Rage Against the Machine – Revolver

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  General Comment:Most people here have this song nailed...i just wanna go a bit more in depth..
  
  "pass the purse to the pugilist" to me represents how in these sorts of male-dominated relationships where the woman is just the lowly, servant house wife who doesn't handle any of the finances as if it's the man's job.
  
  "a spotless domain..." she keeps busy and channels here frustration and hides her slowly deteriorating mental state by keeping the house clean.
  
  i really like what someone said referring to the title "revolver" as no just a gun, but to "revolve" and interpreting it as a "what goes around, comes around" sort of double entendre.

  Flag saunders19on December 23, 2012   Link

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    her*
    

    Flag saunders19on December 23, 2012  
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  General Comment:It is about domestic violence: A mother is being beaten up, and she goes mad and kills her husband.
  
  "His spit is worth more than her work
  Pass tha purse to the pugilists
  He's a prizefighter
  He bought rings and he owns kin
  And now he's swingin'
  And now he's the champion"
  This is describing how a husband beat up his wife.
  
  "A spotless domain
  Hides festering hopes she's certain thre's more
  Pictures of fields without fences"
  She is going mad.
  
  "Her body numbs as he approaches the door"
  She is about to kill her husband, she is getting tense.
  
  "Hey revolver, don't mothers make
  Good fathers ?
  Revolver"
  She's going mad, so she's talking to her revolver gun, saying that a mother (her) would make a good father, implying that her son will soon no longer have a father, and the fact that she says that to a gun strongly suggests that she is going to kill her husband.
  
  
  It is about the terrible effects of domestic violence.
  
  

  Flag FeelTheFunkBlaston February 22, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:This song might be about ga y marriage
  hey revolver don't mothers make good fathers?

  Flagged Mattmrb123on August 04, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:'mysteryslugs' what do you mean its not really zach's thing to use metaphors? "you're friendship is a fog, that dissapears when the wind re-directs" a hell of a lot of zach's lyrics are metaphors.and 'flanger' are you sure that's what the song was written about? unless you heard it from zach, every view is an interpretation. wouldn't you say?

  Flag Calm Like a Bombon December 09, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:ClaytonOT is probobly right... yeah...

  Flag destinytomorrowon October 13, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:ClaytonOT is probobly right... yeah...

  Flag destinytomorrowon October 13, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:I'm just so surprised that more people didn't see it the way ClaytonOT did. To me, the song has always been from the son's perspective, but ingeniously, instead of being from a naive child's point of view (see Pink's "Family Portrait"), it's coming from a son who knows all about screwed-up marriages like this, and is making a serious, thought-out decision (or at least wanting very badly to make it) about killing his father, as in, he's asking the revolver itself for adive: "Wouldn't I be fucking justified?? Mothers make better fathers when your dad is like this." I think it's incredible how so much pain, confusion, and panic can be expressed just in the way he sings that one line. In terms of the second verse, I always thought of it as the son being angered by possible sexual abuse ("Her body numbs as he approaches the door") in a Hamlet-esque way. This all seems strengthened by the fact that the story is in third person, an observation, followed by a chorus obviously coming from someone deeply involved in the abuse.

  Flag MoveItUpOneTimeon July 28, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:i think tha song is about domestic violence and a wife uses a revolver 2 kill her husband (who must be a pretty pathetic father because he is always out of the picture - "don't mothers make Good fathers").
  
  it is interesting that the wife uses a revolver because: revolve: means 2 go around - the old saying - "what goes around comes around". the father had it coming.

  Flag songs4aburningcityon July 10, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:Its a song about the horrible gender inequality in many places, where a wife is essentially a slave("he owns kin") to the husband, who is often physically abusive and takes any money the woman has ("pass the purse to the pugilists"). The chorus is suggesting the women fight back (possibly with guns, making it a pun?) and kill the fathers. That way the mothers become fathers as well.
  
  Or its a pro-lesbian marriage song.

  Flag thirdeye187on June 03, 2006   Link

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  General Comment:I agree most with flanger
  hmm I would say this is a straight forward song cuz its not really Zacks thing to use metaphores. A lot of the stuff he says is hard for some people who are hmm.... uneducated on social, political, and military events. I would say domestic abuse, and as Malcom X said "Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery" Just a thought.
  P.S. Zack kicks ass! Audioslave sux.

  Flag mysteryslugson May 01, 2006   Link

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