Hands Held High

Album: Minutes To Midnight (2007)
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  • Turn my mic up louder
    I got to say something
    Lightweights stepping aside
    When we come in
    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 I'm 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 had before
    Like it's stupid standing for
    What I'm standing for
    Like this war is really just
    A different brand of war
    Like it doesn't cater the rich
    And an abandon the 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 their check
    Asking you to have compassion and to 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 the 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
    The bold men take action
    Have to react
    Or get blown into fractions
    Ten years old is something to see
    Another kid my age drugged under a jeep
    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 they're out today
    That brush the dust from 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 markets, 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
    As the ocean opens up
    To swallow you

    With hands held high
    Into a sky so blue
    The ocean opens up
    To swallow you

    With hands held high
    Into a sky so blue
    The ocean opens up
    To swallow you

    With hands held high
    Into a sky so blue
    The ocean opens up
    To swallow you

    With hands held high
    Into a sky so blue
    The ocean opens up
    To swallow you

    With hands held high
    Into a sky so blue
    The ocean opens up
    To swallow you Writer/s: Brad Delson, Chester Charles Bennington, Dave Farrell, Joseph Hahn, Mike Shinoda, Robert G. Bourdon
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 17

  • Peace Searcher from UsThis song has aged well. Considering the events and issues we are facing today with Joe Biden in office. This isn’t appeasing to any agenda. This is a song explaining that it’s BS that we were part of the war and we’re losing service members all over the place. I know this song came out awhile ago but in today’s world it fits in perfectly with what’s happening in 2021.
  • Allan Gregory Eronson from 99201I'm a giant fan of this song, great job Linkin Park, very touching song. Nice work!
  • Sheila from NevadaI remember Linkin Park playing this at a USO concert and many of us viewed it as a form of solidarity. After all, the entire album was created after Linkin Park visited with US Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen and was written with common Servicemembers' perspectives in mind. Who do you think they are talking about in the lines 'Like they understand you/In the back of the jet/When you can't put gas in your tank'?

    Linkin Park wasn't 'playing to liberal media'; they were showing support for those of us serving in the US Military. The US Military fights for the US, not for a piece of cloth or out of feudal-like loyalty to any particular politician. The President is the Commander in Chief, but that doesn't mean we always agree with the sitting President. We are people, not machines, and we see being able to spend more time with our families as far superior for support than sending us off to die, become physically wounded, and to suffer severe mental trauma for the sake of a few politically preferred corporate interests in the US.
  • Taylor from You Wanna Know? Well... No..., WaThis is truly one of the best songs i have ever heard... I'm a tough kid that rarely ever gets emotional but this song brings me to tears almost every time i listen to it... And btw this is the only song that brings me close to tears... No other song or movie has ever done that to me... This is a great song.
  • Sioraf from Macroon, IrelandWhen the rich wage war it's the poor who die is a quote from Sartre. I thought at first when a red book was mentioned it was Chairman Mao or somebody.
  • Robert from North Platte, NeThe song is basically about the Iraq War, The scared government, and has a 9/11 tie-in or two... It's a very interesting song that goes deep within the body. It speaks the truth and allows people to open their eyes, hopefully realising that our presidents aren't getting braver, but more scared anf afraid as each new one comes in.
  • Thomas from Surabaya, IndonesiaI Love this song, because all of the band members singing "AMEN !". But, i also hate this song, because I heard "F*CK" on some Mike Shinoda's rap lyrics.
  • Brandon from Okc, OkI think it means that the speaker has informed you with his song and you have been reborn with a new interpretation of the world's situation
  • Corey from Richmond, VaBest song I ever heard. The only good song on the album. I prefer the old Linkin Park, Meteora and Hybrid Theory where the best albums, thier new music sucks. I want the old Linkin Park back.
  • Lilly from East Meadow, Nywhoops, meant Linkin Park!
  • Lilly from East Meadow, Nyi <3 Likin Park
    i also <3 Bush haters!!
  • Craig from Blenheim, OnI might be wrong but I belive that the the line "With hands held high into a sky so blue the ocean opens up to swallow you," is reffering to freedome like heve you ever seen someone on a movie or something after they have been held prisinor or something like that they reach for the sky the blue sky amost like an ocean to just swallow up their worries
    Craig,Lindsay, Canada
  • Ben from Gosford, AustraliaLOL "Global warming". It's caled Climate Change now and you know why? Because GW was proven to be crap to the point where the liberals and the environmentalists couldn't run with it anymore. Despire Al Gore-eque forecasts of our whole planet melting and polar bears drowning, this past year in Australia we endured the coldest winter in 50 years, and are currently experiencing the coolest, wettest summer in a long time. Right when "Cliamte Change" was meant to give us a hotter, drier summer full of bush-fires.
  • G from Dallas, TxI think that "With hands held high into a sky so blue the ocean opens up to swallow you," is referring to pollution and how the oceans should be pure and blue maybe??? I agree with Ben Gosford though.
  • Sam from Edmonton"With hands held high into a sky so blue the ocean opens up to swallow you" what does that verse mean?
  • James from Hollis, NhThis is an amazing song it speaks with true pasion about the issues of our day. oh and by the way if you really have a problem with global warming have to look at the facts http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=136
  • Ben from Gosford, AustraliaWow, hard-core, lol! Seriously, I am an LP fan, but this song just sounds like a lame attempt to gain cred amongst the liberal music industry by jumping on the "We hate Bush" bandwagon. I'd prefer the boys to stick to doing what they do well, which is writing songs about being angry at someone they know personally or feel let down by, and leave such selling out to people like Pink. Seriously, it seems these days if you want to appease liberal idiots with a Michael Moore view of the world, all you have to do is grab a mike and say "Bush is an idiot! Bush is Hitler! No more blood for oil, Che Guevara was cool, terrorists are all just misunderstood!" and the same idiots will love you for it.
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