How to Save a Life - Live in Nashville, TN - December 2006

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."

In the February 2007 Observer Music Monthly, Slade said: "I still get an incredible number of emails about that song. We've got friends who think it's great not having to think because they're drunk or high. But there's a better way to be happy."

The Fray is comprised of devout Christians, and this song certainly has some religious subtext, with specific references to God: And I pray to God he hears you The Christian music community embraced the song, sending it to #4 on the Christian Songs chart, but it wasn't marketed as a religious song and was also a hit in the secular community - it made #3 on the Hot 100 and was also a #1 Adult Contemporary hit.