Rage Against The Machine

Rage Against The Machine

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Rage Against The Machine

1. BOMBTRACK (4:04)
2. KILLING IN THE NAME (5:14)
3. TAKE THE POWER BACK (5:37)
4. SETTLE FOR NOTHING (4:48)
5. BULLET IN THE HEAD (5:09)
6. KNOW YOUR ENEMY (4:55)
7. WAKE UP (6:04)
8. FISTFUL OF STEEL (5:31)
9. TOWNSHIP REBELLION (5:24)
10. FREEDOM (6:06)

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BOMBTRACK

It's just another bombtrack
And sukas be thinkin'that they can fake this
But I'm gonna drop it at a higher level
' Cause i'm inclined to stoop down
Hand out some beat-downs
Cold runna train on punk ho's that
Think they run the game
But I learned to burn that bridge and delete
Those who compete at a level that's obsolete
Instead I warm my hands on the flames of the flag
As I recall our downfall
And the business that burned us all
See through the news and views that twist reality
Enough
I call the bluff
Manifest Destiny

Landlords and power whores
On my people they took turns
Dispute the suits I ignite
And then watch 'em burn

The thoughts of a militant mind
Hardline, hardline after hardline

Landlords and power whores
On my people they took turns
Dispute the suits I ignite
And then watch 'em burn

Chorus:
Burn, burn, yes ya gonna burn
Burn, burn, yes ya gonna burn
Burn, burn, yes ya gonna burn
Burn, burn, yes ya gonna burn

Another funky radical bombtrack
Started as a sketch in my notebook
But now dope hooks make punks take another look
My thoughts ya hear and ya begin to fear
That ya card will get pulled if ya interfere
With the thoughts of a militant mind
Hardline, hardline after hardline

Landlords and power whores
On my people they took turns
Dispute the suits I ignite
And then watch 'em burn

Chorus
     

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KILLING IN THE NAME

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TAKE THE POWER BACK

In the right light, study becomes insight
When the system that dissed us
teaches us to read and write

So-called facts are fraud
They want us to alledge and pledge
And bow down to their God
Lost the culture, the culture lost
Spun our minds and through time
Ignorance has taken over
We gotta take the power back
Bam, here's th eplan
Mother fuck Uncle sam
Step back, I know who I am
Raise up your ear, I'll drop the style and clear
It's the beats and the lyrics they fear
The rage is relentless
We need a movement with a quickness
You are th ewitness of change
And to counteract
We gotta take the power back

Chorus:
We gotta take the power back
We gotta take the power back

The present curriculums
I put my fist in 'em
Eurocentric every last one of 'em
See right through the red, white and blue disguise
With lecture I puncture the structure of lies
Installed in our minds and attempting 
To hold us back
We've got to take it back
'Cause holes in our spirit are causin tears and fears
One-sided stories for years and years and years
I'm inferior? who's inferior
Yea, we needa check the interior
Of the system who cares about only one culture
And that is why
We gotta take the power back

Chorus

The teacher stands in front of the class
But the lesson plan he can't recall
The student's eyes don't percieve the lies
Bouncing off every fucking wall
His composure is well kept
I guess he fears playing the fool
The complacent students sit and listen to the 
Bullshit that he learned in school

Europe ain't my rope to swing on
Can't learn a thing from it
Yet we hang from it
Gotta get it, gotta get it together then
Like the mother fuckin' weathermen
To expose and close the doors on those who try
To strangle and mangle the truth
'Cause the circle of hatred continues unless we react
We gotta take the power back

Chorus

No more lies
     

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SETTLE FOR NOTHING

A jail cell is freedom from the pain in my home
Hatred passed on, passed on and passed on
A world of violent rage
But it's one that I can recognise
Having never seen the color of my father's eyes
Yes, I dwell in hell but it's a hell that I can grip
I tried to grip my family
But I slipped
To escape from the pain and an existence mundane
I gotta 9, a sign, a set and now I gotta name

Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me when I fall
But death is on my side
Suicide

A jail cell is freedom from the pain in my home
Hatred passed on, passed on and passed on
A world of violent rage
But it's one that I can recognise
Having never seen the color of my father's eyes
Yes, I dwell in hell but it's a hell that I can grip
I tried to grip my family
But I slipped
To escape from the pain and an existence mundane
I gotta 9, a sign, a set and now I gotta name

Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me when I fall
Caught between my culture and the system
Genocide

Read my writing on the wall
No one's here to catch me when I fall
If ignorance is bliss
Then knock the smile of my face

If we don't take action now
We settle for nothing later
We'll settle for nothing now
And we'll settle for nothing later
     

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BULLET IN THE HEAD

This time the bullet cold rocked ya
A yellow ribbon instead of a swastika
Nothin' proper about ya propaganda
Fools follow rules when the set commandds ya
They said it was blue
When the blood was red
Thats how you got a bullet blasted through ya head

Blasted through ya head
Blasted through ya head

I give a shout out yo the living dead
Who stood and watched as the feds cold centralized
So serene on the screen
You was mesmerized
Cellular phones soundin' a death tone
Corporations cold
Turn ya to stone before ya realize

They load the clip in omnicolor
They pack the 9, they fire at the prime time
Sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz
And mutha fukas lost their minds

Just victims of the in-house drive by
They say jump, you say how high

They load the clip in omnicolor
They pack the 9, they fire at the prime time
Sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz
And mutha fukas lost their minds

No escape from the mass mind rape
Play it again jack and then rewind the tape
Play it again and again and again
Until ya mind i slocked in
Belivin' all the lies that they're tellin' ya
Buyin' all the products that they're sellin' ya
They say jump
Ya say how high
Ya brain dead
Ya gotta fuckin' bullet in ya head

Just victims of the in-house drive by
They say jump, you say how high

Ya standin' in line
Believin' the lies
Ya bowin' down to the flag
Ya gotta bullet in ya head
     

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KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Born with insight and a raised fist
A witness to the slit wrist
As we move into '92
Still in a room without a view
Ya got to know
Ya got to know
That then I say go, go, go
Amp up and amplify
Defy
I'm a brother with a furious mind
Action must be taken
We don't need the key
We'll break in

Something must be done
About vengence, a badge and a gun
'Cause I'll rip the mike, rip the stage, rip the system
I was born to rage against 'em
Fist in ya face, in the plae
And i'll drop the style clearly
Know your enemy

Word is born
Fight the war fuck the norm
Now I got no patience
So sick of complacence
With the D E F I A N C E
The mind of a revoloutionary
So clear the lane
The finger to the land of chains
What? The land of the free?
Whoever told you that is your enemy

Something must be done
About vengence, a badge and a gun
'Cause I'll rip the mike, rip the stage, rip the system
I was born to rage against 'em

Now action must be taken
We don't need the key
We'll break in

I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
I've got no patience now
So sick of complacence now
Sick Of sick of sick of sick of sick of you
Time has come to pay

Yes I know my enemies
They're the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocracy, brutality, the elite
All of which are American Dreams
     

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WAKE UP

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 hypocracy

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

Wit' poerty, my mind I flex
Flip like, Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I have to do to waye ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause this blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then I 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

The 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

What was the price on his head
     

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FISTFUL OF STEEL

Silence
Something about silence makes me sick
'Cause silence can be violent
Sorta like a slit wrist

If the vibe was suicide
Then you would push da button
But if ya bowin' down
Then let me do the cuttin'

Some speak the sounds
But speak in silent vocals
Like radio is silent
Though it fills the air with noises
Its transmissions bring submission
As ya mould to the unreal
Mad boy grips the microphone
Wit' a fistful of steel

Chorus:
Fistful of steel
Fistful of steel
Fistful of steel
Fistful of steel

Yes it's time to flow like the fluid in ya veins
If ya will it, I will spill it
And ya out just as quick as ya came
Not a silent one
But a defiant one
Never a normal one
'Cause I'm the bastard son
With the visions of the move
Vocals not to soothe
But to ignite and put in flight
My sense of militance
Groovin' , playin' this game called survival
Status the elite, the enemy, the rival
The silent sheep slippin', riffin', trippin'
Give ya a glimpse of the reality I'm grippin'
Steppin' into the jam and I'm slammin like Shaquille
Mad boy grips the microphone
Wit' a fistful of steel

Chorus

A 44 full of bullets
Face full of pale
Eyes full of empty
A stare full of nails
The roulette ball rolls alone on the wheel
A mind full of fire
And a fistful of steel

If the vibe was suicide
Then you would push da button
But if ya bowin' down
Then let me do the cuttin'
     

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TOWNSHIP REBELLION

Rebel, rebel and yell
'Cause our people still dwell in hell
Locked in a cell
Yes, the structure's a cell
Mad is the story I tell
How long can we wait
Come on, seein' what's at stake
Action for reaction
If your mind's in a somewhat complacent state
Get a check-up
This is a stick-up
Our freedom or your life
I wish I coul dbe peaceful
But there can be no sequel

Chorus:
Now freedom must be fundamental
In Johannesburg or South Central
On the mic, cause someon should tell'em
To kick in the township rebellion

Yea, so you thought you could get with the hardlines
That ill your mind
The thoughts, battles fought
And lessons taught
And I'll display the fitness
And flip like a gymnast
Raise my fist and resist
Asleep, though we stand in the midst
Of the war
Gotta get mine
Gotta get more
Keepin' the mic warm against the norm
'Cuse what does it offer me
I think often it's nothin' but a coffin
Gtta get wreck
'Til our knecks never swing on a rope
From here to the cape of no hope

Chorus

Why stand
On a silent platform
Fight the war
Fuck the norm
     

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FREEDOM

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Additional Info

Label:Epic
Produced by Rage Against The Machine and GGGARTH
Mixed by Andy Wallace.
NO SAMPLES, KEYBOARDS OR SYNTHESISERS USED IN THE MAKING OF THIS RECORDING

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