The real meaning of "Higher"?
 

I've always wondered what the song was about but I'm still convinced it's about suicide. It seems pretty obvious. I know there are stories about Scott using weird dream techniques and that's what caused this song to exist but I find that really odd. I know they always say it's up to the listener what it means, but seriously.

What do you all think it's about? :confused:

Suicide???

I think it's about going to Heaven, where the Love is. That he's sick of the lack of love on earth, but not that he wants to kill himself.

But what about "Let's go there, let's make our escape..."? I understand that he's sick of the hate on earth.

And I swear in the background of the bridge of the song you can hear police sirens ever so slightly. Am I the only one who ever noticed this?

no.

I'm with you on this one, Marcos....case in point, these lyrics:

Can you take me higher, to a place where blind men see (Jesus healed a blind man)
Can you take me higher, to a place with golden streets (Heaven is said to be paved with streets of gold)

All throughout the song, Scott sings of TRADING the life he lives while he's awake (life in a world full of hate and pain) for the life in his dreams (a place full of love and comfort). :D

perfect!!!

I couldn't have said it better.

Just for the record: Jesus healed many blind men! :)

"Let's go there, let's make our escape, let's go there, let's ask can we stay?"
most likely, escaping from this world into the world in his dreams, full of comfort and peace (heaven) and asking to stay there.

Yes. But, how is he going to do this other than taking his own life? He wants to die so that he can end the suffering.

What the hell are you talking about? Heaven is not in your dreams!!! That's some crazy theology you got going on there...

hehe, yeah I knew that!! ;) Well, to be honest, I didn't trust myself to remember and I was a little lazy to go to my bible to be sure!
But anyway, the whole song sounds like he's singing about heaven...
Up high I feel like I'm alive for the very first time...
Said up high I'm strong enough to take these dreams and make them mine.
This is one of my very favorite Creed songs!

By the way, the thing about the sirens - nah, it just sounds like the song building, like you hear that part and feel like you're being taken higher! :D

Not to start a religious debate or preach, or try to force my beliefs on anyone, because I don't like to do that, BUT....the only way I can explain it is, when you have Jesus and His spirit, you are here on this earth but always longing to be closer to Him and the Father in heaven....and if He is in your heart, you can experience His presence and feel close to heaven even while here on earth. It's the thing that keeps me going, being here on earth in all the hate and pain around me, but knowing I can be as close to Him as I choose to be, just by asking for His presence and peace to surround me. So you don't have to die to end the suffering. Sorry if I confused you; but that's my take on it, from my own experience. :)

And this is WHY it's up to the listener to decide what they think it's all about. And what one thinks it's about doesn't necessarily mean that's what EVERYONE'S take will be on a song.



HER perspective, if it's not yours, there's no need to bash her beliefs.

I recall an interview where he said it was about lucid dreaming to help stop a recuring bad dream.

That was a long time ago, and I don't recall just when it was.

But whatever people get from it is all cool.

I thought it was about finding God. I was a church youth director at the time I found Creed LOL...

i thought creed were a christian rock band to start with, thats how i got into creed. i'm sure i'm not alone here......

yes he did an interview that i did read over at www.christianmusic.com (could still be there) where he said it was about a book he was reading on lucid dreaming. he was having a recurring nightmare that occured every night and after this technique he didn't suffer from that again as far as we know.

i noticed that sound too, it could be a guitar phaser sound effect or something, if it's not a siren

When dreaming I'm guided through another world
Time and time again
At sunrise I fight to stay asleep
'Cause I don't want to leave the comfort of this place
'Cause there's a hunger, a longing to escape
From the life I live when I'm awake

he's talking about his "dreams" here, no indication of suicide

Although I would like our world to change
It helps me to appreciate
Those nights and those dreams
But, my friend, I'd sacrifice all those nights
If I could make the Earth and my dreams the same
The only difference is
To let love replace all our hate

talking about how he wishes the real world was like his "dreams"

Up high I feel like I'm alive for the very first time
Up high I'm strong enough to take these dreams
And make them mine

still talking about the "dreams"

Here's part of a Spin magazine article

Creed finish with "Higher," which Stapp says is not about Christ's ascension to heaven or taking a big bong hit - it's about the power of lucid-dreaming. "You're physically asleep, but you're awake in your mind," he explains.

He read a book about Hindu monks who have perfected the technique and thought it might help him squelch a recurring nightmare: He's running down a highway, closely pursued by a man with a gun. He turns left and hides behind a pillar beneath an overpass but gets shot anyway. Stapp says that once he learned how to lucid-dream, he was able to alter the nightmare so that he turned right and escaped. After he wrote "Higher" about the experience, he never had the nightmare again.

I think I know what you're talking about....there's a keyboard part in there...it's very low in volume, but if you really listen for it...it's there. I can't not hear it anymore..once I keyed into it..it's always there. That'd be the Flipster LOL


I come from a strong Christian background, so I always saw that aspect of it first....but with time, I've seen other way to hear it too.....the beauty of music.

I Would Sacrafice All Those Nights To Make The earth And My Dreams The Same, And Can Ya Take Me Higher To A Place Were Im Not Seen, And The Song Goes On About Make Me Strong Enough So I Can Take These Dreams And Make Them Mine, I Really Dont Have A Clue, :D But To An Arist Or Song writer A Song Can Take On Different Meanings As We Again Pass Many Oceans :D But I Woul Love To Give My Opion And What I Think Its About HELLBOY, But That Would Just Take Too Long, REAL LONGGGGGGG, Alls I Can Say To put a song like that together It Must Have Been One Hell Of A tecnich,

i love the beauty of it,

Personally I subscribe to the big bong hit theory myself :D. To me, it's all about escape and Heaven's a place where you're not supposed to feel pain and all is good...same as while you're high or drunk. When reality hits, sunrise, you're coming down off the high, and you long once again to get it back. Like dreams, it's all temporary, fleeting, and not real. I don't know. That's my two cents. :D

:smokin:

I've always had a christian take on it.

That's exactly right, Erin.

As I've heard Scott say in interviews before, he was having this recurring dream where he was running down an alleyway, and someone was chasing him with a gun. He would always turn one way (right, I think) and would always be shot and killed. Then he learned about lucid dreaming, or the power to control your dream unconsiously, and we was able to make himself turn the other way, and was able to escape.

So the "take me higher to a place where blind men see / take me higher to a place with golden streets" is about making things change to the way you want them. If you listen to the very beginning of the song it says "When dreaming, I'm guided to another world time and time again. At sunrise, I fight to stay asleep, cause I don't want to leave the comfort of this place." So he's in another place that can be as happy as he wants it to be, because he can control what happens.


H-D :)

I remember hearing Higher being about a dream that Scott kept having about him being chased by a man with a gun. Then after he wrote Higher he stopped having the dream! It was in that one Rolling Stones mag that had Creed on the front a few years ago ;)

Echelon is right.. Stapp wrote this song because he had some bad dreams ( someone who wanted to kill him) that kept coming back all the time, but then Stapp heard about a thing called lucid dreaming and decided to try it with these dreams. And it worked.... :)

But remember....Stapp says that it up to every person that listen to one of their songs what they get from the lyrics.... :cool:

Exactly. Others artists have said similar things. It's wherever the song takes you or what it makes you think of. A lot of the songs are open-ended enough to allow for different interpretations. And often, what inspired someone to write a certain song isn't necessarily what the song ends up being about.