I be walkin god like a dog
My narrative fearless
Word war returns to burn
Like Baldwin home from Paris, Uh
Like steel from a furnace
I was born landless
Yes its tha native son
Born of Zapatas guns
Stroll through the shanties
And tha cities remains
Same bodies buried hungry
But with different last names
The vultures robbin everything
Leave nothing but chains
Pick a point on the globe
Yes tha pictures tha same
Theres a bank, theres a church, a myth and a hearse
A mall and a loan, a child dead at birth
Theres a widow pig parrot
A rebel to tame
A whitehooded judge
A syringe and a vein
And the riot be the rhyme of the unheard

What ya say? What ya say? What ya say? What?
Calm like a bomb

This aint subliminal
Feel the critical mass approach horizon
Tha pulse of the condemned
Sound off Americas demise
Tha anti-myth rhythm rock shocker
Yes I spit fire
Hope lies in the smoldering rubble of empires
Yes back through tha shanties and tha cities remains
Same bodies buried hungry, uh-huh
With different last names, uh-huh
The vultures robbin everyone
Leave nothing but chains
Pick a point here at home
Yes the pictures tha same
Theres a field full of slaves
Some corn and some debt
Theres a ditch full of bodies
Tha check for the rent
Theres a tap, tha phone, tha silence of stone
The numb black screen
That be feelin like home
And the riot be the rhyme of the unheard

What ya say? What ya say? What ya say? What?

Calm like a bomb

Theres a mass without roofs
A prison to fill
Theres a countrys soul that reads post no bills
Theres a strike and a line of cops outside of tha mill
Theres a right to obey
And a right to kill



Lyrics submitted by piesupreme

Track duration: 04:59


Calm Like a Bomb song meanings
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50 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:To me it seems like this song is about a police officer or a warlord who controls a poor area in a third world country and he feels completely calm and without regret. But one day a riot hits.
    Flag bemuelon May 25, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion:I like the background voice that repeats "Ignite, ignite, ignite". Great song.
    Flag ImNeilYoungon June 03, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love the background voices in the chorus

    it starts out as (ignite, ignite, ignite)
    then changes to (insite, insite,insite)
    it remindes me of the old AC/DC (oie)s
    Flag scvrockon August 07, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Zach was never hesitant to drop names and rhymes with precision. Where do you get O'Hara outta this? Friggin please, I don't get that in the line. Look to the demagogues to exploit the mass sentiment. It's psychosocial manipulation from the start that works so well. They don't support killers of any kind- especially not killer cops.
    Flag truthnexileon June 05, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song might have something to do with the poor corrupt cities of Northwestern Indiana near Chicago with their failing manufacturing industries. Hence "like steel from a furnace" and "theres a strike and a line of cops outside of the mill." The steel mill workers in these parts are always on strike because of cheaper labor overseas with following wage cuts. Also how he states how he "strolls through the shanties in the cities remains." A lot of the neighborhoods are ghost towns for these reasons.
    Flag RenegadeFoameron March 07, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Love the bass at the start. If i ever start a band, it'll be called "The Rhyme of the Unheard", because the line is "The riot be the rhyme of the unheard". It is saying that "The riot be *my band*". Also it is a good name for a political band like RATM.
    PLEASE don't steal that name! Oh shít now i'll said don't you'll do it.
    Flag FeelTheFunkBlaston February 15, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This song is saying that eventually all the people that are being oppressed, in America and outside America, will eventually revolt, rebel and Take the Power Back (pun intended) and take their rights. He is saying that what we have now is the calm before the rebellion, or the calm before the bomb goes off (the bomb is a metaphor for rebellion).

    "There's a strike and a line of cops outside of tha mill
    There's a right to obey
    And a right to kill"

    Sums up what i am saying
    Flag FeelTheFunkBlaston February 15, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:No, no, no, no.

    "I be walkin' god like a dog"

    Means that people have too much control over the law

    "My narrative fearless"
    That means that people do crime without any fear of getting caught.


    "Stroll through the shanties
    And tha cities remains
    Same bodies buried hungry
    But with different last names
    The vultures robbin everything
    Leave nothing but chains"

    That means people get stolen from by these people with nothing left, or they are killed.


    "Pick a point on the globe
    Yes tha pictures tha same"

    Everywhere you go, there's still crime.

    "calm like a bomb"

    (same meanings through the second part.)

    Means that people do bad stuff and the government thinks the country is calm, even though it's not.

    "Theres a mass without roofs
    A prison to fill"

    Prisons are empty when they should be full of crimedoers, maybe means that it's full of the wrong people.

    "Theres a countrys soul that reads post no bills
    Theres a strike and a line of cops outside of tha mill
    Theres a right to obey
    And a right to kill "

    People aren't following the law all of the time.
    Flagged UNOon January 10, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:actually most of you are wrong. this song is about the death penalty and how blacks are condemned to death more than anyone else. once you listen, you'll notice it.
    Flag Royal Citruson October 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think everyone's right about the various revolutions and dictators etc that this song is about. But no one has mentioned the fall of the Romanov Dynasty yet "there's a strike and a line of cops outside of the mill, there's a right to obey and a right to kill?". Bloody sunday much? They didn't get what they wanted until they rebelled by using union action and even then the bougiousie and proletariat classes got nothing in return so alot of them continued to work (the right to obey) until the entire Romanov family was assassinated (the right to kill). The Russian Revolution is all about strike action, murder and submission. I think it relates to the entire song.
    Flag triktaon September 08, 2008   Link

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