Rage Against the Machine – Born as Ghosts

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The hills find peace
Locked armed guard posts
Safe from the screams
Of the children born as ghosts
Gates, guns and alarms
Shape the calm of the dawn
Peering down into the basin
Where death lives on
Where young run foaming at the mouth with hate
Where burning batons beat the freezing who shake
Under the toxic sunsets they dine and toast
Their walls deny the terror faced by the children
Born As Ghosts

One book and forty odd
Stuffed in a r
Ah, the school as a tomb
Where home is a wasteland
Taste the razor wire
And thought is locked in the womb
The tales that tear at the myth of the dream
A suffering that shocks the lives off the screen

Born as ghosts

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Lyrics submitted by piesupreme

Track duration: 03:22


Born as Ghosts song meanings
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16 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment:Initially I thought this song was about the children of illegal immigrants living in places like Southern California who are kept seperated to a large extent from society due to the illegal handicap. They aren't able to attend school and whatnot or ever get a real job if they weren't born in the U.S. and illegally crossed the border with their parents.
    Flag spacebombhazeon February 07, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:This is about the children born every day into poverty in America, the ones that you hardly ever hear about because no-one wants to hear about poor children. They are never seen or heard about, that's where the "born as ghosts" statement comes from. It is maybe more specifically about the class difference (poor-rich divide) in LA.
    Flag FeelTheFunkBlaston February 22, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"you suffer us but can you speak our words?" is missing

    whoever think this is about abortions never heard the song I think
    Flag Virindimasteron April 24, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is how politicians and leaders make choices in the world without thinking about who or how people will be effected by them, namely children, who will someday lead the world, and the things they do keep us from being able to think freely and feel how we want.
    Flag mercutioisdeadon August 29, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i personally think that this song could be about 2 things. one is that we're born to die. think about it... the ultimate outcome of life is death, so youre basically born to become a ghost. the other thing is that he could fee like hes born, but nobody sees him or hears him. hes just invisible to everyone around him.

    "Where home is a wasteland
    Taste the razor wire
    And thought is locked in the womb"

    liek a kid in school thats kind of the outsider and has no friends. these are 2 things i think the song could be about
    Flag jakelac95on August 24, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:yeah, child soldiers: that makes a lot of sense..."young run foaming at the mouth with hate"

    scary that gated communities in the u.s. are so reminiscent of what sounds more like the third-world environment described in this song, where the divide between rich and poor is much more obvious. i fear this is the direction in which america is headed.
    Flag foreverdroneon July 17, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The LA idea is a definite possibility, but I see it as more about the child soldiers in Africa who are trained as bounty hunters or mercenaries
    Flag dontkillwhiteyon March 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is definatley about the rich/poor divide in LA

    The hills find peace
    Locked armed guard posts
    Safe from the screams
    Of the children born as ghosts

    refers to the rich in the hollywood hills stuck in their own happy little world, where they dont see the real problems kids in LA have to live with.

    Where young run foaming at the mouth with hate
    Where burning batons beat the freezing who shake

    those kids end up filled with hate towards racist police.

    Under the toxic sunsets they dine and toast
    Their walls deny the terror faced by the children

    LA is well know for having very polluted air.
    The Kids growing up in the oppresive atmosphere that comes with vast expanses of cheap housing.

    One book and forty odd
    Stuffed in a room
    Ah, the school as a tomb
    Where home is a wasteland

    describing the poverty

    The tales that tear at the myth of the dream
    A suffering that shocks the lives off the screen

    LA is more than happy hollywood. the rich and famous are ignorant to the suffering in LA because they are afraid of it
    Flag ruairion August 06, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:for me this song represents children who are born in environments where their life is a hell...they have barely any education, they are beaten, and the rich people in this environment really don't give a shit...its like they dont exist, hence the term "ghosts"
    Flag zapatista88on June 12, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think this is about being born in capivity, not being able to escape and the childrens rage is built up against the outside world. the atmosphere sounds pretti depressing. it could be a slave plantation, were people are beaten into working and hate the captors or it could be about destroying the future for children 'toxic sunsets' nd all and how all the blame is built up on non existant enimies and the womb could be the crampted conditions or the womb as mentioned above
    Flag claire16on May 10, 2005   Link

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