Huh!
Yeah, we're comin' back then with another bombtrack
Think ya know what it's all about
Huh!
Hey yo, so check this out
Yeah!
Know your enemy!
Come on!

Born with insight and a raised fist
A witness to the slit wrist, that's with
As we move into '92
Still in a room without a view
Ya got to know
Ya got to know
That when I say go, go, go
Amp up and amplify
Defy
I'm a brother with a furious mind
Action must be taken
We don't need the key
We'll break in

Something must be done
About vengeance, a badge and a gun
Cause I'll rip the mike, rip the stage, rip the system
I was born to rage against 'em

Fist in ya face, in the place
And I'll drop the style clearly
Know your enemy...Know your enemy!
Yeah!

Hey yo, and dick with this uggh!
Word is born
Fight the war, fuck the norm
Now I got no patience
So sick of complacence
With the D the E the F the I the A the N the see the E
Mind of a revolutionary
So clear the lane
The finger to the land of the chains
What? The land of the free?
Whoever told you that is your enemy?

Now something must be done
About vengeance, a badge and a gun
Cause I'll rip the mike, rip the stage, rip the system
I was born to rage against 'em

Now action must be taken
We don't need the key
We'll break in

I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
Sick of sick of sick of sick of you
Time has come to pay
Know your enemy!

Come on!
Yes I know my enemies
They're the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite
All of which are American dreams



Lyrics submitted by piesupreme

Track duration: 04:55

"Know Your Enemy" as written by De La Rocha/commerford/morello/wilk

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Know Your Enemy song meanings
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57 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I think this is the monster of a song. I love the anti-capitalist theams and the intro and solo are breath taking.The Maynard verse is cleaver aswell. I would love it if Rage could get back together.
    Flag thrashgrunge4lifeon May 23, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Well, this is probably because I'm currently in world history, but I think the lines

    "Action must be taken
    We don't need the key
    We'll break in"

    could (not saying that's what is intended) be interpreted as referring to the French revolution. Before the French revolution, the Estates General met and the Third Estate representatives were locked out of their meeting room. So they met in an indoor Tennis Court room and decided to come up with a new constitution. Hence the line "We don't need the key. We'll break in."

    That's just my take on it though since a lot of the song seems to be about a revolution.
    Flag LoneCanisLupuson April 22, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Holy crap, I didn't realise Maynard James Wilson sung that verse!
    Flag JoNNieS Kon March 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:fuck conformity is what they're saying obviously.. build you're self as you see fit, don't let anything mold you into something you're not... free you're self from other influences (Break in).. see what's going in the world you live in, really... it ain't pleasant.. but this is america... land of the free, home of the brave.
    Flag philosopherstoneon October 06, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is everything is says you people need to wake up and snap out of this fake reality! 9/11 was an inside job! WAKE UP! they are telling you that these people that are in the GOV. supposedly protecting are the ones killing you and you dont even know...such a sad america!

    wearechange.com
    infowars.com
    prisonplanet.com

    WAKE UP!
    Flag MaLeVoLeNcE13on September 14, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song kicks ass. Another good one about politics.
    And Maynard appears in this song to :)
    Flag Lady*Sparx869on August 03, 2008   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:these lyrics kinda suck
    Flagged J-Rizzoon July 26, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:is that maynard!???
    Flag MassToolfanon March 13, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I will not say what the meaning of the song is, as there have been plenty that have already done so above. If you really need to know (that is you can't figure it out on your own) then scroll up a bit. Anyway, me and my brother went to see Rage at Alpine Valley this August. I'm pretty sure it was one, if not the, first shows they did on their reunion "tour" so to speak. My only comment is that IT FUCKEN ROCKED. I would never have though people would boo Queens of the Stone Age because they wanted to see Rage so bad. But i guess anything is possible.

    Rage Kicks Ass
    Flag scorpio6on February 07, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Does rage change that line 'As we move into 92 ' still in a room without a view' each year? I've got 2 live versions of this song, all in different years and he has a different line for that depending on what year it was in..

    Asking because i'm seeing them in january 2008 which will probably be their first concert of 2008, would be super sweet to be one of the first people to hear the new line.
    Flag shredon December 20, 2007   Link

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