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Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine


Background information
Origin Los Angeles, California, United States
Genre(s) Rap Metal
Funk Metal
Rapcore
Hip-hop
Alternative Metal
Years active 1991—present
Label(s) Epic Records
Associated acts Axis of Justice
Street Sweeper Social Club
Audioslave
The Nightwatchman
Lock Up
One Day as a Lion
Inside Out
Hardstance
Tool
Website Website
Members
Tom Morello
Zack de la Rocha
Tim Commerford
Brad Wilk



Music World  →  Lyrics  →  R  →  Rage Against The Machine  →  Albums  →  The Battle Of Los Angeles

Rage Against The Machine Album


The Battle Of Los Angeles (11/02/1999)
11/02/1999
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13.
No Shelter (European and Australian bonus track)
. . .



The movie ran through me
The glamour subdue me
The tabloid untie me
I'm empty please fill me
Mister anchor assure me
That Baghdad is burning
Your voice it is so soothing
That cunning mantra of killing
I need you my witness
To dress this up so bloodless
To numb me and purge me now
Of thoughts of blaming you
Yes the car is our wheelchair
My witness your coughing
Oily silence mocks the legless
Now traveling in coffins
But on the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside our door

LyricsNow testify

With precision you feed me
My witness I'm hungry
Your temple it calms me
So I can carry on
My slaving sweating the skin right off my bones
On a bed of fire I'm choking on the smoke that fills my home
The wrecking ball rushing
My witness your blushing
The pipeline is gushing
While here we lie in tombs
While on the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside your door

Now testify

Mass graves for the pump and the price is set

Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now controls the past
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now?

Now testify


. . .



[Zach de la Rocha]
Transmission, third World War, third round
A decade of the weapon of sound above ground
No Shelter if you're looking for shade
I lick shots at the brutal charade
As the polls close like a casket, on truth devoured
A silent play on the shadow of power
A spectacle monopolized
The cameras eyes on choice disguised
Was it cast for the mass who burn and toil
Or for the vultures who thirst for blood and oil?
Yes, a spectacle monopolized!
They hold the reins, stole your eyes!
All the Fist-a-gons, the bullets, and bombs
Who stuff the banks
Who staff the party ranks
More for Gore or the son of a drug lord
None of the above. FUCK IT, cut the cord!

[Chorus]
LIGHTS OUT! GUERILLA RADIO!
LyricsTURN THAT SHIT UP!
LIGHTS OUT! GUERILLA RADIO!
TURN THAT SHIT UP!
LIGHTS OUT! GUERILLA RADIO!
TURN THAT SHIT UP!
LIGHTS OUT! GUERILLA RADIO!

Contact, I highjacked the frequencies
Blockin' the beltway, move on DC!
Way past the days of bombin' MCs'
Sound OFF, Mumia guan be free!
Who got 'em? Yo, check the federal file
All you pen devils know the trial was vile
An army of pigs try to silence my style
Off 'em all out that box, it's my radio dial!

[Chorus]

[guitar riff]

[*whispers*]
It has to start somewhere..
It has to start sometime...
What better place than here?..
What better time than now?...

[repeat 6X]
ALL, HELL, CAN'T STOP US NOW!!


. . .



[*whispers*]
Feel the funk blast..
Feel the funk blast..

FEEL THE THE FUNK BLAST!!
FEEL THE FUNK BLAST!!!
A-FEEL THE FUNK BLAST!!
Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, check it out, yo, yo, yo

[Zack de la Rocha]
I be walkin' god like a dog, my narrative, fearless
My word war returns to burn like Baldwin home from Paris
Like Steel from a furnace, I was born landless
This is the native son, born of Zapata's guns
Stroll through the shanties and the cities remains
Same bodies buried hungry but with different last names
These vultures rob everything leave nothing but chains
Pick a point on the globe! Yes, the pictures the same
There's a bank, there's a church, a myth and a hearse
A mall and a loan, a child dead at birth
There's a widow pig parrot, a rebel to tame
LyricsA white-hooded judge, a syringe and a vein
....and the riot be the rhyme of the unheard..

[Hook]
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)
I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)

This ain't subliminal, feel the critical mass approach horizon
The pulse of the condemned, sound off America's demise
The anti-myth rhythm rock shocker, yes I spit fire
Hope lies in the smoldering rubble of empires
Yes back through the shanties and the cities remains
The same bodies buried hungry, but with different last names
These vultures rob everyone, leave nothing but chains
Pick a point here at home, yes the picture's the same
There's a field full of slaves, some corn and some debt
There's a ditch full of bodies, the check for the rent
There's a tap, the phone, the silence of stone
The numb black screen that be feelin' like home
..And the riot be the rhyme of the unheard..



[Hook]
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT YA SAY, WHAT?!
I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)
I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)
I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)
I'm Calm Like A...BOMB!!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)

[Tom Morello plays weird guitar riff]

I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)
I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)
I'm Calm Like A Bomb!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)
I'm Calm Like A...BOMB!!
(Ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite, ignite)

(I'm Calm Like A Bomb!)
There's a mass without roofs, there's a prison to fill
There's a country's soul that reads post no bills
There's a strike and a line of cops outside of the mill
There's a right to obey and there's a right to kill
There's a mass without roofs, there's a prison to fill
There's a country's soul that reads post no bills
There's a strike and a line of cops outside of the mill
There's a right to obey and there's a right to kill


. . .



Oh...wait a minute now..
Ha ha ha....Come on..
Wait a minute now..
Check..

[Zack de la Rocha]
To the Young R to the E, the B to the E, the L
Never give up, just live up
Fed upon America, we be spittin' it up
Rippin' it up for an even amount in each cup
To my brothers burning bare feet on black top
Whose curled 'neath the shadows from the gaze of the cops
Whose huntin' for 9 to 5's through factory locks
Is now hunted on this modern day auction block

[Hook]
Mic Check, ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker!
Mic Check, ha ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker, what?!
Mic Check, ha ha ha
LyricsI be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker!
Mic Check, ha ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker, what?!

Check-check-check-check-the check..
oh....packin'..

Flexin' and mashin' with complex text
Fast and in a fashion that snap back necks
Quicker than a fed cash the company checks
Come with the "Fire" only +Marley+ could +Catch+
This be the flame in the cellar beware
Nameless cold millions gaspin' for air
Those naked and wageless, now scream within cages
What, they make you pull your shit
Just to get your share, what?!

[Hook]
Mic Check, ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker!
Mic Check, ha ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker, what?!
Mic Check, ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker!
Mic Check, ha ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker, what?!

[Tom Morello does guitar riff while Zack yells something]
(Welcome down with the warrior sound, UGH!)
[Tom Morello make guitar sound similarly as a turntable]

With this mic device, I spit nonfiction
"Who got the power?" this be my question
The mass of the few in this torn nation?
The priest, the book, or the congregation?
The politricks who rob and hold down your zone?
Or those who give the thieves the key to their homes?
The pig who's free to murder one Shucklak
Or survivors who make a move and murder one BACK!?

With this mic device, I spit nonfiction!
"Who got the power?" this be my question!
The mass of the few in this torn nation?
The priest, the book, or the congregation?
The politricks who rob and hold down your zone?
Or those who give the thieves the key to their homes?
The pig who's free to murder one Shucklak
Or survivors who make a move and murder one back?

[Hook]
Mic Check, ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker!
Mic Check, ha ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker, what?!
Mic Check, ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker!
Mic Check, ha ha ha ha
I be the anti-myth rhythm rock shocker, what?!


. . .



YEAAAH!

[Zack de la Rocha]
The world is my expense..
The cost of my desire..
Jesus blessed me with its future..
And I protect it with fire..
So raise your fists and march around
Just don't take what you need
I'll jail and bury those committed
And smother the rest in greed!
Crawl with me into tomorrow
Or I'll drag you to your grave
I'm deep inside your children
They'll betray you in my name!

Hey! HEY!!
SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!
Hey! HEY!!
SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!

LyricsThe lie is my expense..
The scope with my desire..
The party blessed me with its future..
And I protect it with fire
I am the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa...Maria
The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer
The agents of orange, the priests of Hiroshima
The cost of my desire...Sleep Now In The Fire!

Hey! HEY!!
SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!
Hey! HEY!!
SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!

For it's the end of history..
It's caged and frozen still..
There is no other pill to take..
So swallow the one...that makes you ill
The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa...Maria
The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer
The agents of orange, the priests of Hiroshima
The cost of my desire...Sleep Now In The Fire!

YEAAAAAAAAAH!!

[guitar riff]

SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!
SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!
SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!
SLEEP NOW IN THE FIRE!!

[Tom Morello's amp picks up a Korean radio station as the song fades]


. . .



[Zack de la Rocha - *whispering*]
My fears hunt me down..
Capturing my memories..
The frontier of loss..
They try to escape across the street where..
Jesus stripped bare..
And raped the spirit He was supposed to nurture..
In the name of my..
In the name of my..

[Hook]
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, BUT NOT A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, NEVER A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, BUT NOT A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, NEVER A BROKEN MAN!!

Like autumn leaves his sense fell from him..
An empty glass of himself....shattered somewhere within..
His thoughts like a hundred moths...trapped in a lampshade...
Somewhere within...
Their wings banging and burning...on through endless night...
LyricsForever awake he lies shaking and starving..
Praying for someone to turn off the light...

[Hook]
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, NEVER A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, BUT NOT A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, NEVER A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, BUT NOT A BROKEN MAN!!

UGH!
UGH!!

My fear is hunting me down..
Capturing my memories..
The frontier of loss...
They try to escape across the street where..
Jesus stripped bare..
And raped the spirit He was supposed to nurture..
In the name of my..
In the name of my..

[guitar riff]

YEAAAH!!

[Hook]
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, BUT NOT A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, NEVER A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, BUT NOT A BROKEN MAN!!
BORN OF A BROKEN MAN, NEVER A BROKEN MAN!!

UGH!
WHA?!
YEAH!!
UGH!!
YEAH!!
C'MON!!


. . .



The hills find peace
Locked armed guard posts
Safe from the screams
Of the children born as ghosts
Gates guns and alarms
Shape the calm of the dawn
Peering down into the basin
Where death lives on
When young run foaming at the mouth with hate
When burning batons beat the freezing who shake
Under the toxic sunsets they dine and toast
Of walls deny the terror faced
By the children born as ghosts

Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
LyricsWe're the children born as ghosts

born as ghosts

One book and forty ghosts stuffed in a room
The school as a tomb
Where home is a wasteland
Taste the razor wire
And thought is locked in the womb
The tales that tear at the myth of the dream
Myth of the dream
Myth of the dream
A suffering that shocks the lives off the screen
Myth of the dream
Myth of the dream

Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
We are the children born as ghosts

Born as ghosts
Born as ghosts

Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
A warning, you sufferers, begin to speak our word
Born as ghosts
We're the children born as ghosts

Born as ghosts
Born as ghosts




. . .



Tha sun ablaze as Maria's foot
Touches tha surface of sand
On northern land
As human contraband
Some rico from Jalisco
Passed her name to tha boss
She stuffed ten to a truckbed
She clutches her cross
Here comes tha exhaust
And it rips through her lungs
She's off fast to tha pasture
Like cattle she'll cross
Degree 106
Sweat and vomit are thrown
And she prays and suffocates
Upon tha memories of home
Of Yanqui guns for blood debts on tha loans
Of smoldering fields rape rubble and bones
Of graves hidden trapped up in visions of war
Of nothing no one nobody no more
These are her mountains and skies and she radiates
LyricsAnd through history's rivers of blood she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
She's eternally here
Her time is near
Never conquered but here

To tear away at tha mask

And now she got a quota
Tha needle and thread crucifixion
Sold and shipped across tha new line of Mason Dixon
Rippin' through denim
Tha point an inch from her vein
Tha foreman approach
His steps now pound in her brain
His presence it terrifies
And eclipses her days
No minutes to rest
No moment to pray
And with a whisper
He whips her
Her soul chained to his will
"My job is to kill if you forget to take your pill"
Her arms jerks
Tha sisters gather round her and scream
As if in a dream
Eyes on tha crimson stream
Numb as her wrists spit shots of blood to tha floor
Of nothing no one nobody no more

These are her mountains and skies and she radiates
And through history's rivers of blood she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
Maria she's eternally here
Her time is near
Never conquered but here


. . .



Through steel walls
Your voice blastin' on
True rebel my brother Mumia
I reflect upon
You be tha spark
That set all tha prairie fires on
Make tha masses a mastodon path
To trample tha fascists on
At fifteen exposed Philly's finest killing machine
With boots and mad guns
They tried to pacify you young
Cause and effect
Smell tha smoke and tha breeze
My panther my brother
We are at war until you're free

You'll never silence tha voice of tha voiceless

You see tha powerful got nervous
Cause he refused to be their servant
'Cause he spit truth
LyricsThat shook heads
And burned like black churches
Prose and verses
A million poor in hearses
Watch tha decision of Dred Scott
As it reserves
So long as tha rope
Is tight around Mumia's neck
Let there be no rich white life
We bound to respect
Cause and effect
Can't ya smell tha smoke in tha breeze
My panther my brother we are at war until you're free

You'll never silence tha voice of tha voiceless

And Orwell's hell a terror era coming through
But this little brother's watching you too


. . .



Hungry people don't stay hungry for long
They get hope from fire and smoke as they reach for tha dawn
Tha spirit of Jackson
Now screams through tha ruins
Through factory chains
And tha ghost of tha union
Tha forgotten remains
Disappear to their new homes
Tha knife tha thrust
Tha life burns to tha raw bone
Tha blood on tha floor of tha tear is still dryin'
Cover tha spread sheets
Tha Dow Jones skyin'
Tha cell block live stock
Tha bodies they buyin'
Old south order
New northern horizon

Violence is in all hands
Embrace it if need be
Livin' been warfare
LyricsI press it to CD

A fire in tha master's house is set

Check tha high tech terror
Of tha new order athletes
Peering into tha eyes of tha child already on trial
These armies rippin' families apart
Get 'em on file
Convictions fit tha stock profile
All tha while films of dogs
Ripping through homes
Ripping skin from bones
Yes tha new millennium homes
Privatizing through private eyes
An era rising
Of tha old south order
New northern horizon

Violence is in all hands
Embrace it if need be
Livin' been warfare
I press it to CD

A fire in tha master's house is set

11.Ashes in the Fall
A mass of hands press on the market window
Ghosts of progress
Dressed in slow death
Feeding on hunger
And glaring through the promise
Upon the food that rots slowly in the aisle
A mass of nameless at the oasis
That hides the graves beneath the master's hill
Are buried for drinking
The river's water
While shackled to the line
At the empty well

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Listen to the fascist sing
"Take hope here
War is elsewhere
You were chosen
This is god's land
Soon we'll be free
Of blot and mixture
Seeds planted by our
Forefather's hand"

A mass of promises
Begin to rupture
Like the pockets
Of the new world kings
Like swollen stomachs
In Appalachia
It's the priests that fuck you
As they whisper holy things
A mass of tears have transformed to stones now
Sharpened on suffering
And woven into slings
Hope lies in the rubble of this rich fortress
Taking today what tomorrow never brings

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Ain't it funny how the factory doors close
Round the time that the school doors close
Round the time that the doors of the jail cells
Open up to greet you like the reaper

Ain't it funny how the factory doors close
Round the time that the school doors close
Round the time that the doors of the jail cells
Open up to greet you like the reaper

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Like ashes in the fall


. . .



A mass of hands press on the market window
Ghosts of progress
Dressed in slow death
Feeding on hunger
And glaring through the promise
Upon the food that rots slowly in the aisle
A mass of nameless at the oasis
That hides the graves beneath the master's hill
Are buried for drinking
The river's water
While shackled to the line
At the empty well

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Listen to the fascist sing
"Take hope here
War is elsewhere
LyricsYou were chosen
This is god's land
Soon we'll be free
Of blot and mixture
Seeds planted by our
Forefather's hand"

A mass of promises
Begin to rupture
Like the pockets
Of the new world kings
Like swollen stomachs
In Appalachia
It's the priests that fuck you
As they whisper holy things
A mass of tears have transformed to stones now
Sharpened on suffering
And woven into slings
Hope lies in the rubble of this rich fortress
Taking today what tomorrow never brings

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Ain't it funny how the factory doors close
Round the time that the school doors close
Round the time that the doors of the jail cells
Open up to greet you like the reaper

Ain't it funny how the factory doors close
Round the time that the school doors close
Round the time that the doors of the jail cells
Open up to greet you like the reaper

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Like ashes in the fall


. . .



Every official that comes in
Cripples us leaves us maimed
Silent and tamed
And with our flesh and bones
He builds his homes

Southern fist
Rise through tha jungle mist
Clenched to smash power so cancerous
A black flag and a red star
A rising sun loomin' over Los Angeles
'Cause for Raza livin in La La
Is like Gaza on to tha dawn of Intifada
Reach for tha lessons tha masked pass on
And seize tha metropolis
It's you that it's built on

Everything can change on a new years day
As everything changed on new years day

Everything can change on a new years day
LyricsAs everything changed on new years day

War within a breath
It's land or death
Their existence is a crime
Their seat their robe their tie
Their land deeds
Their hired guns
They're tha crime
Shots heard underground round tha rapture
Tha world's eye captured
At last in a Mexican pasture
Tha masked screaming land or death
Within a breath
A war from tha depth of time
Who shot four puppet governors in a line
Who shook all tha world bankers
Who think they can rhyme
Shot tha landlords who knew it was mine
Yes a war from tha depth of time

Everything can change on a new years day
As everything changed on new years day

Everything can change on a new years day
As everything changed on new years day

War within a breath
It's land or death


. . .



The main attraction - distraction
got ya number than nnumber than numb
Empty ya pockets son; they got you thinkin that
What ya need is what they sellin
Make you think that buyin is rebellin
From the theaters to malls on every shore
Tha thin line between entertainment and war
The frontline is everywhere, there be no shelter here
Speilberg the nightmare works so push it far
Amistad was a whip, the truth was feathered and tarred
Memory erased, burned and scarred
Trade in ya history for a VCR

Cinema, simulated life, ill drama
Fourth Reich culture - Americana
Chained to the dream they got ya searchin for
Tha thin line between entertainment and war

There be no shelter here
Tha frontline is everywhere

LyricsHospitals not profit full
Yet market bulls got pockets full
To advertise some hip disguise
View tha world from American eyes
Tha poor adore keep fiendin for more
Tha thin line between entertainment and war
They fix the need, develop the taste
Buy their products or get laid to waste
Coca-Cola is back in the veins of Saigon
And Rambo too, he got a dope pair of Nikes on
And Godzilla pure muthafuckin filler
To keep ya eyes off the real killer

Cinema, simulated life, ill drama
Fourth Reich culture - Americana
Chained to the dream they got ya searchin for
Tha thin line between entertainment and war

American eyes, American eyes....
View the world from American eyes
Bury the past, rob us blind
And leave nothin behind

Just stare
Relive the nightmare


. . .


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