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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nillabeanrc88
09-23-2004

Rated 0 
i have a question... in this song Zach mentions he's mad like e-double, what does that mean? Also what does Flip like wilson mean? and lastly he says, "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'

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AreYouMad?????????
09-27-2004

Rated 0 
i konw that, Flip like Wilson, he is making reference to the Flip Wilson show...but i dont know much about Flip Wilson or his show for that matter

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AreYouMad?????????
09-27-2004

Rated 0 
or maybe he is just making reference to Flip Wilson himself, and not necessarily his show

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hellhawk123
10-30-2004

Rated 0 
powerful song, with good guitar riffs.

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Dstyles
01-02-2005

Rated 0 
'an like E-Double I'm mad'

A reference to the rapper Erik Sermon when he was in rap group EPMD. They wrote a song called 'I'm Mad'

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Doomsquad
01-18-2005

Rated 0 
This song is about waking up

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Renegrenade
01-28-2005

Rated 0 
This song is about the government and it's corruption. Zach is telling ppl to wake up and realize the gov't is feeding them bullshit. The lines at the end are about blacks (like MLK and X) who they felt were threats and that they could eliminate them if (and when of course) necesary. Also, I personally like the Communistic ideals however it never works. People either cheat the system or it becomes a fascist and a dictatorship (like Cuba).

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PinkFloydrulez
02-07-2005

Rated 0 
haha... I never really thought the intro riff sounded like Kashmir till yall pointed it out... Um anyway, this song is awesome.. I first heard it on The Matrix but I was really young and didn't really think much of it, but it was still f'in cool. It wasn't until GTA:SA and the song Killing In The Name then I got into RATM... this song is fuckin bad

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PinkFloydrulez
02-07-2005

Rated 0 
in a good way, i mean

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RadicalMetaphor
03-04-2005

Rated 0 
Jesus christ, what is everyones obsession with criticizing Cuba as being fascists and the 'evil commies'? Still sour about their over-throw of the CIA-backed Batista regime? Or maybe the Cuban missile crisis? Sorry to reign on your parade, but Cuba probably has their heads screwed on better than most communist nations these days (North Korea, China), and those of the past. Illiteracy is almost extinct in Cuba, as everyone is entitled education, where-as when the country was over-seen by the US, the cuban population was largly illiterate due to their deprivation of basic essentials. The country itself has alot of problems, but to call them fascists? The revolution back in the 50's was to benefit the people of Cuba, to escape the grip of american imperialism and to give the people some form of freedom.

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Alexiel_Laguna
03-31-2005

Rated 0 
I like this song. Good lyrics and even better music. And i love it beeing played in The Matrix

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Renegrenade
04-05-2005

Rated 0 
I actually didn't mean to refer to Cuba as facist(whether or not you think they are) even though it kinda came out that way. All I'm saying is Cuba is an example of Communism gone wrong(like it seems to do). Frankly, if it worked Communism would be great, it just doesn't.

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k_obee
07-30-2005

Rated 0 
I think this song is definetely about the US governments attempts to destroy the black civil rights movement and black nationalist movement("They went after King, when he spoke out on Vietnam/Ya know they murdered X, and tried to blame it on Islam").
Socialism as a economic system is a perfect system. However under Adam Smith also explains captialism as a perfect system as well which would evolve in a way to benefit all. I am a socialist myself but i acknowledge the failure of some communist countries (China, USSR, and in some aspects Cuba) while also pointing out some failed captialist economies (Russia, Colombia, Argentina). I would like to see a socialist world however it will never happen in my lifetime. For the captialist system to fall in the way Marx described would mean that the captialist system would have to be free from interference of the government and trade unions. That way the workers would see a socialist revolution as the only option to enhance their rights. But the government interferes to keep the workers so they are only discontented but not at the point of revolution. The media and education system also play a vital part of keeping the staus quo. the education system tell us we are now told not to worry about being selfish and caring about ourselves. The media keeping the hard hitting news that shocks people out of the mainstream and simplfies issues and scapegoats at times of crisis. But there will come a time that we will evolve from this system. Remember just over 230 years economics didn't exist.

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KoRn_Doll
08-09-2005

Rated 0 
Tom's guitar playing in this song is his best!!

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jesusatthepentagon
09-02-2005

Rated 0 
Fuck you guys. Communism is beautiful. The one pleading for emo friends is right. Che Guevara is cool but it pisses me off to see little bastards wearing those tshirts without knowing what he did. you ask them what he did and they said he was a rebel. You ask them what he was rebelling against and they look at you like a 10 year old seeing a cock for the first time.

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ZEROpumpkins
09-02-2005

Rated 0 
I like that one /\

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foffof
09-09-2005

Rated 0 
I was never aware of a cover up of X's murder. I know it's obvious that the government would have liked to, but i thought it was just the NOI silencing him in case he spoke out about Muhammeds relationships.
Another thing, Jesus... is right in some ways. I wouldn't say communism was beautiful, but they are right in saying that people that wear Che shirts etc should at least know what he did. Ask most people with a Che t-shirt on if he was a communist they would say yes, whereas Russia actualy hated him because he was a "Maoist". Glad to have got this off my chest.
Everyone knows what this songs about, so I wont say anyting more.
Wake up and realise.

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jesusatthepentagon
09-11-2005

Rated 0 
I don't believe Che was a Maoist. I beleive he was a Maerxist Lenonist. But you probably knowyour shit better anyway. I'm pretty sure RATM are communists. The whole thing with the big red stars and everything. ANGER IS A GIFT

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Tallbob88
01-16-2006

Rated 0 
Hey I really don't care what Rage stood for I just love the group and their music. The music in this song is crazy. Thats the best part about this song; the music.

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unfranchised
02-17-2006

Rated 0 
yeah cuba is communism gone wrong i presume thats why they have free health care

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Calm Like a Bomb
02-25-2006

Rated 0 
This song is just rage summed up in one. It's their whole message rapped into one, hate and angerfilled song, with some fucking amazing riffs (the way Tom plays the intro on his guitar is just amazing!). I love the way they link some of the lyrics to their other songs, and then quote the government. Zack couldn't have done a better job.

On the argument which is going on above, i agree that those little shits (although a lot of the time it is also older guys) who wear Che Guevara t-shirts and jackets need to get an education and learn about what they are wearing (although the education they would get would probably be anti communist so that isn't much help!).

On the Communist argument, I beleive that communism would work if America and the other powers surrounding them would not keep on pumping money and propaganda into bringing down their systems. People who call communism evil and just dismiss it do not realise that they are actually acting as part of a system which is as 'bad' as communism, but on the otherside of the spectrum. America is slowly turning into a fascist state, and Rage recognised this. I guess through this song and their other songs they hoped to let other people know what was going on.

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jesusatthepentagon
03-03-2006

Rated 0 
Dudes, I got an erection

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blindreaper666
07-22-2006

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

To me this means when you kill off (what you reap) the leaders of a particular movement you're just planting the seeds (what you sow) of another movement.

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Tom_B
08-07-2006

Rated 0 
The beginning of this song sounds so much like Led Zeppelin - Kashmir it's not even funny.

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Bubafoo
08-19-2006

Rated 0 
It pretty much says how corrupt the government is...

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