Lyrics for Hands Held High as interpreted by theDrunkPianist

Hands Held High Lyrics
Turn my mic up louder, I got to say something.
Lightweight step it aside, when we comin'.
Feel it in your chest, the syllables get pumping.
People on the street, they panic and start running.

Words on loose leaf sheet complete coming.
I jump on my mind, I summon the rhyme of dumping.
Healing the blind, I promise to let the sun in.
Sick of the dark ways, we march to the drumming.

Jump when they tell us they want to see jumping.
Fuck that, I want to see some fist pumping.
Risk something.
Take back what's yours.
Say something that you know they might attack you for

Cause I'm sick of being treated like I have before.
Like I'm stupid standing for what I'm standing for.
Like this war's really just a different brand of war.
Like it doesn't cater to rich and abandon poor

Like they understand you in the back of the jet,
When you can't put gas in your tank,
These fuckers are laughing their way
To the bank and cashing a check
Asking you to have compassion and have some respect

For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
In their living room laughing like, "What did he say?"

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen

In my living room watching,
But I am not laughing.
'Cause when it gets tense,
I know what might happen.

The world is cold, and bold men take action.
Have to react to get blown into fractions.
10 years old is something to see,
Another kid my age drugged under a G,
Taken and bound and found later under a tree,
I wonder if he thought, "The next one could be me."

Do you see?
The soldiers that are out today.
That brush the dust with bulletproof vests away.
It's ironic.
At times like this you pray,
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday.

There's bombs in the buses, bikes, roads,
Inside your market, your shops, your clothes,
My dad, he's got a lot of fear I know,
But enough pride inside not to let that show.

My brother had a book he would hold with pride,
A little red cover with a broken spine.
In the back he hand wrote a quote inside,
"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die."

Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
Both scared and angry like, "What did he say?"

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.

With hands held high into a sky so blue,
The ocean opens up to swallow you. (x6)

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californiacastaway
05-21-2007

Rated 0 
ok whitie the iraqi people love us, they wave american flag not burn them! Sadam's loyalist are the ones attacking the people not americans, so Sadam's men are the murders not bush.
P.S. I really hate when bands put their opinions in songs :(

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alias3r
05-21-2007

Rated 0 
whytie u need to shut the fuck up bitch. i was talking about how they might have gotten the IDEA of using a quote like that from SOAD. Im not saying that the quote isnt from that guy or whoever the fuck he is.

Yes there were weps of mass destruction u uneducated fuck face. listen here nigger, go get the fuck out of america if u dont like it and go to Africa and fuck monkeys bitch. Im sick of uneducated niggers who act like they know what they talking about.

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Ravenwolf
05-21-2007

Rated 0 
My goodness, such rude people here... I'll refrain from going into my own political opinions, but I will say that I don't know what everyone else thinks, but swearing and insulting people deon't make me care about your opinion any more.

As for the song... Jasm, I agree with you on the "Hands held high" lines, and I agree with whoever said that it's about the effects of the war, not the cause. I mean, obviously they're related, but it really isn't just a "Fuck Bush" song.

To whoever said that Linkin Park doesn't know what they're talking about... I really can't speak for how much they've seen, but you don't need to see people die to realize that it's a terrible thing, and you could be in the middle of a battlefield and not know what in the world is going on. Sure, if you have a loved one who's died in Iraq or something, the war probably does mean more to you, but you think that you can't talk about something unless you've lived through it?

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bucko9ctown
05-21-2007

Rated 0 
Aside from the meaning of this song, but in tune with the thought gone into making it, I defy you to tell me that the inspiration for the sound of this song was not derived from both eminem's "like toy soldier" and ghostface killah's "all that i got is you". The marching snare, the background violins, the pace of the rapping matches both. It even follows right down to the way the chorus is performed.

I wish i had blogged my first listen to this album. there is hardly an original sounding song on it. The emotion that someone spoke of earlier in this thread that is missing, i think, is anger. He's still depressed, confused, and hurt... but now instead of screaming about it, he's whining. Ew.

Lastly, regardless if I support our President or not, if you flame someone on a post, check your spelling because it makes you look ignorant if you misspell words like "opinion" and "ignorant". This also goes for anyone who supports a right-wing president proclaiming those against Bush are "All Gay" or "faggots". That all Bush supporters are just the stereotypical uniformed, followers of any homophobic republican politician.

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FatalFreedom
05-21-2007

Rated 0 
All these comments are completely irrelevant. Everyone is like “Yay Linkin Park for taking a stand” or “Boo Linkin Park, stay out of politics”. What makes any of you think that’s Mike actually wrote these lyrics. It’s a fact that all professional bands have song writer and music producers that do the bulk of the work for them.

Now I could be mistaken, and perhaps Linkin Park writes all their own lyrics. Come to think of it, it is a legitimate possibility, considering the bands conservative veiw.

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FatalFreedom
05-22-2007

Rated 0 
Oh my. Did i just say they are conservative? Silly me. In fact they are really quites liberal, and I'm thinking that a composer would tend to be a little more conservative, so it is a possibility that they wrote the lyrics themselves. I dont really care I'm a moderatley liberal conservative myself. :)

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enderu
05-22-2007

Rated 0 
Linkin Park writes their own songs. Your "fact" is far from the truth in many cases. It even says in the liner notes Mike wrote them. Maybe buy the CD, support the band, you know?

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mememe19
05-23-2007

Rated 0 
My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine.

Communism anyone? ;)

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one eyed wonder
05-24-2007

Rated 0 
mememe19 i think i might see what ur saying... little red book, Mao in china? anyways i like this song alot and i like its message. but i think they should have instead of just using "amen" like had some other prayer words along with it so its kinda like all different societeies/religions/countries or whatever praying together.

my fave line is " when the rich wage war, it's the poor who die."

and

"At times like this you pray,
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday."
^ this ones pretty sad. makes u think of what its like for some ppl

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FatalFreedom
05-24-2007

Rated 0 
Umm... one eyed wonder. mememe19 is refering to the little red book being the Communist Manifesto, written by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. Mao Zedong was not the author even though he did distribute the text in this form.

However I'm not sure if this is a reference to the Communist Manifesto. When I first heard the song my mind went immediately to the Bible, but seeing that the book in question is red the Manifesto is a likely solution. Even if this is a reference to so called book, I dont think it is saying that Linkin Park is Communist.

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Lovespallbearer1
05-24-2007

Rated 0 
This is not just a rightful bush rant... its completely true. My cousin was killed in this stupid fucking war so i dont wanna hear any of you fucking pussies who dont have the balls to enlist complain about how Linkin Park got all political. Because if you seriously step back and look at everything thats happening... they are completely right about the world on this song. Its sad that the world looks like this. This song made me cry when i heard it because i realized what this world is like. and schirs your a dumbass... that was the other bush who saved the kurds so get ur fucking facts right. Saddam was not doing anything wrong when we went in. No one asked us to go into Iraq. Yea we have done alot of good there and im not overlooking the schools, libraries, hospitals and water treatment plants that we built. but its not worth our countries lives to get those things for people who are willing to kill us to give it to them.

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Phildo3589
05-25-2007

Rated 0 
I am joining the United States Military because I love this country and have faith in our leaders. Even though this song is anti- bush it is still a very good song. I may not agree with linkin park but I will fight for their fight to say whatever they want.

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Phildo3589
05-25-2007

Rated 0 
And lovespallbearer did you happen to know that everyone that is in the military was not forced to be there. They chose to join. I have lost friends and family to the war but i still support. We need to fight to make the middle east a safer place.

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xstillsearchingx
05-25-2007

Rated 0 
this song has such a beautiful arrangement with the pipe organ and the marching snare... the lyrics are really, really good.

made me cry

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Kuyukly78
05-25-2007

Rated 0 
If protecting freedom means to use brute force to make everyone else conform to your beliefs and standards, then I guess I don't really know what freedom is.

Amen, Linkin Park. A-fucking-men.

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crowleyyy
05-25-2007

Rated 0 
schirs You're a gullable moron apparently. You're going to present what you think are facts to us at an attempt to make us perceive you're properly informed? Did you read that information out of TIME magazine. The Government lies to us constantly, and don't get me wrong, I love my Country, but politics are just lies, over lies, over lies. We waged war on the Middle east for oil, there is no other reason we'd of done that. Don't ever think it was for a justifiable reason. All the wars in the history of Earth have been because of Land (which entails resources) or religion. THAT is a fact.

Also, it's a brilliant song, I'm not a huge fan of Linkin Park but they won me over with this one. I'm not an anti-bush but I understand what they're getting at. Bush is one dumb mother fucker and it's time we get someone in the office with their priorities straight.

"When the Rich wage war, it's the poor who die". There isn't a better statement in that song, than that quote right there.

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FatalFreedom
05-26-2007

Rated 0 
1. Kuyukly78, we arent using brute force to make any one conform to our "ways and standards". We're not trying to change the Iraqi peoples religion or society, all we are doing is giving them basic utilities and such to benefit their nation as a whole.

2. crowleyyy, we didn't go to war in the Middle-East for oil. thats a blatant lie spread by the bleeding-heart liberals so induce anti-war sentiment. we went to iraq because we knew for a fact that they were trying to build nuclear weapons, the fact is they mostlikely had weapons of mass destruction and just shipped them over the border to Syria. We've known for along time that they have been trying to make nukes, and 9/11 is the spark that finally set off the whole thing.

Some times I think people forget about 9/11. What were we supposed to do when that happened, just sit idly by and let another catastrophe happen??

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FatalFreedom
05-26-2007

Rated 0 
And don't get me wrong. we should be out of Iraq this has dragged out too long and cost too many American lives. Going was a good idea, but now Bush has fucked it all up... and we just need to leave. I dont support to war anymore, but i support our troops, thats whats really important.

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FatalFreedom
05-26-2007

Rated 0 
And don't get me wrong. we should be out of Iraq this has dragged out too long and cost too many American lives. Going was a good idea, but now Bush has fucked it all up... and we just need to leave. I dont support the war anymore, but i support our troops, thats whats really important.

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Boag
05-26-2007

Rated 0 
I'm surprised to see that one of the biggest themes in the song hasn't really been mentioned at all. Obviously, there's the blatant anti-bush references, but what about the anti-religious?

First of all, this is tied in to bush with the chants "Amen", suggesting that bush is deeply religious (which he obviously is) after already demeaning his character in the song.

But also, I found the last lines very effective. "With hands held high into the sky so blue as the ocean opens up to swallow you".

It's the image of someone praying to god, only to be fucked over in the end. I felt it was a pretty brave move to throw in that metaphor but it's something which I agree with fully and I love the way it was written.

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TKamp
05-29-2007

Rated 0 
I like LP. I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but to an extent. People who come in here making trash-talking political completely ruin a good, clean discussion. This is not a place to argue pointlessly or yell at people. Back to the subject at hand. I plan on serving my country in the armed forces. To all those U.S. citizens who criticize Bush, imagine exactly how hard his job is. You can watch the news and say you would have done something else, but you can't see into the future, so you can never even remotely begin to predict what will happen next.

I like the style of this song, but I do not care for the message that they are conveying. My government is not evil. My country is not evil. Rich people are not evil.

"When the rich wage war, It is the poor who die." I do not think this is true. I am not poor, but I plan on serving for one of the world's greatest nations. I believe it is my duty to give back to the people of my country, even if they do not respect that.

Read my comment or ignore it. I do not care what you think of me or my opinions. I care about what I think and that is the only thing that really matters.

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TKamp
05-29-2007

Rated 0 
"It's the image of someone praying to god, only to be fucked over in the end. I felt it was a pretty brave move to throw in that metaphor but it's something which I agree with fully and I love the way it was written."~Boag

Or its the image of putting yourself before God and being accepted by his greatness. I will interpret it how i wish.

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sbarlage07
05-29-2007

Rated 0 
Boag, thank you a ton for bringing that up! I searched through all these three pages of political opinions I don't give a **** about looking for someone to say wtf those last lines meant. I'm not even atheist and I have to admit that is a frickin awesome quote!

When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die - TKamp, it doesn't necessarily have to refer to wealth (although it is true a lot, but not all, the time). It kind of just refers to power. The people who are calling the shots are the ones who feel the least bad consequences.

and TKamp again, about Boag's interpretation. I realize you can interpret it how you wish, but the fact that you are praying up but get swallowed down supports the interpretation of believing in a God who ends up not existing rather than ending up being accepted by him. If it were to be interpreted as being accepted by God, the line would probably involve going up toward where you are praying. Know what I mean.

And I too have been considering entering the military but it won't be any time real soon. Probably not until our war with Iran (which won't happen if America supports the right prez candidates). But for as long as my motto "People are stupid" continues to hold true for the majority of Americans, it looks like we will end up with a president not willing/smart enough to go through every option possible to avoid war.

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TKamp
05-30-2007

Rated 0 
I understand what you mean sbalage, i get a little agitated when people cuss other people out for no reason, i will never return to this site, goodbye

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CherryCherry
05-30-2007

Rated 0 
Right.. I thought it might be time to share a comment from a non-American! In my opinion it is quite worthless to argue about wheter Bush is right or wrong or whose fault WWI and WWII really were or who actually defeated who. And frankly it gets me quite frustrated! For me the song has a deeper meaning that goes beyond politics. However I want to say that eventhough some of Bushes actions have been questionable, I must have some empathy for him. He might have made some wrong choices but it can not be easy to be in his position.

Anyway, I totally agree with the people who have said that the song is more about how people feel in this world today. I guess mainly the point of the song is to make a statement about the Iraq war and evethough I live far away from the countries involved, I do feel affected by what is going on. Sitting on an airplane next to a U.S soldier going to war and talking to him was a powerful experience for me. It made me realize how real the things are that I read about in the newspaper and I just can not unerstand how some people seem to not care and think that it is OK to harm so many people. Basically the point here is that the wars tend to affect more than just the ones involved.

The song also talks about bombs in buses and shops etc., which made me think of all the terrorist attacks in london and madrid for example. And so, I think that the song is not only about Iraq and America but can also be interpreted much more widely. This is the reason why I like the song so much. Also I think that the song is a good reality check to westeners who tend to take a lot for granted.

Now before I finish I want to say that the comment on anti-religion was very interesting. I think it's right to the point since it seems that however much people belive in God and pray, the world is still going in the wrong direction.

By far the best Linkin Park song!!

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