Lyrics for Wake Up as interpreted by piesupreme

Wake Up Lyrics
Come on!
Uggh!
Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never edit
The needle, I'll thread it
Radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it'll never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!

Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter step
Then bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end

Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors

Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!
What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!

I think I heard a shot (5 times)
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

Background: 'Black nationalism'
'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obediance to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism'
'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers...'
'And neutralise them'

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

Spoken: "How long? Not long, 'cause
what you reap is what you sow."

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  • 77 Comments
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deltajoy
01-22-2002

Rated 0 
This song contains a transcript recording giving evidence of govt plots to 'neutralize' key leaders branded as dissidents or threats. Quite simply, it is a call to wake up and move against the those problems right in front of us, that people often choose to ignore.

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Jigokusabre
04-12-2002

Rated 0 
The government elimiated people who they thought were dissenters.

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hell_i_call_my_head
04-26-2002

Rated 0 
The US government deciding that people who disobey them and are not following their evil capatilist views should be killed, and its asking people to "wake up" to that fact

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unwantedbysociety
05-29-2002

Rated 0 
"How long? Not long, 'cause
what you reap is what you sow."

speaks for itself: if you fuck with the people youre supposed to 'rule' and protect, it can only be a matter of time before they wake up to the fact.

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Knave Murdok
06-14-2002

Rated 0 
I on the other hand was never aware the CCIA tried to blame the murder of malcom X on islam, I've always know he was assasinated by the government, who else would want to?

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kaisute
06-15-2002

Rated 0 
I thought his friend wouldn't wake up and he got pissed and wrote this song... guess I was way off.
Molotov was a great man, LONG LIVE COMMUNISM?

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jel
06-19-2002

Rated 0 
haha, kaisute. that idea (about having a friend that won't wake up) would be good for a parody.

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JabbaHutt444
09-04-2002

Rated 0 
Haha, yeah Jel, Al Yankovic should do a parody song of it :oD

By the way, Capitalism ISN'T evil. Every political system and idea has advantages AND disadvantages. Also the nature of the nation's history, character, leadership, culture and location can be deciding factors in whether a political culture is good/bad. The UK is deemed "good" capitalism, Albania is bad. Sweden has GOOD socialism, Chile has bad. So stop making sweeping generalisations if you can't back them up against anyone apart from a consummate political scholar. If abused, the communist system could enslave a nation's people far worse than capitalism would allow. It would be a fantastic system if human nature wasn't greedy and exploitational, but it sadly is, so Marx's wonderful ideals will never truly bear fruit. Just remember, it's capitalism that gave you the opportunity and funding for the education to LEARN about politics (if any of you have, of course).

You should all try reading P.J O'Rourke's "Eat The Rich" for further explanation.

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Mekyl
10-17-2002

Rated 0 
i dont know what it means to me, it makes me and my friends wanna go on a shotting spree tho...its so angry, i love it!

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terraryzin
03-08-2003

Rated 0 
I personally think its about martin luther king being assassinated by the U.S goverment ''You know they went after King when he spoke out on vietnahm'' and the lines pulled scemes to the dream and put it to an end we all know kings I have a dream speach.

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godisadrug
03-10-2003

Rated 0 
Well said Jabba.
-Long live RATM-

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Payable_on_Death
03-18-2003

Rated 0 
jabba is right on- love this song

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Darktoss
03-18-2003

Rated 0 
Luckily I came along to show y'all whats up.
Before I begin let me clear up a few points...
1) Zach De la Rocha is a prophet."
2) Avril Lavigne is an evil Commy Bitch (commies cant
spell right--Sk8er Boi?! WHAT THE FUCK?!)

Now then... Zach is telling all those "cool" people listening to the afore mentioned evil commy bitch and her evil commy band to "Wake up" before the listener turns into an evil commy follower.

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Darktoss
03-18-2003

Rated 0 
Luckily I came along to show y'all whats up.
Before I begin let me clear up a few points...
1) Zach De la Rocha is a prophet."
2) Avril Lavigne is an evil Commy Bitch (commies cant
spell right--Sk8er Boi?! WHAT THE FUCK?!)

Now then... Zach is telling all those "cool" people listening to the afore mentioned evil commy bitch and her evil commy band to "Wake up" before the listener turns into an evil commy follower.

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disposition9
03-19-2003

Rated 0 
darktoss, commies are not evil, they're better than fascists
this song is about people waking up to media disinformation, governments lying, and just general desensitization to all of that nonsense and jargon. To steal from timothy leary, it's telling us to think for ourselves and question authority, because authorities lie, because we dont know who we are, and to make order in chaos, the authorities, the religious, the educational, etc, have made up rules and regulations, but they're not necessarily right.

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EmO~FrEiNdS plz:)
03-22-2003

Rated 0 
che guevaras cool

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EmO~FrEiNdS plz:)
03-22-2003

Rated 0 
che guevaras cool

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AeroLed286
04-02-2003

Rated 0 
Communists are bad. Communism is good.

The Chinese, the former Soviets, the Cubans, those governments are terrible and the worst in the world. The theory of Communism itself is perfect. But also incredibly imperfect. It will not and does not ever work. Anarchy is much the same. In theory, it is brilliant and perfect, but humans are not able to handle it. It is just human nature to envy, destroy, hate, all that other shit. Communist anarchism will not work. It always turns into a monster like the Soviet Union or China.

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1 Reply
Ar3s
04-21-2003

Rated 0 
Kashmir + Zach's rapping + Tom's mad effects.

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zaphodbeeblebrox42
06-09-2003

Rated 0 
I first heard this song, like most people, when Neo hung up the phone (if you haven't seen The Matrix, rent it today). This song shares a lo of the same imagery of the Matrix. In the movie, a group of rebels are trying to get people to "wake up" to the fact that thy are being enslaved by the machines. The agents who try to supress the rebels are like a government (any government, not just the US) who tries to supress people like Nelson Mandela.

Also, I'd like to know what Darktoss's problem is. What's so bad about Avril Lavigne's music? Sure, it's pop music, but sometimes you need pop music to make you feel good. Nothing against RATM, but if you only listen to angry music, it makes you an angry person, like Darktoss here. It makes you want to go on a sooting spree, like Mekyl.

Also, in response to Ar3s, this song's opening riff DOES sound a lot like Kashmir.

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Frosted
06-12-2003

Rated 0 
YEah, with a Kashmir-esque intro and a song about Malcolm X, what else do you want?

Maybe those cool middle eastern sounding riffs from Kashmir...

Anyway...it's partly just about how the government and media manipulate information but also about the civil rights movement, with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X who were killed for their views, quite possibly by the government. I don't know but I been told, that the part Zack is reading from near the end is from some COINTELPRO documents on Malcolm X. I dunno. Either way, the song emphasizes mostly Malcom.

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RedElephant
06-26-2003

Rated 0 
This was the first Rage song I heard, possibly my favorite. It really woke me up. I actually learned about it in school with a really really cool teacher. We did a whole analysis of it - there are a lot of really interesting things we interpreted. "The needle, I'll thread" - think of a record player, you know, the needle, relating to music. Of course there's the obvious reference to Muhammad Ali (Cassius). Also J. Edgar Hoover, though some kids thought Hoover meant the vacuum cleaner.
I just think it's a great song, and now I always associate it with the Matrix. Which also kicks ass.

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JabbaHutt444
05-13-2004

Rated 0 
This was also the song that really got me into Rage...first song I ever heard of there's, and STILL my favourite! Like you, Red, I associate it with that last scene of The Matrix...it's generally about government control, pretending to act in our best interest, but really feeding their own greed and ends...the message is for all the complacent people that don't care about politics to "wake up" and smell the napalm :o)

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Marquez
05-16-2004

Rated 0 
The line ''Still knee deep in the system's shit'' is a reference to ''Knee Deep In Shit'', a song by Rip Rig & Panic.

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bassnsx
05-20-2004

Rated 0 
communism's fault is in that there is no competition, which ceases improvement and advancement. the only way they can advance and improve is through outside influence. communism can not survive without foreign influence....plus the whole natural greed and self destructive nature of human beings...thing.

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