"With Arms Wide Open" is a song by American rock band Creed. It was released on April 24, 2000 as the third single from their second studio album, Human Clay. The song topped the BillboardHot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (most airplay of a track from an album) for four weeks in July 2000; a month later it reached the U.S. top 40 (in sales). In October, the song hit the top ten and topped the Billboard's Adult Top 40 chart for eight weeks. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated November 11, 2000 for one week, becoming their first and only number one. The music video topped VH1's top ten countdown in 2000.
In February 2001, Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song as the writers of "With Arms Wide Open".[3] The song was also nominated for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, but lost to U2 for "Beautiful Day". In September, it was announced that Creed would release a limited edition single of "With Arms Wide Open" with some profits benefiting Scott Stapp's With Arms Wide Open Foundation to "promote healthy, loving relationships between children and their families".
Three main versions of the song exist. One is the original album version. The second is the radio version, which adds additional hi-hat and drums, and also edits out the ending. The third is the video version (or "Strings Remix") which adds strings to the radio version.
Background and writing
Scott Stapp wrote the lyrics when he found out, with great surprise, that he was going to be a father.