Modest Mouse – The World at Large

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Ice-age heat wave, can't complain
If the world's at large, why should I remain?
Walked away to another plan
Gonna find another place, maybe one I can stand
I move on to another day
To a whole new town with a whole new way
Went to the porch to have a thought
Got to the door and again, I couldn't stop
You don't know where and you don't know when
But you still got your words and you got your friends
Walk along to another day
Work a little harder, work another way
Well uh-uh baby I ain't got no plan

We'll float on maybe would you understand?
Gonna float on baby maybe would you understand?
Well float on maybe would you understand?
They days get shorter and the nights get cold
I like the autumn but this place is getting old
I pack up my belongings and I head for the coast
It might not be a lot but I feel like I'm making the most
The days get longer and the nights smell green
I guess it's not surprising but it's spring and I should leave
I like songs about drifters-books about the same
They both seem to make me feel a little less insane

Walked on off to another spot
I still haven't got anywhere that I want
Did I want love? Did I need to know?
Why does it always it always feel like I'm caught in an undertow?
The moths beat themselves to death against the lights

Adding their breeze to the summer nights
Outside, water like air was great
I didn't know what I had that day
Walk a little farther to another plan
You said that you did, but you didn't understand
I know that starting over is not what life's about
My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth
My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth

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Lyrics submitted by RebeccaSaxon, edited by ftpk

Track duration: 04:33

"The World at Large" as written by Isaac Brock, Eric Judy, Dann Gallucci

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


The World at Large song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:Just going to say, this song would've been perfect in recent movie "Seeking Friend for the End of the World."
    Flag witlashon June 29, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:I'm surprised more people haven't noticed the connection between this song and Float On. The World At Large literally flows right into Float On. They even have the same chords. The guitar part in the chorus of Float On is played on a loop in this song at a slower speed. I think the two sentiments in each song are connected. Maybe he's a drifter and he's not sure what he wants, but deep down he knows everything will be alright.
    Flag Tosunon May 09, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +1
    General Comment:This song reminds me of "Into the Wild" and that boy, Chris McCandless, who was going to find unbridled freedom or die trying. In actuality, he just couldn't conform to society's expectations. We all have that desire/thought to some extent.
    Flag bawhite125on May 08, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I found a poem that has the same basic idea as The World at Large, it is called "The City"
    by C. P. Cavafy, Translated by Edmund Keeley, if anyone wants to read it.

    Also @eljavi, if you check out the guitar tabs both songs use the same four chords, The World at Large picking them as an arpeggio, and Float On strumming them. There is definitely a significant meaning in that.
    Flag Sehnsuchton April 28, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i agree eljavi. this is absolutely a genius way to start the album. this song kills you, and the seamless transition to float on revives you when all is lost. i cant listen to them separately.

    i love how "my thoughts were so loud i couldnt hear my mouth" is the last line of this song
    Flag hugecornon February 16, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I feel like this very often. Drifters seem to have a rough life, but they may also epitomize freedom. As I have aged, I found that I became a slave to my possessions. I worked a job to afford better possessions; considered staying someplace instead of pursuing an excellent opportunity out of fear that all of my possessions would either have to be moved or stored. I've many a time thought about just taking my guitars and motorcycle and leaving everything behind. I wish I could float on, but my wife wouldn't understand, and I think she is more attached to our belongings than I am.

    This song is about expressing a wanderlust; a restlessness that never goes away. It is about leaving old connections and belongings behind in favor of freedom from the traps of modern life. It is wondering about the sanity of having a wanderlust, and taking comfort in books and songs about drifters.

    I understand. To quote an earlier Modest Mouse song: The Universe is shaped exactly like the Earth: If you go straight long enough, you'll end up where you were.
    Flag suzukijayon January 03, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:The more I listen to this song, the more I feel that you have to take as the first part of Float On, the song the follows it on the record. Both songs share a very similar melody and straight rock-march beats and together, they feel like bipolar, mirror-image reflections on the same worldview:

    1) World at Large - A melancholic meditation on drifting through the dispassion and confusion of a cruel world
    2) Float On - An optimistic, almost flippantly punk chant about embracing peace in a fascinating and ever-changing world

    I can't listen to one without the other anymore. If I ever feel hopeless or lost or inadequate, the combination of deep introspection and laugh-it-off optimism brings me right around like no other.
    Flag eljavion September 30, 2011   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:This song gave me the biggest feeling of opium ive gotten since being sober.
    Flag Orienteon September 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Tonight, i found my words in this. You are brilliant, Issak
    Flag GuybrushThreepwoodon June 09, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've listened to this song so many times over the past few years and it's such a comfort to me. I've thought about this a lot, and the best and clearest way I can describe it is hauntingly beautiful. A lot of the comments note that it is likely about the group's schedule of touring and always being on the road and not staying in one place for long, but it can be applied in so many other contexts.

    I have moved more times than I can immediately recall in the past 4 years, and 6 times (and counting) since last August alone. At first I liked it and it was always so exciting, but now I'm just craving some kind of normalcy and stability, but it seems like the universe has other things in store for me.

    And just like the line in the song says: "I like songs about drifters, books about the same. They both seem to make me feel a little less insane," this song really helps me feel a little less insane when I think I'm about to lose it. I think I've listened to it about two dozen times today as I prepare for my next move...
    Flag Keightyon June 06, 2011   Link

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