Lyrics for Maria as interpreted by piesupreme

Maria Lyrics
Tha sun ablaze as Marias foot
Touches the surface of sand
On Northern Land
As human contraband
Some Rico from Jalisco
Passed her name to tha boss
She stuffed ten to a truckbed
She clutches her cross
Here come tha exhaust
And it rips through her lungs
Shes off fast to tha pasture
Like cattle shell cross
Degree 106
Sweat and vomit are thrown
And she prays and suffocates
Upon the memories of home
Of Yankee guns for blood debts on the loans
Of smoldering fields, rape, rubble and bones
Of graves hidden trapped up in visions of war
Of nothing, no one, nobody, no more
These are her mountains and skies and she radiates
And through historys rivers of blood she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
Shes eternally here
Her time is nearNever conquered but here

To tear away at the mask

And now she got a quota
Tha needle and thread crucifixion
Sold and shipped across tha new line
of Mason Dixon
Rippin through denim
Tha point an inch from her vein
Tha foreman approach
His steps now pound in her brain
His presence it terrifies
And eclipses her days
No minutes to rest
No moments to pray
And with a whisper
He whips her
Her soul changed to his will
"My job is to kill if you forget to take your pill"
Her arm jerks
Tha sisters gather round her and scream
As If in a dream
Eyes on the crimson stream
Numb as her wrists spit shots of blood to tha floor
I am nothing, no one, nobody, no more
These are her mountains and skies and

she radiates

And through historys rivers of blood

she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
Maria she's eternally here
Her time is near
Never conquered but here

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Nicodemus
01-14-2002

Rated 0 
This song is about a woman who is taken to work in a sweatshop and committs suicide rather than work in the slave labor conditions of a sweatshop.



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deltajoy
01-22-2002

Rated 0 
This song is about the plight of Latino and Asian workers who labor in 1st-world company factories. Maria is a general representative of those peoples. In the song, she takes her life after suffering as a virtual slave. This is a story repeated thru history and still happening today.

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aws
06-10-2002

Rated 0 
what does it mean when it says "to tear away at the mask"?

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invitalis
06-15-2002

Rated 0 
deltajoy has the correct meaning, the chorus for this song is unbelievable!

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aws
06-17-2002

Rated 0 
well deltajoy, will you tell me the meaning of "to tear away at the mask" in this song is?

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DevasMolfensekr
07-11-2002

Rated 0 
it's about a girl from Mexico living a hard time...
so she travel to the "greatest land of them all" USA
But USA isn't that good as she hoped ... and she dies in USA as some kind of slave!
That is what the song is about, I Think!


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s0m3wh47d4m463d
08-13-2002

Rated 0 
the line "to tear away at the mask" is a reference to her efforts to expose what happened to her, and what was going on.

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mvinterpreter
09-13-2002

Rated 0 
Although this has no MV I'm just going to say, that this is very compelling song. I don't know why, it's just damn good!

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ladii b
04-18-2003

Rated 0 
well ratm is my fav band of all and this is my fav song ofthem all <33

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youenjoymyself
04-30-2004

Rated 0 
they write such damn fine lyrics

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M-Opiate-A
06-14-2004

Rated 0 
Numb as her wrists spit shots of blood to tha floor
I am nothing, no one, nobody, no more
^^^^^^^^^^
Wowzers almost brings a tear to your eye

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fadastic
11-25-2004

Rated 0 
And...if you were wondering the line "My job is to kill if you forget to take your pill" refers to the fact that many of the sweatshop laborers are forced to take birth control pills so that they cannot have babies and get maternity leave.

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red_chords
01-30-2005

Rated 0 
mmm

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srvhendrix
02-11-2005

Rated 0 
what a fucking awesome song, that's it

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lps41
02-19-2005

Rated 0 
You're all stupid. This song is OBVIOUSLY about the impact of the boat Maria, upon The America's. Maria was the name of one of the boats Columbus sailed.

" Tha sun ablaze as Marias foot
Touches the surface of sand
On Northern Land "

As the boat reaches the land.

The rest is mainly about the impact it's had on our American world.

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lps41
02-19-2005

Rated 0 
Oh, and there's a little story thrown in.

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Luke Sumpner
02-20-2005

Rated 0 
Regarding Ips41's comments: Those three lines could refer to the boat. However the next line is

As human contraband.

It seems to meen that Mariah is a mexican immigrant. Those three lines and this one together fit this interpretation but not the one about the boat.

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Mr.Graves
02-23-2005

Rated 0 
agreed, this song is about an "illegal" mexican immigrant who comes to america looking for a better life, but because she's not here "legally" she's forced to work in a sweatshop where she's virtually a slave, eventually she kills herself rather then subject herself to it anymore

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scorpionsting15
03-17-2005

Rated 0 
Lps41 your stupid This song isnt about the santa maria reaching land its about her stepping foot en el norte wich is the north norte is what some of us mexicans use to define the US .

Like cattle shell cross
Degree 106
Is her crossing to the US in the dessert at 106 degrees.

It says: As human contraband
Some Rico from Jalisco
Passed her name to tha boss

The rico from jalisco can be a rich drug dealer that is getting her across

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FloydHammer
03-23-2005

Rated 0 
the line

'my job is to kill if you forget to take your pill"

does not refer to this song. the thing about birth control pills may be true, but its not what that metaphor means. the metaphor is also seen in Sleep Now In The Fire. the line is

'for its the end of history
its caged and frozen still
there is no other pill to take
so swallow the one that makes you ill'

the pill refers to your life, the way of life. so swallow the pill means accept the life that your corporate masters have made for you. thats what the guy is shouting in the song, he wants Maria to conform to her slavery. most of the lines in the song are representative of something.

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funky_bass_guy
04-05-2005

Rated 0 
Interesting comment about the pill being a metaphor for life, im sure thats what it means in Sleep Now In The Fire. In this song the birth control thing makes sense but I wouldnt be surprised if zack used it as a double metaphor.

I love the meaning behind this song, I was flicking through the lyrics when I bought it and this song really hit me, very beautiful, sad lyrics.

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VoiceOfTheVoiceless
06-10-2005

Rated 0 
lps41, it looks like you just got thoroughly *owned* by scorpionsting15.

Thank you scorpionsting for clearing that up for anyone who was taken in by his incorrect interpretation.

As for you, lps: posting your own personal interpretations of song lyrics here is what this site is all about. What it is not about, however, is insulting fellow users and claiming your own opinions to be truth when you in fact have no idea what the hell you're talking about.

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doubleohsomething
08-04-2005

Rated 0 
How are people getting that the characters commited suicide? The first woman died of exaustion in the truck and the second woman died when she slipped at the sewing machine while the boss yelled at her. Also, the song has a lot more meaning if the characters die laboring rather than giving up and commiting suicide.

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dasupaman
09-28-2005

Rated 0 
There is only one woman in the song. She not only works in a field, but then in a sweat shop when the bosses change, and the business. And there is no evidence that she "slipped" where did you get that from? And if you accidentally slip at a sewing machine do you conveniently cut both wrists? I think not. Regardless, this is one of the best RATM songs, Zach is a genius.

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crazy horse
12-18-2005

Rated 0 
I think that doubleohsomething might be on to something. In the first verse, it says that "she prays and suffocates." If you suffocate, you're pretty dead. Then, in the second verse, when it says "her arm jerks, the sisters gather round her and scream" she slips and cuts her self, the women try to do something but can't.

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