The band dedicated the song to Barbara Lewis, a 19 year-old friend of the band who was killed in 1993 by a drunk driver who was fleeing from the police after a robbery in York, Pennsylvania. Barbara had many of her organs donated including a liver to a 10 month old baby, and the song lyrics reflect how her death enabled others to continue living. After the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, Ed Kowalczyk would frequently dedicate the song to the victims at live shows.
Soon after the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, a local radio station mixed the song in with news clippings, audio clips of U.S. President Bill Clinton and Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating responding to the attack, along with other sounds (such as ambulance and fire engine sirens) of that day.
The band Blitzkid covers the song as a dedication to vocalist/bassist Argyle Goolsby's late mother