i interpret it as being from satans point of veiw and the way that he has orrupted the world with greed. think about it... and if it isnt then o well i like to think of it as that as it would be a bloody good way of desribing it, the world has been orrupted with greed big time and more than any1 realizes, i mean think abwt itppl go to work all fuken day 4 wat???? money!!! to get what??? material things!!!! grrrrreeeeeedddddd, sortof.... haha no1 fuken reply to this trying to diss wat im saying, every1s got their own opinion, i h8 how ppl ear eah other dwn on these things and get all ompliaed with sht, its pitheti

Alright, yes greed is a factor, but in the song he saying who he is. So, who is "the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria. The Noose and the rapist the fields overseer. The agent of orange, the priest of Hiroshima." He is talking about the white man. Why do I say that? you might ask. Alright, who came over on the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria... Christobal Colon or Christopher Colombus, a white man. Who hung and raped folks in times of slavery... white folks. Who watched over the slaves on the plantations... white folks. Who used the agent orange, and dropped the bomb on Hiroshima... white folks. So, if it has to do with greed you are partly right. Unless you mean the source of the greed.

This song is about the book "1984" by George Orwell, in which a totalitarian party constantly controls and changes history to make it fit to the political situations it is in. War is constant and people are keepen dumb and willing by it. But the war consumes all the products that could make the people strive for power, so they live in strict poverty, planned by the government. It fits 100%. Read the book. It's pretty cool.

1 Reply

Relatively straightforward lyrics. Just wanted to add that "the party" could conceivably refer to the Boston Tea Party(?!) and "end of history" very clearly refers to "The End of History" written by Francis Fukuyama. For those not familiar with him I'd imagine Wikipedia has the scoop as always :)

well, i don't mean to get too political here, but steve-dave415 pre WWII, the Japanese were sick fucks. Here is the wiki to show how messed up they were.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre - I don't see a song recognizing that Japanese Imperial forces raped tens of thousands of women in Nanking.

Also, they started a war with us, and when you start a war with us well, we're gonna fucking fight. I know , I know, I know. Theyre innocent. Well, so were we.

Anyways, great song. The video is really well put together, damn wall street assholes lol.

I think it's about how the government doesn't learn from their mistakes, hence, "There is not other pill to take, so swallow the one that made you ill."

Also, "The world is my expence, the cost of my desire" means that the governments think that they own everything and they want to own everything.

It's about the America and it's fucked up principals surrounding world politics and capitilism

Am I the only one that wants to just BRAWL when this song is played?

fucking hell

this song is quite obviously about the devil/evil and the way it's portrayed in our modern society

"the cost of my desire, sleep now in the fire"

i'm greedy, now i'm in hell

he also lists all these "evil" events that have happened in history

basically, it's about evil


not ever rage song is the standard fight the authority thing

I´ve come to the conclusion that the song is from the perspective of mankind.

I am the Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist
The fields overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of Hiroshima

He's taking these american events as examples
to characterize the human race.
By the way I think this hasn't already been posted: "The priests of hiroshima" are most likely referring to the priests who prayed with the crew of the enola gay that everything would turn out "well".

Now the song means to me, that every single one of us is responsible for the state the world is in today.
Be it actively or passively. There is no government to blame as those are just the people representing you and me.

1 Reply

just to add the lyrics referring to jesus. is not infact referring to jesus himslelf and religion. but of course the american currancy whcih states 'IN god we trust'

This is quite obvious i think.
I agree it is definately from greeds point of view. The first line 'The world is my expense the cost ofmy desire' is quite obviously dipicting greeds value in the lives of (American) people. It also comments on the value that we put on power and how money ties in with that. It comments on the future generations with 'Im deep inside your children
Theyll betray you in my name"
It sorta errily puts it straight in your face confronting the issue that the future generation will continue to be like that. It comments on american capitalism and globalisation in both the video and the lyrics referring to the battle of seatte. Where peaceful protesters protesting against globalisation of america were arrested.
So raise your fists
And march around
Just dont take what you need
Ill jail and bury those committed
And smother the rest in greed

Umm...the chorus and the name of the song 'Sleep now in the fire' is sort of metaphorical in that we can die in a fire sleeping as we dont know that its happening before its too late. Sort of relating that to greed, american capitalism and the value of money.

the use of differnt american events..such as..
I am the Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist
The fields overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of Hiroshima

relate to agent orange in vietnam, hiroshima, black americans (the noose and the rapist), nina pinta the santa maria refers to Christopher columbus' ships in which he found america and invaded on indian american territory now just a minority. It comments on the justification of greed and the desire to become richer, powerful and controlling.

Its most definately a comment on the value of moeny and greed and the willingness for people to seize these things by any means neccessary.

Great clip my michael moore and a great song by RATM.

Thumbs up from me!!!

dc0d3!!

Democracy was not based after communism, it came way beforehand. Communsim is more like a form of economy control than a form of government, thats why in a communistic state the power vaccum is always assumed by a dictator. Its happened in Russia, Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, China, even as far back as Rome. Don't believe me? Look up "Roman Principate". When land became collectivized the economy sank and emporers replaced one another in a matter of months.

Marx and Frederick incorporated democracy into their communist ideology because at the time that was the government of Europe basically. Ideal communism, as they put it, would be a democratic society where everyone is a worker (proletariat), worked in the same community factories, and shared their earnings and land among one another. Sounds nice, but nothing in theory ever works out in practice.

A fun fact is that Karl Marx ment for communism to take place in states that were already industrialized because of the pre-existing gap between poor and rich and a system of economy to work on. But every state that had adopted communism was a state with an agrarian economy. There was no built-in system for communism to work off of as how do farmers share land crops? There is no proletariat or bourgeoise with farmers, they are the only ones controlling the economy. In addition, human nature is such that we compete with one another for more land or more food. Capitalism works intuitively with human nature while communism seems to be counter-intuitive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz8wU9DdbqU&NR=1

this should help you out

Wow there are some really good discussion points about this song. I'd like to add one of my own:

"Jesus blessed me with its future" - In this line I think Zach is referring to the concept of Manifest Destiny coined by the journalist John L. O'Sullivan. In support of the US expansion across North America, O'Sullivan wrote: "And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." In this quote "Providence" means God, and O'Sullivan believed that God had given the United States a mission to spread our freedom and democracy throughout North America. The concept of Manifest Destiny and the arguments of it's proponents were later used to support American colonization efforts outside of North America.

i like how he rolls his tounge on santa marriiaaa

Rage condemns capitalism, but America is no longer a capitalist nation. Capitalism is good. Corporatism is bad, and a form of fascism. America is a fascist nation. So, Rage's message is good, but capitalism is not the reason that America is fascist, it is corporatism.

In a truly capitalist society, saving would be encouraged and the nation's people would not be in debt, and therefore less greedy. If RATM realized this, then maybe they wouldn't decide that the complete polar opposite of capitalism, communism is the only solution to greed. America is not a capitalist society, because a capitalist society does not foster greed, it fosters charity and savings. Corporatism or fascism, the same thing, foster greed. So, the problem is not capitalism, it is corporatism or fascism. America is a fascist nation, not a capitalist nation, although it was founded on true capitalist principles.

We have strayed far from our principles. The solution to big government corporatism and greed is not communism, but libertarianism.

To analyze the second verse: it documents all the injustices of history:

I am the Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria - Represents the evil of conquistadors and destruction of cultures, as mentioned in Darnkess of Greed.
The noose and the rapist - Represents the crime of rape, and the unjust executions of people for rape back in the 1930s and 1940s, usually poor black men.
The fields overseer - Refers to the overseer of the plantations in the American South who would prevent the slaves from escaping and usually punish slaves that attempted to escape.
The agents of orange - Refers to Agent Orange, a defoliation agent sprayed on Vietnam by the United States during the Vietnam War, which caused birth defects and health problems for Vietnamese civilians.
The priests of Hiroshima - Refers to the civilans killed in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II in 1945.
The cost of my desire - As someone above me mentioned, the evil of capitalism.
Sleep now in the fire - An awesome way of saying "die painfully".

Nothing is True:
You are wrong that democracy comes only from communism. In fact you are wrong that communism has any relation to democracy.
In a Communist system, such as present-day Cuba or the Soviet Union, a dictator assumes complete control of society and the voice of the people is not heard at all. Dissenters are silenced. Your misconception may be due to the fact that Communist regimes invariably claim to be "of the people" because they do eliminnate class systems and bring down the aristocracy. However, as you pointed out, democracy means rule of the people and in a Communist sytem they dont rule-- a dictator does.
A representative system which we have in the US is not a direct democracy because people dont vote on each issue (except in the case of referendums and intiatives) but we vote on representatives who we trust to make decisions. Our systems has branches of government which check and balance each other-- its definitely not a dictatorship. That is way off.
Just wanted to the clear that up although the post im responding to is almost a year old.

Response to flanger

you are an idiot to say Zack is the only politically aware member of rage is so god damn dumb... i agree with 80% of what your saying but if you got your facts right, Tom Morello is extremely aware on politics, he started up the Axis of Justice with Serj Tankian, while he was working with Audioslave he started a solo career calling himself the nightwatchman, expressing his views on the world and himself. He worked very hard for the Mumia case and many other cases and organizations.

Tim C. isn't a retard, i would like you to say it again when you find out his mother died when he was young and he is also has strong views about American politics . So what if he's a bit eccentric, so what if he rocked the MTV structure in 2000, he's a good man, you are not!

fuck, not all rage songs are about the goverment

not all rage songs are exactly the sam

to me, this song is clearly about the concept of hell

"i'm deep inside your children, they'll betray you in my name"

it's like he's talking from the evil point of view

"I am the Nina The Pinta The Santa Maria
The noose and the rapist
The fields overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of Hiroshima"

he goes through a list of evil things

"The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire"

to me, these two lines are the most black and white

the cost of his desires (all the evil shit he did)
sleep now in the fire (he'll burn in hell)

i think this may be taking a mock point of view

taking the piss outta christianity maybe...

the lines:

Im deep inside your children
Theyll betray you in my name

and

The party blessed me with its future

reminded me of the book 1984

"Hiroshima during WW2 was completly destroyed by American bombs."

It was only one bomb there bucko.

Quote:
by sicpuppy9872001 on 04-21-2004 @ 05:28:50 PM
'Rage wouldnt fight for democracy, theyre marxists, communists. True communists not like that russian communism bullshit.'
This may have come from a very old post, but i need to clear something up. DEMOCRACY IS ONLY OBTAINED THROUGH COMMUNISM!!!!!!! AMERICA IS NOT DEMOCRATIC!!!!!!! A true democratic society would be communist, egalitarian, and ruled by the people. That's what democracy means. Demo- is a prefix meaning 'people', and -cracy means 'ruled by' or 'government. America is a dictatorship, and democracy is basically freedom.

The world is my expense
The cost of my desire
Jesus blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire
So raise your fists and march around
Dont dare take what you need
I'll jail and bury those committed
And smother the rest in greed
Crawl with me into tomorrow
Or i'll drag you to your grave
I'm deep inside your children
They'll betray you in my name

Lets start by defining a narrator for whose expense the world is.
For this analysis, I will assume it is anyone who would value greed over humanity, and we will further define this as we go by looking at what this person is saying.


“The World is my expense, the cost of my desire. Jesus blessed me with its future and I protect it with fire.”
This person is saying they don’t care if it costs the world to achieve their desire. They say that they know Jesus has promised them the fruit of this desire, and they will “protect it with fire” or protect it with force, or more bluntly, take what they want with force.

“So raise your fists and march around – Don’t dare take what you need”
Go ahead, yell, scream, I don’t care, just as long as you “don’t… take what you need” or take anything from me… since my desire is to have things, by you taking it from me, you are getting in my way.

“I’ll jail and buy those committed and smother the rest in greed.”
If you are so committed to taking what you need, Ill kill you or throw you in jail. The more simple minded ones however, I can just dangle a dollar bill in their face and they will be happy. Or better put, I will turn their eyes from me by turning their eyes towards all the things they think they want.

“Crawl with me into tomorrow or ill drag you to your grave”
Similar to the last sentence, if you do not come along, I will kill you.

“I’m deep inside your children, they’ll betray you in my name”
Even if you survive me, and are not blinded with greed, you will die, and before they have a chance to object, I will have your children following me.

“Hey!
Hey!
Sleep now in the fire”

I will get to this further in my discussion.


The lie is my expense
The scope with my desire
The party blessed me with its future
And i protect it with fire
I am the nina, the pinta, the santa maria
The noose-man, the rapist, the fields overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of hiroshima
The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire

“The lie is my expense, the scope of my desire.”
An expense can best be described by putting it into context. A new printing press is an expense for a publishing company. A new stadium is an expense for a football team. Your bills are an expense for you. The lie is my expense – I will pay a lie (I will lie to you) in order to get what I want (the scope of my desire).

“The party blessed me with its future, and I protect it with fire”
The party (whatever organization I am involved with) has blessed me with the ability to do this to you, and I will not sit idly as you ruin my ambition – I will kill you if you try and stop me (protect it with fire).

“I am the nina, the pinta, the santa maria (the ships Columbus found America with)”
I found this, therefore, it is mine. (What did I find? I found this think which I am driving for, this thing which I desire).

“[I am] The noose-man, the rapist, the fields overseer. [I am] the agents of orange, the priests of Hiroshima.”
Lets start with the priests of Hiroshima. The priest could be a spiritual guide. That would not fit at all with the tone of this song though. Suddenly I am the one who cares about the people in Hiroshima? What if priest was more like the spiritual judge? I judged the people of Hiroshima, I then condemned them to their death. I kill those people to accomplish my goals.
The noose-man, rapist and fields overseer then, make more sense if the rapist is not a sexual rapist, but a rapist of humanity. It could be said that a country has raped another if they take their resources and use their people. It could be said that I am the rapist if I use you for my means and disregard the consequences. I am the fields overseer. I direct the work to be done. I force YOU to do the work as I see fit.

“-the cost of my desire – sleep now in the fire”
These are the consequences of my desire, and now you sleep in the fire because of them(you are probably dead if you are sleeping in fire).

“Hey!
Hey!
Sleep now in the fire”
Yeah, sleep in the fire now (you are dead, once I have taken what I need from you, in fact, probably because I have taken what I need from you).


For it's the end of history
It's caged and frozen still
There is no other pill to take
So swallow the one
That makes you ill
The nina, the pinta, the santa maria
The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer
The agents of orange
The priests of hiroshima
The cost of my desire
Sleep now in the fire

“For it’s the end of history. It’s caged and frozen still.”
He seems to leave the narrator’s voice for a second here.
The end of history, and not just the end of history, but this end is caged and frozen (unchangeable).

“There is no other pill to take, so swallow the one that makes you ill.”
I, and my way are the only options you have (sucka!), so looks like you are stuck with what I am doing.

“the Nina, the pinta, etc…”
Already described


So what is Zach saying??
That our world is being raped (some people are taking so much advantage of others), that our people are being forced to follow along this path, by threat of death or jail.

Lets put this into some context, and see what he is saying more closely.
(Warning, this may be offensive)

He has obviously made several references to America (the nina, pinta, Hiroshima, etc).
He seems to be saying that America is pretty much abusing the rest of the world. I won’t go into the policies of it, but it could be argued that we force countries to open up their markets to us so that we can sell them our goods (which are mass produced) cheaper than they can sell their own goods to their own people, thus putting their own people out of business, and raising our corporate salaries by 2%. Further, we abuse the labor laws of other countries to produce our goods for a fraction of the cost which our laws state they should be produced at. Thus, people in foreign countries earn very little for the amount of money they make for the corporations they work for. That is not entirely just because they make a $50 shoe for 10 cents an hour. They make $50 shoes in mass quantities so they can be sold at a very high volume, so that many markets don’t have a choice but to buy $50 shoes (how many shoes can you find for $10?).
The worst of it is if we here, in the country where this is occurring in any way try to stop this, (first we are called anti American) if we do anything that would actually stop it (picket the companies, for example) we are thrown in jail.
Zach seems to comment that the only way to even try and stop this is to do something that would land you in jail or dead. It does seem that no one cares how unequally our country treats other countries, at least no one cares enough to vote for politicians who would enact laws against it, or to find other constructive ways of stopping this abuse of other countries (I mean, @#%$, I need shoes too). Zach seems to conclude violent action (which he even says would be pointless) is the only recourse to this problem.
He concludes, eventually, because of this, we will all end up sleeping in the fire, as a consequence of these ambitions.


Please remember, I do not know Zach's mind, this is just a guess at what he is trying to say.
Regardless of the particulars, this song still says a very important thing.