I think the message of this song is similar to the Mos Def album cover that has him wearing blackface. The narrator of the song wakes to find himself as not an individual, but as a black stereotype. The song lists quite a few of them, the acceptable roles for black entertainers in a white society. The narrator rejects these identities, and takes on a highly political one. However, the narrator doesn't take on a peaceful, Martin Luther King-esque political stance; he's not here to:
[Teach] folks the score
About patience, understanding, agape babe
And sweet sweet amour
Instead, he calls for a more radical stance, and tells the "desperate youths" and "bloodthirsty babes" that the energy they have could be a powerful weapon were they not destroying themselves by living within the confines of white stereotypes. He calls on them, therefore, to turn their guns the other way. The final message reminds me of a line from radical African American poet, Amiri Baraka:
'We have awaited the coming of a natural
phenomenon. Mystics and romantics, knowledgeable
workers
of the land.
But none has come.
(Repeat)
but none has come.
Will the machinegunners please step forward?"
I think the message of this song is similar to the Mos Def album cover that has him wearing blackface. The narrator of the song wakes to find himself as not an individual, but as a black stereotype. The song lists quite a few of them, the acceptable roles for black entertainers in a white society. The narrator rejects these identities, and takes on a highly political one. However, the narrator doesn't take on a peaceful, Martin Luther King-esque political stance; he's not here to:
[Teach] folks the score About patience, understanding, agape babe And sweet sweet amour
Instead, he calls for a more radical stance, and tells the "desperate youths" and "bloodthirsty babes" that the energy they have could be a powerful weapon were they not destroying themselves by living within the confines of white stereotypes. He calls on them, therefore, to turn their guns the other way. The final message reminds me of a line from radical African American poet, Amiri Baraka:
'We have awaited the coming of a natural phenomenon. Mystics and romantics, knowledgeable workers of the land. But none has come. (Repeat) but none has come. Will the machinegunners please step forward?"