Every face 
Even the one you saw yesterday 
It looks different today 
Cos everything's changed since yesterday 
In every possible way 
Things seem different today 
Not like yesterday 
Is consideration 
More like an exception - of consideration? 

Cos you have the world in your arms tonight 
And what if you held the world in your arms? 

When you're secure, do you feel much safer? 
As days never change, and it's three years later 
It's like your life hasn't changed, 
And it's three years late 
So how does it feel, to be three years late? 
And watching your youth drift away 
What seems different, seems different today 
And what seems different, seems different today 
Is consideration 
More like an exception - of consideration? 

Cos you have the world in your arms tonight 
And what if you held the world in your arms? 
You have the world in your arms tonight 
And what if you held the world in your arms? 
(tonight...) (tonight...) 

Cos you have the world in your arms tonight 
And what if you held the world in your arms? 
Cos you have the world in your arms tonight 
And what if you held the world in your arms?



Lyrics submitted by JulianCasablancas

Track duration: 03:22

"You Held the World in Your Arms" as written by Colin/woomble Newton

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


You Held The World In Your Arms song meanings
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23 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:For me this song is about moving on with the times, knnowing that you should adapt and move with change, but then "what if you held the world in your arms" would you still want to grow and change, at the risk of losing what you hold now?

    Also perfectly sums up my last relationship. First love and then 3 years just disappeared on me. But I held the world in my arms, I didn't want to change, cause I knew that'd mean growing apart from him.
    Flag thereaperwomanon May 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:... or as a few of you have said it could be about living everyday like your last, Thinking back like "I could have done everything, taken every oppurtinuty" is the metaphor for you held the world...

    But, that's the great thing about these kinda songs is that they could mean something special to someone and somethin' completely different to teh next person, That makes a powerful song - fantastic, the violins go well even though I hate violins!
    Flag KyleeFon January 19, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Anroca.. sad story man.

    Nice song, I originally heard it on FIFA 2004, Only downloaded it recently and it is fantastic, I'm not a idlewild fan but this is an awesome song.

    About loss.. You Held the world in your arm's is a metaphor for saying "You had it all, but you've lost it all" kinda like "you had so much going for you - but you fucked it all up"... That's my take, maybe about suicide saying he was a young kid with the world at his feet.. he could have done anything, but could just be about somebody with a great job, good personality and a nice person but fucked it up with drugs or something..

    Fantastic song ;D
    Flag KyleeFon January 19, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is deffo a song about loss, AND youth passing you by.
    My strongest memeory of this song revovles around my mates' funeral - he was only 17, and this was played as all his old schoolmates walked ito the crematorium. The theme of loss and lost youth was quite appropraite, obviously - to us, this was what had happened, and what might yet happen. Even today, I sometimes think 'my god, it's been so long!'. I might be retromapping it onto the song, but I sometimes wonder if it's not specifically about a death of a friend while you're at at a young age, or a breakup endured in youth.
    Flag Anrocaon May 02, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I like the song....But..The lyrics are kinda sucky. I mean, not as good as they could be for such a perdy song. It just sounds very repetitive....Which, i dunno...Not perfect for me x
    Flag Izeon January 01, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I agree with Electricveil pretty much. I think the song is about realising that your youth has past you by. When youre at school, it is the same thing for years, day after day is the same, and you feel safe, secure. "You held the world in your arms tonight" I think that is just saying you feel like the world is yours when you are young, and that it feels like anything in the world is possible. And now the speaker realising his youth is drifting away....
    Flag Jafferon December 13, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is a truly beautiful song...
    Flag crazycasualtyon March 13, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I'm Happy To Be Here Tonight Is one of my favourites!

    100 Broken Windows is their best album, then The Remote Part, then Hope Is Important - there are songs on HII that I dislike. They're not getting worse as they go on, not at all - they're just changing. Change is good, right?
    Flag butterflykiss84on June 19, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I like the bit about your life passing you by without you even noticing, I guess it's saying you have to make the most of life and have fun because otherwise you waste your youth. It could be about relationships, it could just be about life in general, it's too short to be depressed all the time and indescive about what you want-you have to make up your mind and go for your dreams! I think they then counteract this view by saying "you held the world in your arms tonight, AND WHAT IF YOU HELD THE WORLD IN YOUR ARMS?"-maybe they're critiscising hedonism and saying you should be considerate of others.
    Flag electricveilon April 26, 2003   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:For me this song is perfect for the time I broke up with my girlfriend, we are back together though. The first verse is going on about everything seems different and has changed in just the one day that we broke up. The chorus is just saying that you have lost something so dear to you and that for a period, when you hugged, you held the world in your arms. My girlfriend is my world and when I do hug her I hold the world in arms. The second verse is about the fact that no matter what you do you can’t get over that special someone. No matter how hard you try it is impossible.
    That is what the song means to me and everytime I hear I think about when we did break up.
    Flag skate_grilled_jebuson October 11, 2002   Link

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