In 1999, Creed released “Higher”, a song that remains one of their biggest hits. Written by band members Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti, “Higher” is on Human Clay, Creed’s sophomore record. “Higher” became a multi-platinum, 17-week No. 1 single for Creed.
A song about spiritual beliefs, “Higher” says, “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 / So let’s go there / Let’s make our escape / Come on, let’s go there / Let’s ask, ‘Can we stay?’ / Can you take me higher / To a place where blind men see? / Can you take me higher / To a place with golden streets.“
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Stapp later reveals that “Higher” came to him while he was actually dreaming.
“I was basically commenting on my dream and writing my thoughts about what I was dreaming about,” Stop tells Songfacts. “And it was on various levels. It was a literal dream, but it was also on my dreams as a human being at that stage in my life and where I was in my life at that time. I wanted the world, so to speak. I wanted to achieve every dream that I ever had. And also I had that idealistic view of wanting to create heaven on Earth.”
What Scott Stapp Says About Writing “Higher” for Creed
In hindsight, Stapp admits that the idea of “Higher” may not be realistic, although he couldn’t necessarily see that when he was writing the song.
“At the time I penned that song, my view of what heaven on Earth meant was very narrow, very naïve, and very wrapped up in ego and self-fulfillment,” Stapp concedes. “I didn’t really expound on that, but I can comment on that now. And it’s also, ‘Be careful what you wish for, because your prayers might get answered.’”
While Stapp is rightfully proud of “Higher”, he isn’t quite as proud of the video Creed did for the song, at least in hindsight.
“We look back at a lot of our video diary with a kind of ‘What were we thinking? Ewww,’’’ he later told Spin when asked about the video.
Human Clay also includes “With Arms Wide Open”, another big hit for Creed.
Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
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