» 2000s, Pop » World – Five for Fighting
World – Five for Fighting
Rock music has always been full of lyrical cliches. And sometimes they don’t even spoil the song but actually enhance it.
Sometimes, however, a song just sounds like one endless parade of glib and pithy phrases and I’m amazed someone wrote it. I’m even more amazed when people applaud the writing like it shows great depth. But that’s what I hear when I listen to “World” by Five for Fighting. A litany of cliches.
Here are some highlights:
- Let’s start at the start/Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for/History starts now… - Sunlight’s on the bridge/Sunlight’s on the way
Tomorrow’s calling/There’s more to this than love - Can you dig it baby
Forgive the cynicism, but when I recently heard the song again, I focused on the lyrics and thought, “Wow, that’s a smorgasbord of cliches. I wonder if anyone else hears all those cliches?”
So I looked on YouTube and found lots of comments praising the lyrical insights of this tune. A few examples:
- MrRastaleatherface says “This song is great…. we should ask our selves what kind of world do we want…. Amen…?????!!!!”
- Floreat19 says “If I had a choice and the power to make it so, I’d want to make a world full of love. Its naive yes and very idealistic and maybe a bit silly too but I wish for it all the same. To that end I resolve to make the little part of the world I occupy into somewhere where people I meet can feel that they’re loved and cared about. I think that when I’m older knowing that I helped people and their lives are better because of something I did would mean the world to me. That would be all I’d really want.”
Am I missing something? Sure, it’s a nice melody. And it’s a nice sentiment. But couldn’t Mr. Fighting have spent a little more time on the lyrics to make them, I don’t know, a little more original?
I guess I should be careful what I wish for…
Buy the song
Listen to “World” by Five for Fighting
“World” lyrics by Five for Fighting
Got a package full of wishes
A time machine, a magic wand
A globe made out of gold
No instructions or Commandments
Laws of Gravity or
Indecisions to uphold
Printed on the box I see
A.C.M.E.’s Build-a-World-to-be
Take a chance – Grab a piece
Help me to believe it
CHORUS
What kind of world do you want?
Think anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now…
Should there be people or peoples
Money, funny pedestals for fools who never pay
Raise your army – choose your steeple
Don’t be shy, the satellites can look the other way
Lose the earthquakes – Keep the faults
Fill the oceans without the salt
Let every man own his own hand
Can you dig it baby
What kind of world do you want
Think anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now…
Sunlight’s on the bridge
Sunlight’s on the way
Tomorrow’s calling
There’s more to this than love
What kind of world do you want
What kind of world do you want
What kind of world do you want
Think anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece
History starts now
Be careful what you wish for
Start now
Written by Michael Waterman
I'm an obsessive music collector, cataloger, commenter and trivia nut. Sometimes I'm even a listener. One-hit wonders have always been a guilty pleasure.
Filed under: 2000s, Pop · Tags: 2006, ballad, Five for Fighting, Pop, World