signature of common time and performed in a tempo of 72 beats per minute.
(3) Amy Lee's vocals range from A2 to the note of E5.
SOURCE-According to an EvRumor, Gabriel and Dresden (DJs) asked Amy if it was okay for them to remix her song, and she authorized their use. This, for a short time, made the download of said remix "illegal" (according to know-it-alls on EvBoard) who claimed that Amy's authorization of the use of her song meant that the DJs copyrighted it, making it different than the regular ol' remixes that were around at the time. This "rule" was rightly forgotten/ignored in a few months time.
-According to EvLore, Amy preferred to have 'Breathe No More' on Fallen rather than 'Hello.' Wind-Up, however, liked 'Hello' better and overruled her preference. See the song 'Breathe No More' for more details.
-Amy Lee on Hello:
Magazine: What is your favourite song from Fallen?
Amy: Mmmm . . . I like them all, but Hello is a very special song for me, because . . . well, when I was a child, my sister died and that song is about how a boy or a girl assimilates death at an early age, something I had to go through.
^Does anyone know the source of this magazine?
-According to EvLore, Amy was told at school that her sister died (they couldn't wait until she got home?), and she had to "put on a happy face and pretended everything was going to be okay and that it would all go away." I'd like a source on where this came from though. Where did we EvFans hear of this, especially since Amy tends not to talk about it? I do know that John Lee explained the entire situation on EvBoard, but that particular post is lost. It was posted in Sept. of 2003, but by Jan. of 2004, users of EvBoard were unable to locate it (and most of John Lee's posts were gone - had he asked to have them removed?) Hopefully we can find the post on an EV LiveJournal or something. Prior to Sept. 2003, there was speculation on EvBoard as to what 'Hello' referred to, although a few members had some recollection of Amy talking (on the O-Board?) about having some difficult times during her childhood.
-There seems to be some degree of mystery behind her sister's death. We certainly aren't going to delve too long and deep into this because that's inappropriate, but there needs to be just a few things said.
It is likely that the idea of the sister having a "mysterious/unknown illness," a "mysterious/unknown condition," a "mysterious/unknown ailment," as if it was something out of an Edgar Allan Poe story, likely came from the Blender (2004) article:
In 1987, when Amy was 6, her sister contracted an unidentified illness and died at age 3. Even now, Lee says, doctors have been unable to explain exactly what occurred."
SOURCEThis was directly refuted by Michelle on the old ev.it, who stated that Amy's sister did not have a mysterious illness, but instead drowned:
"Please, we need a section called "Just Ask Michelle. Cause If You Don't Know The Answer, Ask Her. She'll Get To The Truth!" Ok, now that I have stopped freaking out. [. . .] Amy's sister drowned. She didn't have a mysterious disease, she drowned. Amy is a very deep, spiritual person and her sisters death effected her tremendously."
[Archived from Renee and Michelle's posts from ev.it]
Sir_Jota, a poster on ev.it, went on to surmise (along with other posters on the topic) that the sister drowned in the bathtub. How he supposedly knew this (since drowned could mean anything, right? Drowned
where?), I don't know, but it seems there was previous discussion of this that I was not aware of - hence Michelle's exacerbated response with the undertow of gosh-I-have-to-explain-this-again type of feeling. The important thing to note here is that what is "mysterious" are the
circumstances of her death, not that it is some sort of disease. From the posters on ev.it, it was theorized she may have had epilepsy (like Amy's brother) and the family did not know at the time, hence the circumstances being mysterious (not the illness itself).
EvBoard's original FAQ had this under 'Hello':
Hello - Developed during the 2001-2002 demos and later released as track #9 on Fallen. The most personal song ever written by Amy Lee as it was written for [first name omitted] Lee, Amy’s deceased sister. [first name omitted] Lee died in 1987 at the age of 3 from an undisclosed illness. Amy Lee was 6 at the time. This is the only Fallen song that has never been performed live to date.
What is important here is wording. Notice they state
undisclosed illness - meaning that they didn't say what it was, but that it was known to the family. This is different from "unknown" or "mysterious" or any other wording usually used. This version also slightly contradicts both the Blender version and Michelle's version, by implying the family did know about it - there was no mystery whatsoever, circumstances or otherwise - but chose not to disclose the information.
And that is all I will say about that.
THANKS to DoubleA for the lyrics and the videos are from FallenEvArmy!
). Hello was kinda-sorta played live at her home when J.C. (the boy who bought her piano) came by. They played 'Hello' and the piano bit of 'Eternal' (video below). This doesn't really count as a 'live' though.
I don't even like that band)