“The Despair Factor” features AFI’s first notable use of electronic drums.
On the song, vocalist Davey Havok states: “My whole life is a dark room… one big dark room,” a line spoken by Winona Ryder in the film Beetlejuice (1988).
The track title inspired the name of the band’s official fan club, T...
[Verse 1]
Along the path where the stream is talking
I breathe the mist and continue walking
The wood, it whispers in a language of its own
As a sigh escaped my lips
I feel the light caress of fingertips
That steal away the breath and leave me on my own
[Chorus]
Waiting by the stairs
Waiting, I despair
Waiting, I despair
Waiting by the stairs
[Post-Chorus]
My whole life is a dark room
One, big, dark room
[Verse 2]
Do I hear the hollow sound?
Footsteps resounding on this frozen ground
Or the familiar disappointment of the echoes of my own?
[Chorus]
Waiting by the stairs
Waiting, I despair
Waiting, I despair
Waiting by the stairs
Waiting by the stairs
Waiting, I despair
Waiting, I despair
Waiting by the stairs
[Bridge]
Somehow I ended up here in between
Where there is always the comfort
Of knowing I'll never be seen
When I fall
When I fall
I wait for just one touch
[Outro]
And I fall weightless, endless
Faithless, I'll adore you
A single touch, before I fade
Painless let me pass through
Weightless, endless
Faithless, I'll adore you
A single touch, before I fade
Painless let me pass through
The Despair Factor was written by Davey Havok & Jade Puget & Hunter Burgan & Adam Carson.
The Despair Factor was produced by Chuck Johnson & AFI.
AFI released The Despair Factor on Tue Sep 19 2000.