Hands Held High

[Verse 1: Mike Shinoda]

Turn my mic up louder, I got to say somethin'

Lightweights step it aside when we come in

Feel it in your chest, the syllables get pumpin'

People on the street, they panic and start running

Words on loose-leaf sheet complete comin'

I jump in my mind and summon the rhyme I'm dumpin'

Healing the blind, I promise to let the sun in

Sick of the dark ways we march to the drummin'

Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumpin'

Fuck that, I wanna see some fists pumpin'

Risk something, take back what's yours

Say somethin' that you know they might attack you for

'Cause I'm sick of being treated like I have before

Like it's stupid standin' for what I'm standin' 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 laughin' their way to the bank and cashin' the check

Askin' you to have compassion and have some respect

[Pre-Chorus: Mike Shinoda]

For a leader so nervous in an obvious way

Stutterin' and mumblin' for nightly news to replay

And the rest of the world watchin' at the end of the day

In the livin' room laughin', like, "What did he say?"

[Chorus: Choir]

Amen, amen

Amen, amen

Amen

[Verse 2: Mike Shinoda]

In my livin' room watching, but I am not laughin'

'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 there, somethin' to see

Another kid my age drugged under a Jeep

Taken and bound, and found later under a tree

I wonder if he had thought the next one could be me

Do you see the soldiers that are out today?

They brush the dust from bulletproof vests away

It's ironic, at times like this, you'd pray

But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday

There's bombs on 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

On the back, he hand-wrote a quote inside

"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die"

[Pre-Chorus: Mike Shinoda]

Meanwhile, the leader just talks away

Stutterin' and mumblin' for nightly news to replay

The rest of the world watchin', at the end of the day

Both scared and angry, like, "What did he say?"

[Chorus: Choir]

Amen, amen

Amen, amen

Amen

[Outro: Mike Shinoda & Chester Bennington, Choir]

With hands held high into a sky so blue (Amen)

As the ocean opens up to swallow you (Amen)

With hands held high into a sky so blue (Amen)

As the ocean opens up to swallow you (Amen)

With hands held high into a sky so blue (Amen)

As the ocean opens up to swallow you (Amen)

With hands held high into a sky so blue (Amen)

As the ocean opens up to swallow you (Amen)

With hands held high into a sky so blue (Amen)

As the ocean opens up to swallow you (Amen)

With hands held high into a sky so blue (Amen)

As the ocean opens up to swallow you