The Last Night - Live from iTunes Sessions

John Cooper, who is the lead singer and bassist for Skillet, wrote this song about a girl who was suicidal: "You come to me with scars on your wrist." When John sings, it's from the perspective of God speaking to the girl; when his wife, guitarist Korey Cooper, sings, it's the girl talking to God. The story is made up, but inspired by what John and many people he knew went through in their darkest hours. He would often give a long, sermon-like introduction to the song before performing it, saying something along these lines: "I wrote it for a friend who wants to end her own life. She was told she was a loser by her parents ever since she was a kid. Told she was never going to be good enough, could never do anything right, wishes she'd never been born. And she finally said, 'You know what? I hate my life, I hate myself, I hate coming home at night. I hate what I see when I look in the mirror, and I don't have a single reason left for waking up in the morning.' She comes to me in the song and says, 'Look, I just want to say goodbye.' And in this song, I have a chance to tell my friend how special she is. That no matter what her parents or anyone else said, her life is not a mistake. I want to tell you something that got me through my hardest nights. This is a quote from my #1 hero: Jesus Christ. Jesus said: 'Anyone who is weary, anyone who is heavy-burdened, come to me and I will give you rest.' No matter what you've gone through, no matter what you've done, there is a god. His name is Jesus, and he loves you tonight just the way you are. And if you give him one chance, it will be the very last night you ever spend alone."

John Cooper meets many fans who have been deeply affected by this song. Speaking with Songfacts in 2014, he talked about one of them: "Recently somebody came and they said, 'That song was for me and it helped me decide to quit cutting.' And she gave me an envelope. In the envelope were her razors that she used to use to cut herself. It's just amazing what music can do."

John explained to Listenin.org how the song can be interpreted in several different ways: "This song could be someone laying there on their pillow at night and having this discussion with God, 'My life sucks and I don't want to do this anymore' - 'is there anybody out there?' type of thing, and it could be God saying, 'Yeah, that's right. I could be the one that will meet those needs.' But you know, the other thing about 'The Last Night' is it could be a friend, that you're going to a friend, and there's someone that is saying, 'No matter what happens I will always be there for you.' You know, I think I like that twist on the song, that it could be either or because so much of the time we need somebody to be there for us. And as friends, we don't do the best job at being there for our fellow brothers and sisters... and if we are there, it's usually because we have a hidden motive about it. The record is called Comatose, and there's a lot of songs with a lot of these ideas in it, and one of the things is, let's wake up out of this sleep that we've been in, and what can I do for someone else? That's a pretty radical statement, I think. That's a pretty radical statement for this generation - what can I do for someone else?"