"The World I Know" is a song by American band

Collective Soul Collective Soul is an American rock band originally from Stockbridge, Georgia. Now based in Atlanta, the group consists of lead vocalist Ed Roland, rhythm guitarist Dean Roland, bassist Will Turpin, drummer Johnny Rabb, and lead guitarist J ...

, originally released on their 1995 eponymous album. Written by lead singer and guitarist

Ed Roland Edgar Eugene Roland, Jr. (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Collective Soul. He is also active with his side project ...

, "The World I Know" peaked at number 19 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart when released as a single and spent four weeks at the number-one spot on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. In Canada, the song reached number one on the week of March 11, 1996, becoming the band's highest-charting single there.

Background

In a December 2017 interview with ''Songfacts'', lead singer

explained the inspiration behind "The World I Know": During an interview on The Professor of Rock

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channel with Adam Reader that was posted on October 10, 2022, Ed corrected Adam on the official authorship credits for this song. When Adam mentioned, "Co-written with

Ross Childress Ross Childress (born September 8, 1971) is an American musician. He was the original lead guitarist and co-songwriter for the rock band Collective Soul. Life and career Childress was born on September 8, 1971, in Stockbridge, Georgia, USA. C ...

...", Ed stopped him and stated, "No, not co-written. And, I'm going to say it right now, he didn't write a damn thing. He didn't even play on the song. He gets credit, 'cause he wanted credit. And, at the early time of a band, you want to make sure everybody's clear and cool. He didn't write a damn thing."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

depicts a businessman who begins to go about his day, reading ''

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'' on the way to his

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. As he reads about death, and sees the homelessness and sadness on the street, he becomes disillusioned with his life and prepares to commit suicide. As he climbs to the roof of a nearby building, he takes off his shoes and looks at the ground crying. He stretches out his arms and readies himself to fall. However, just as he is about to fall, a dove lands on his arm. He feeds it with the

bagel A bagel ( yi, בײגל, translit=beygl; pl, bajgiel; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. It is traditionally shaped by hand into a roughly hand-sized ring from yeasted wheat dough that is first ...

in his pocket, and the crumbs attract ants, which makes the man notice the similarities of them to the people walking below. He laughs throwing all his money at the people and pulls himself out of his state. During the entire video, periodic cuts to singer Ed Roland looking on at the man while singing the song are shown. The video also shows sadness and happiness in the form of color hues for the video. While the man is disillusioned with his life and is thinking about suicide, the video is in a blue and purple tint, giving a dark feeling to the video. When the dove lands on the man's arm, the video's hue changes to show the normal colors of the city, also revealing the sun shining over the city, showing of the sudden change to happiness and relief.

Track listings

US CD and cassette single, Australian CD single # "The World I Know" – 4:15 # "When the Water Falls" (live acoustic) – 3:41 US 7-inch single :A. "The World I Know" – 4:16 :B. "Smashing Young Man" – 3:44 UK CD single # "The World I Know" (edit) – 3:51 # "When the Water Falls" (live acoustic) – 3:41 # "The World I Know" (LP version) – 4:15

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Cover versions

On May 20, 2008,

David Cook David Cook may refer to: Entertainment * David Cook (game designer) (active since 1980s), American game designer for TSR * David Cook (singer) (born 1982), winner of the seventh season of ''American Idol'' * David Cook (writer) (1940–2015), Briti ...

, winner of the seventh season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' performed the song. Following his performance, Cook's version peaked at number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Digital Songs chart and number 28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Pat Green covered this song in his album ''Songs We Wish We'd Written II''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World I Know, The 1995 singles 1995 songs Atlantic Records singles Collective Soul songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Matt Serletic Songs written by Ed Roland Songs written by Ross Childress