High Road

Background

In late 2006, Clear Channel Music posted the entire The Rising Tied album complete with commentaries from Mike Shinoda before each song. On "High Road", he said, "‘High Road’ is one of those songs, that I… it just makes me happy. Like it just sounds like a good time to me, sounds like a party. I love playing it live. When we play… when Fort Minor plays shows live, we play… I put together a band of three string players, three backup singers, drummer and a DJ, and it’s me, and Styles Of Beyond on the mic, it’s just a… it’s just a good time and this is one of those songs that I love to play."

The chorus on "High Road" was originally sung by Mike himself, but he thought John Legend's voice would sound better than his and sent him the track to see if he liked it and wanted to sing it. He liked the song and sent it back with his vocals right away. They did not meet to record together according to John. The two had met when Mike went to see a John Legend and Alicia Keyes show in Los Angeles.

Mike said, "I limited the guests to people I already knew. I think the only person I cold-called about the project was John Legend, simply because I really like his voice."

"Petrified" and "High Road" were among some of the last songs finished for the album.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
High Road	The Rising Tied	3:16	2005	November 22, 2005	Features vocals by John Legend.
High Road	The Rising Tied (Non-PA Version)	3:16	2005	November 22, 2005	Different vocal take. Different lyrics.
High Road	Instrumental Album: The Rising Tied	3:17	2005		Official instrumental version.

Live

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
High Road (Live)	Sessions@AOL	3:28	November 02, 2005	July 18, 2006

Live

"High Road" debuted at Fort Minor's show at MySpace's 2nd Anniversary Party, where it was performed as the second-to-last song in the set. The song remained in this spot for all of its performances until the Asian Tour, where it moved down to the third-to-last song. Eric Bobo joined the band on drums for performances of the song during the group's U.S. Tour in early 2006. "High Road" returned when Fort Minor made its comeback with "Welcome" in 2015. The song didn't feature a new remix like several other songs did, and instead was just performed as its studio version. The song was performed at the end of the main set.

"High Road" returned at the very end of Mike's Post Traumatic Asian Tour at the tour's last stop in Singapore. The band rehearsed it at soundcheck earlier in the day as reported by fans as and as posted by Dan Mayo on his Instagram story. During the show, Mike said it was requested by the band's long-time tour manager Jim Digby. The song was only played a handful of times afterward. During Mike's second night in Tel Aviv, Jim Digby joined Mike on stage for the song.

Live Guests

Fort Minor

Last Updated: September 14, 2016

• Eric Bobo

Mike Shinoda

Last Updated: May 3, 2020

• Jim Digby

Lyrics

Album Version

Lets go ya'll!

These people are running off at the mouth,
Tryin to convince me that I'm running on empty,
Tryin to convince themselves that the record with Jay was a fluke,
That the record that I'm makin is a mistake,
And I cant take this,
Lemme tell you where I'm at with this,
You bastards are gonna have to take back that shit,
I'm not plastic and fake, when I make tracks,
I take facts and lay 'em out for the masses,
You assholes are gonna see soon that I'm not playing,
And start asking me the names that I'm not saying,
But I'm tryin to be bigger than the bickering,
Bigger than the petty name calling,
Under the breath talking,
Rumors and labels and categorization,
I'm like a struggling doctor: no patience, (haha)
But you can say what you want about me,
Keep talkin' while I'm walkin' away!

You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
I'm taking the high road, going above you,
This is the last time that I'm gonna trust you,
You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
All that bullshit you talk might work a lot, (Yeah, yo)
But it's not gonna work today!

You people are running off at the mouth,
Tryin' to make me take myself off safety,
Tryin' to make my friends turn their backs,
On the team we built,
Buildin up some mistaken information,
And I cant take this,
Let me spell it out plain for you angry groups,
Complaining 'bout the things we do,
I'm not changing direction,
I'm stepping my game up,
Maintainin my name, same way I came up,
You're gonna see that I'm not playing,
And start asking the names that I'm not saying,
But I'm trying not to mention the names of,
People who wanna siphon attention,
You like the hype but,
Pretendin you're part of the picture wont pass,
You're like a high school dropout: no class, (Haha)
You can say what you want about me,
Keep talkin' while I'm walkin' away! (Bitch!)

You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
I'm taking the high road, going above you,
This is the last time that I'm gonna trust you,
You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
All that bullshit you talk might work a lot,
But it's not gonna work today! (Not gonna work today)

Why does it always have to be,
Somebody's always watching me,
All I really need is some room to breathe (breathe) (breathe),

Is anybody out there listening?
'Cause I cant stand to keep this in,
All I really want, I'll say again!

You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
I'm taking the high road, going above you,
This is the last time that I'm gonna trust you,
You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
All that bullshit you talk might work a lot,
But it's not gonna work today! (Not gonna work today)

Non-PA Version

Lets go ya'll!

These people are running off at the mouth,
Tryin to convince me that I'm running on empty,
Tryin to convince themselves that the record with Jay was a fluke,
That the record that I'm makin is a mistake,
And I cant take this,
Lemme tell you where I'm at with this,

The trash that you talk's really gonna have to quit,
I'm not plastic and fake, when I make tracks,
I take facts and lay 'em out for the masses,
You have to see so you know that I'm not playing,
And start asking me the names that I'm not saying,
But I'm tryin to be bigger than the bickering,
Bigger than the petty name calling,
Under the breath talking,
Rumors and labels and categorization,
I'm like a struggling doctor: no patience, (haha)
But you can say what you want about me,
Keep talkin while I'm walkin away!

You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
I'm taking the high road, going above you,
This is the last time that I'm gonna trust you,
You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
All that talk that you talk might work a lot,
But it's not gonna work today! (Not gonna work today)

You people are running off at the mouth,
Tryin' to make me take myself off safety,
Tryin' to make my friends turn their backs,
On the team we built,
Buildin up some mistaken information,
And I cant take this,
Let me spell it out plain for you angry groups,
Complaining 'bout the things we do,
I'm not changing direction,
I'm stepping my game up,
Maintainin my name, same way I came up,
You're gonna see that I'm not playing,
And start asking the names that I'm not saying,
But I'm trying not to mention the names of,
People who wanna siphon attention,
You like the hype but,
Pretendin you're part of the picture wont pass,
You're like a high school dropout: no class,
You can say what you want about me,
Keep talkin while i'm walkin away! (yeah)

You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
I'm taking the high road, going above you,
This is the last time that I'm gonna trust you,
You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
All that talk that you talk might work a lot,
But it's not gonna work today! (Not gonna work today)

Why does it always have to be,
Somebody's always watching me,
All I really need is some room to breathe (breathe),
'Cause I cant stand to keep this in,
All I really want, I'll say again!

You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
I'm taking the high road, going above you,
This is the last time that I'm gonna trust you,
You can say what you have to say,
'Cause my mind's made up anyway,
All that talk that you talk might work a lot,
But it's not gonna work today! (Not gonna work today)