Hands Held High

I thought it was pretty clear that the little book with a red cover was a Quran, not a bible. The entire verse describes war from the viewpoint of a Muslim child, probably in Iraq or Afghanistan. This is further backed up by the line saying "At times like this you pray, But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday."

The first part of the song is from the American viewpoint, and the things that they are angered by, and how they think that the world is laughing at their leader; the second part from the viewpoint of the outside world, watching the leader stuttering and lying and feeling scared and angry, not laughing.

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 -You have to be obedient and do what your superiors say, but he's saying that's not what matters, it's what's important to you that matters. So what if there are consequences? If something has meaning to you, do something to protect that.

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 -People discriminate and insult you if you stand up for what you say, if it's not something that everyone else believes in. I believe this part refers to the war in Iraq; we try to justify our actions for entering the war, but so what? War is war. War helps the rich and generally hurts the poor as prices go up; the poor struggle to survive while the rich benefit even more from this because war stimulates economy.

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?" -Our leaders, an example being Bush, are just stupid and ignorant and they barely know what they're saying, only repeating what they're told to say. People question what he says because he obviously has no idea what he's talking about.

Amen x6 is referring to prayer obviously, saying that with such corruption and so many flaws in our country, we need to pray, hoping that these problems are solved.

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." -We enter war, and soldiers (bold men) step up and protect the country, risking their lives every day. "10 years old is something to see" it's surprising people can live past 10 (not exactly, this is an exaggeration) because of all the crime and corruption. People are killed left and right, and you'll never know when you could be the next target of a crime and wind up dead.

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. -We pray for the soldiers to be safe, but it's ironic that we pray for them because religion is what started this war. Muslims and Christians have been clashing for over a millennium now, and this is what has brought us back to war.

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. -A threat looms everywhere, as we are told. We are never safe, even in our houses. The fear the constricts the nation is used as a tool by political leaders to encourage the war. People are scared but have too much pride to show their fear.

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." -Someone stands up for their beliefs, and this ties back to what is said the first time.

Repeats...

With hands held high into a sky so blue, The ocean opens up to swallow you. (x6) -We hope that someone, maybe even God can get us out of this whole mess. This catastrophe is too much for us to handle, so in our desperation we turn to a figure greater than ourselves to solve our problem.

Basically, I believe the song is about how people are attacked and insulted just for being different. We are all fearful; fearful for speaking for what we stand up for, fearful of threat. We try to justify going to war with another country, but we truly can't justify it. War is war, and we're waging it for a similar reason.

this track shows why Mke is so talented. he express his thoughts about the war so poetically and so passionately.

the best quote on the song: "when the rich wage war, it's the poor who die."

This is the best song that Linkin Park has ever done.

That's it. That's all I wanted to say. I've been a fan for a long time, I had a whole big long analysis.

But, really, that's it. This is the best song they've ever done.

'It's ironic. At times like this you pray, But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday.'

That's amazing.
I agree with itsmelen. Linkin Park doesn't have a better song.

"With hands held high as the ocean opens up to swallow you." This is a line about suicide; but what connection does it have to the rest of the song?

With hands held high into a sky so blue The ocean opens up to swallow you

The meaning is pretty much about after a war, what happens and how people react to it. Quote:

It's ironic. At times like this you pray, But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday.

It is about war mostly. My favorite song of theirs. :)

To me this song represents a little bit about the 2016 debates. Overall I think that this song to me is showing on how we used to think that the world is a great place but really it isn't.