2004Released
3:20

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Swing Life Away. By Songfacts®.

This song is about what it's like to live on minimum wage or not get paid at all. It is one of Rise Against's acoustic punk ballads where the singer explains that a dedicated, passionate relationship is far more important than money.

In a Songfacts interview with Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath, he told the story behind "Swing Life Away." "That was written when I was living in a punk house in Chicago," he said. "We spent a lot of our summers hanging out on the front porch because it was so hot in the house and we had no air conditioning. We had guitars out there, people would just hang out and drink and smoke. It was a document to that time in my life when it was a lot of young people trying to figure out what it is they want to do and how they want to move forward in their life. Everyone has a cool story and everyone has their own struggles and experience. Some of us were really lost, some of us knew exactly what we wanted. That search that you're on in your youth. 'Swing' was a document to that, a document to Chicago in the summer, and a document to that time in my life just living with a bunch of roommates in a punk house in Chicago."

Tim McIlrath wrote this song with his musician roommate Neil Hennessy. The two are long-term friends, and in late 2015, Hennessy took over McIlrath's rhythm guitar duties during Rise Against's European tour after the frontman broke his hand.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Swing Life Away.
F♯Key
MajorMode
3/4Time Signature
185BPM

Album

The album Swing Life Away is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Swing Life Away.
Geffen
© 2004 Geffen Records
℗ 2004 Geffen Records

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