Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
Welcome to your life; there's no turning back
Even while we sleep we will find
You acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on mother nature
Ev'rybody wants to rule the world
It's my own desire, it's my own remorse
Help me to decide. Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do, I'll be right behind you
So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Ev'rybody wants to rule the world
I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you'll never, never, never, need it
One headline, why believe it?
Everybody wants to rule the world
All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
Even while we sleep we will find
You acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on mother nature
Ev'rybody wants to rule the world
It's my own desire, it's my own remorse
Help me to decide. Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do, I'll be right behind you
So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Ev'rybody wants to rule the world
I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you'll never, never, never, need it
One headline, why believe it?
Everybody wants to rule the world
All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
Given it's cold war roots and some of the statements Curt Smith has made, I believe the song is a warning about the dangers of being led into war, caused by the desire for power. (Perhaps more broadly, the dangers of power abused on a smaller scale as well.)
The first verse of this song is very big-brotherish (I know many other commenters have paralled "1984"), that we are born (sarcastically "Welcomed") in this life. forced into an inherited a power structure where our leaders seemingly know no limits, and have the ablility to make mistakes costly for all.
I believe the lyric "Even when we sleep we will find you acting on your best behavior," is intended to be from the voice of authority, making their declarations that individuals must conform, or else...
Contrasting with the first verse, the second is spoken from a more individual standpoint. The first line of "It's my own desire, it's my own remorse." is a clear declaration of self-determination. The rest of the verse supports this idea that the indiviual wants to puruse life without having to suffer the consequences of other's actions. Manifest in a request of "Help me make the most of freedom and of pleasure, nothing ever lasts forever."
I concur with the grizzly view of the third verse relating to the cold war era expressed by other commentors. In this context, the lyric paints the picture of being forced in a bunker (presumably because of nuclear war), and cliging to life with your loved ones. Even if this isn't specifically about the cold war, it's at least about hiding from preventable disaster, trying to protect those that matter.
To me, the lyric "So glad we almost made it, so sad they had to fade it," might as well be "Go***mnit the government f**ked up again," and we the innocent innocent have to hide and suffer because of it.
I have more thoughts, but this has already turned into an uber-comment. Perhaps I'll save for another day.
It could also be that the song's "rule the world" refers to parents, spouses (...it mentions married with a lack of vision) bosses, union leaders, GOV, "everybody" tries to rule the world. Other people's control of ones life entails a lost of freedom and pleasure....
dunno.
Basically, the lyrics are quite prescient in that the speaker reminds the listener that political liberty and the pleasures of capitalism are all relatively new to the world scene and are not permanent. The speaker desires to live to the fullest during this special time in history by taking full advantage of its many pleasures and liberties before the true nature of the world, war and change, comes 'round again at last.
Thus the song is a carpe diem song and yet the speaker is troubled by all the possibilities of how to seize this day-- he is condemned to his own freedom in that he's unsure how best to make use of his liberty-- in other words, he feels the terror when one realizes although you can be almost anything, you cannot be everything. And yet he must decide because he he knows time is short.
My take is that it is simply about how people want control of their part of the world. Yeah it could be for some about World Domination but I think it could be just as much about personal Freedom and the right to control your own destiny.
-My Own Design, My Own Remorse - Do what I want and pay the consequences.
-Indecision married to Lack of Vision - He doesn't like it when people can't take a stand and have a reason or a purpose behind it. This also can be from a personal level all the way up to world leaders.
And then there is the Room where the Light won't find you... I think this is that place in our minds where we keep our secret desires. The Place we shelf our dreams and our hope that we are afraid to risk bringing out to the open where others can trample on them.
The song is great but the words are profound.
It is a protest song. Like Tommy James "Sweet Cherry Wine"
Its obvious that the song is about Nuclear Death, with
the posting of nuclear weapons in Europe (England)
We (The US) couldnt get Turkey or some other NATO allies to put nukes on the Russian border..so we knew that our best friends would do the next best thing.
This is 20 year old news. I first heard of this theory on the Art Bell Show probably 15 years ago. It made sense then as it does now.
I would have hoped by now that we have learned from our mistakes but I fear that we "know not what we do sometimes". Respectfully. Jakej22 excuse my syntax errors.