Don't Stop Dancing is one of the songs that are pretty easy to interpret, isn't it? Anyway, I made an interpretation about this song for a presentation in school... I did a whole band review with it. Sorry if the English's not correct I'm German and 15
But my English teacher thought it was very good
Here it is:
I think experiences in his own life and ?The With Arms Wide Open Foundation? (an organisation Scott Stapp has founded and that ?protects the well being of children by seeking to ensure healthy, loving, nuturing bonds between children and their parents through funding exisiting service providers?) inspired Scott to write this song. It possibly tells about his feelings about the divorce with his ex-wife Hillaree and how it effected on himself and his young son Jagger.
He justifies his decision, the divorce, in the first verse by explaining that life sometimes turns into situations you can?t avoid (?At times??) and that ?although you should never give up hope- you might arrive at a point where there?s no turning back (A silver lining??), for example after too many and too rude arguments.
The second verse describes how Scott doesn?t blame a certain person for all the things neither his son and ex-wife nor himself deserve (?At times life?s unfair?) and how strong the pain he feels is ? he feels like God has forgotten about him (?Hey God??) although he?s very religious.
When the song turns into its bridge, Scott tells that he reaches ? once again (this could refer to his childhood; the religious way his parents educated him made him run away from home) - a very low and sad point (??on my knees??). The lines ?But I know I must go on - Although I hurt I must be strong? might either mean that someone makes him reach this low point (that?s the way it?s translated on german internet sites) or that he can?t and doesn?t want to change his mind about the divorce although he knows it causes a lot of pain to his ex-wife, his son and himself.
They probably also mean that he has to put much effort in making things become ?normal? again. This is supposed to mean that although he?s still suffering all the pain he doesn?t want it to make him a sad and depressed man for the rest of his life. That also goes together with the second bridge (?Am I hiding in the shadows? ? Forget the pain and forget the sorrows?): It might mean that the light which is mentioned in the first verse representing joy and happiness (??just can?t see the light?) can?t reach him because he currently doesn?t feel like being happy but he constantly keeps demanding himself to change this situation again.
The last line before the chorus (?That many feel this way?) shows that his actual situation is the same a lot of others have already suffered and nearly everyone else can suffer, too.
The chorus, the most important part of a song, presents also the thing that claims his priority the most: That children, his son Jagger included, must not lose joy and happiness because of a divorce. It?s represented by the metaphor ?don?t stop dancing?. Children who often can?t force themselves to stop being sad after a divorce -like Scott tries to do- should be given hope that they will have left all their sorrows behind someday to support them becoming happy again as fast as possible.
The end says that everything the song tells about is probably only what he hopes his life will become because he ?and his son- are currently still at a very low point (?Am I hiding? - Are we hiding??; sang with a kind of sad voice).
There are a few other interpretations in German at
www.creed-online.de ...but don't expect me to translate them
By the way... all those question marks were
"s,
's or
...s... they got changed when I copied the text