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"Weight of the World"
The Open Door
Released October 13, 2007
Length 3:37
Producers Dave Fortman
Label Wind-up Records
Chronology
'The Open Door'
"Call Me When You're Sober" Weight of the World "Lithium"

"Weight of the World" is the third song in the second studio album, The Open Door.

Background[]

The working title being "Fuckallyall",[1] the song is described as a song about Amy's "plea for perspective from the expectation of young fans" according to Evanescence.com. For the song, Amy used a music box and toy piano during the verses that she had kept since childhood.[2]

Weight of the World" is a song about feeling the pressure of that and I love our fans and I don't mean, get off my back, I don't want this pressure. It's interesting, playing shows and meeting fans after the show and going to the different Web sites, the fan sites and seeing all these personal experiences that people are sharing and all the advice and answers to questions that they are trying to get from me. I do answer sometimes and I do want to go on. I do want to be there for people and tell them what I think but at the same time, I'm not a therapist and I'm not a doctor and I don't have all the answers for the meaning of life. That's the thing about our music is that it's deep and I'm trying to find the answers and I guess in that song I was really expressing that this is kind of a lot of pressure sometimes and I wanted to definitely say to all those fans, I'm not a prophet and I don't have all the answers, so you really need to look within yourself and start that journey on your own.
―Amy Lee

In an interview with Spin in October 2006:[3]

I was expressing that it feels like so much responsibility that God in heaven gave me a turn. I felt all this pressure from fans who feel I can solve their problems. That song was about rejecting that pressure, like, "Don't make me a role model! I don't have the answers!" But I'm all about making people feel like they're not alone. One fan told me they were seriously contemplating suicide, but that night they were playing our album, something pulled them back from the edge. I know how it feels to be completely alone and helpless, and the last thing you want to hear in that situation is "It's going to be okay." The only thing that seems to really help is that someone else who has felt that low expressing those feelings to you.
―Amy Lee

Composition[]

"Weight of the World" is a mixture of pop and metal as stated by a writer of Stornoway Gazette. Inspired by the pressures of fame the protagonist has, it contains "eastern motifs" and "distorted vocals" in the opening lines "Feels like the weight of the world / Like God in heaven gave me a turn / Don't cling to me, I swear I can't fix you" and in the chorus lines "If you love me, then let go of me / I won't be held down by who I used to be."

Commercial performance[]

"Weight of the World" was released as a radio single in Colombia in October 2007, the fourth overall single off of The Open Door. The song was added to the setlist on The Open Door Tour during 2006-07. The song has also been performed at the NYC Secret Show on November 4, 2009, and at the Maquinaria Festival in Brazil on November 8, 2009. It was later added to the setlist to support Evanescence in 2011-12.

A Synthesis version of the song was performed live in late 2017, but a studio version of it doesn't exist.[4] This version has a Middle Eastern feel to it.

Lyrics[]

Feels like the weight of the world
Like God in Heaven gave me a turn
Don't cling to me, I swear I can't fix you
Still in the dark, can you fix me?

Freefall, freefall
All through life

If you love me, then let go of me
I won't be held down by who I used to be
She's nothing to me

Feels like the weight of the world
Like all my screaming has gone unheard
And oh, I know you don't believe in me
Safe in the dark, how can you see?

Freefall, freefall
All through life

If you love me, then let go of me
I won't be held down by who I used to be

If you love me, then let go of me
I won't be held down by who I was

If you love me, then let go of me
I won't be held down by who I used to be

References[]

  1. "Spotify Chat with Amy Lee". Evanescenceturkey.com. July 18, 2012.
  2. Chelin, Pamela (September 2006). "The Open Door". Kerrang! España (in Spanish). No. 155. p. 24.
  3. Maerz, Melissa (October 2006). "She sold more than 15 million albums with Evanescence, only to find herself in abusive relationships". Spin: 68. ISSN 0886-3032.
  4. "Weight of the World (Finale) - Amy Lee/Evanescence Synthesis Live @ Masonic Theater San Fran, CA"


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