Songfacts®:

• In this alt-rock track, Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk turns his back on corrupt leaders who gain loyalty through false promises. In the bridge, he sings:
  
  Oh, Hitler, in a robe of truth
  My emptiness has built your altar
  And I've worshipped myself in you forever
  Until now
  
  Kowalczyk generally likes fans to come up with their own interpretations of his lyrics, but he was quick to clear up any assumptions that he sympathized with the Nazi dictator. "I've been really anxious to clear up this thing about the lyrics to 'Top.' A lot of times I write lyrics in a very stream of consciousness kind of way and in no way is the Hitler referral in that song sympathy at all. I think if you know our history, you would probably know that," he explained in a Straight Out Of York interview.
  
  "The way the lyrics go, the song is really about leaders in general and people's affection for them and I think that you can insert any leader, any ideological megalomaniac in place of Hitler, and for that matter, any leader - any religious leader or political leader because the song is really about personal responsibility and it's not about Hitler or the Nazis in particular. That was just what I decided to write about that day… the phrase 'Hitler in a robe of truth' is real because that's what the German people gave to him - a robe of truth, he was their deliverer and he was going to deliver them from all their pain and it ended up being a catastrophe, the Holocaust and everything. The song's about liberating yourself from leaders and that kind of influence."
• This was one of seven songs from Throwing Copper that Live performed at Woodstock '94. Splitting the bill with Sheryl Crow, Violent Femmes, and Collective Soul on Day 1 of the festival, their set earned them lots of new fans who flocked to buy the album and helped take it to #1 in America.