Come on!
Ugh!

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

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

I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

He may be a real contender for this position should he
Abandon his supposed obedience to white liberal doctrine
Of non-violence and embrace black nationalism'
Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
Pinpoint potential trouble-makers and neutralize them,
Neutralize them, neutralize them'

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

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow



Lyrics submitted by piesupreme

Track duration: 06:04

"Wake Up" as written by De La Rocha/commerford/morello/wilk

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Wake Up song meanings
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86 Comments

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  • -1
    Song Meaning:20/20 visions and murals with metaphors. The denver airport mural depicts the end of the world at the hands of the illuminati, dying black children with coffins and scenes of distress for all races. Also would like to point out that none of these things are 'conspiracy theories', they are indeed 'conspiracies'!
    Flag AgroCelton March 07, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is about the black rights movements during the 60s.

    "And like E-Double I'm mad" - E Double was a rapper in the group EPMD, who made a rap called "I'm mad"

    "Hoover, he was a body remover" - J Edgar Hoover was director of the FBI and HATED the civil rights movements. Lots of conspiracies put the FBI as responsible for a lot of the assassinations and killings of civil rights movement people.

    "You know they went after King When he spoke out on Vietnam" - Conspiracy theories state that the feds actually killed King, not James Earl Ray

    "Flip like Wilson" - Flip Wilson was pretty much the first popular black comedian (during the 60s)

    "Then stick and move like I was Cassius" - Cassius Clay, AKA Mohammed Ali, one of the best boxers of all time

    "Ya know they murdered X And tried to blame it on Islam" - Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam on bad terms, and the official story is that NOI killed him, but there are conspiracy theories that state otherwise.

    "He may be a real contender for this position should he
    Abandon his supposed obedience to white liberal doctrine
    Of non-violence and embrace black nationalism'
    Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
    Pinpoint potential trouble-makers and neutralize them,
    Neutralize them, neutralize them'"

    This is part of the declassified COINTELPRO memo J Edgar Hoover sent out during the civil rights movement. It basically said that MLK was a pacifist, but if they have reason to believe he is going to abandon his pacificism, they should kill him.
    Flag coold00don January 13, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"yea back in this!" he is still in the fight.(prior stanza was about what happens to those who speak out, "their head is flown back")
    "with poetry I flex my mind." He will not be intimidated he knows what is most important he must inform us of the plight like those who did before him. and with his voice he will
    "flip like wilson" makeing reference to woodrown wilson one of the biggest american crooks ever to set office in the white house. He was bribed to pass the Federal reserve bill 1913!!
    educate yourselves and fight the real enemy of state the elite bankers and their federal reserve.

    how" long not long cause what we reap we must sow"
    We don't have long cause what our American brothers allowed in 1913 we must now defeat.

    \secret of the oz"
    masters of money
    Flag pinnaclebasson January 14, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:fred hampton is another great example of what this song is trying to say.
    Flag zapata537on July 05, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Jesus, why do you have to keep teasing the drummer just cause he looks like a monkey?
    Flag ekeakon January 24, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:The last line:

    "How long? Not long. 'Cause what you reap is what you sow."

    is paraphrased from a speech by Martin Luther King on 25th March, 1965, in Montgomery, Alabama, after the march from Selma.
    King said, "How long? Not long, because "you shall reap what you sow."

    youtube.com/…

    He was quoting from Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, chapter six: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
    Flag azkmon October 12, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Dstyles, good work! thanks

    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

    j. edgar hoover was a body remover, thats simple and true. i first heard [im a non-american] of him because i read about the Kennedy assassination(s). its very interesting and in my opionion important to educate yourself about cooperation between oragnized crime and the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.

    correct me if im wrong
    Flag friedeloteson April 15, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Who was E-Double?
    Flag hockeyplya39on March 17, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment: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


    God what a line! I wonder if its true?
    Flag tallandrew1982on January 21, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is obviously one of the best Rage songs, and perhaps the most meaningful. Like many of you have said, this song's about the U.S goverment's countering of the black nationalist movement. My favourite line of the whole thing is "How long? Not long, cus what you reap is what you sow." It reminds me strongly of when Malcolm X said that Kennedy's assassination was the white man's chickens coming back home to roost (representing the violent receiving violence in return). Maybe the chickens came back to the wrong man in the end. I think Zack was saying that the world needed to wake up to the scheming governments of the past and present, wake up to all the coincidence and hazy historical events. Malcolm X was a bold visionary, and so is Zack. He thinks where others would get on with things, he speaks when others keep their mouths shut, and he shouts when other people chew the fat and waste time- And Rage's music was so much better because of it.
    Flag Raininbowson August 08, 2009   Link

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