This is a call out to all the youth..
In the ghettos, suburbs, villages, townships
To all the kids who download this song for free
by any means..
To all the kids short on loot but high on dreams
To all the kids watching TV like, "Yo, I wish that was me"
And all the kids pressing rewind On 'Let's Get Free',
…I hear you
To all the people within the sound of my voice!
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
I didn't vote for this state of affairs
My emotional state's got me prostrate
Fearing my fears In all reality I'm under prepared
'Cause I'm ready for war
But not sure if I'm ready to care
And that's why I'm under prepared
'Cause I'm ready to fight but most fights
Have me fighting back tears
'Cause the truth is really I'm scared
Not scared of the truth
But just scared of the length
You'll go to fight it
I tried to hold my tongue
Son, I tried to bite it
I'm not trying to start a riot or incite it
'Cause Brutus is an honorable man
It's just coincidence that oil men
Would wage war on an oil rich land
And this one goes out to my man
Taking cover in the trenches
With a gun in his hand
Then gets home and no one flinches
When he can't feed his fam
But Brutus is an honorable man..
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
If you have tears prepare to shed them now
For you share the guilt of blood spilt
In accordance with the Dow Jones
Dow drops fresh crop skull and bones
A machete in the heady, 'Hutu, Tutsi, Leone'
An Afghani in a shanty, Doodle dandy yank on
An Iraqi in Gap khaki, Coca Coma come on
Be ye bishop or pawn in the streets or the lawn
You should know that this example
Could go on and on and what since
Does it make to keep your ears to the street?
As long as oil's in the soil, truth is never concrete
So we dare to represent those with the barest of feet
'Cause the laws to which we're loyal, keep the soil deplete
It's our job to not let history repeat..
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line.
So here's the plan
The Ides of March are always at hand
And when the power hungry strike
They strike the poorest of man
And if you dare put up a fight
They'll come and fight for your land
And they'll call it liberation or salvation
A call to the youth, your freedom ain't so free
It's just loose but the power of your voice
Could redirect every truth
Shift and shape the world you want
And keep your fears in a noose
Let them dangle From a banner Star Spangled
I'm willing and able
To lift my dreams up out of their cradle
Nurse and nurture my ideals
'Til they're much more than a fable
I can be all I can be and do much more than I'm paid to and I won't be a slave
To what authorities say do
My desire is to live within a nation on fire
Where creative passions burn
And raise the stakes ever higher
Where no person is addicted
'top some twisted supplier
Who promotes the sort of freedom
Sold to the highest buyer
We demand a truth naturally
At one with the land
Not a plant that photosynthesizes
Bombs on demand
Or a search for any weapons
We let fall from our hands
I got beats and a plan, I'm gonna do what I can
And what you do is question everything they say do
Every goal ideal or value they keep pushing on you
If they ask you to believe it, question whether it's true
If they ask you to achieve, is it for them or for you?
You're the one they're asking to go carry a gun
Warfare ain't humanitarian, you're scaring me, son
Why not fight to feed the homeless, jobless, fight inflation?
Why not fight for our own health care and our education?
And instead, invest in that erasable lead
'Cause their twisted propaganda can't erase all the dead
And the pile of corpses pyramid on top of our heads
Or never mind, said the shotgun to the head!
Or never mind…
In the ghettos, suburbs, villages, townships
To all the kids who download this song for free
by any means..
To all the kids short on loot but high on dreams
To all the kids watching TV like, "Yo, I wish that was me"
And all the kids pressing rewind On 'Let's Get Free',
…I hear you
To all the people within the sound of my voice!
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
I didn't vote for this state of affairs
My emotional state's got me prostrate
Fearing my fears In all reality I'm under prepared
'Cause I'm ready for war
But not sure if I'm ready to care
And that's why I'm under prepared
'Cause I'm ready to fight but most fights
Have me fighting back tears
'Cause the truth is really I'm scared
Not scared of the truth
But just scared of the length
You'll go to fight it
I tried to hold my tongue
Son, I tried to bite it
I'm not trying to start a riot or incite it
'Cause Brutus is an honorable man
It's just coincidence that oil men
Would wage war on an oil rich land
And this one goes out to my man
Taking cover in the trenches
With a gun in his hand
Then gets home and no one flinches
When he can't feed his fam
But Brutus is an honorable man..
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
If you have tears prepare to shed them now
For you share the guilt of blood spilt
In accordance with the Dow Jones
Dow drops fresh crop skull and bones
A machete in the heady, 'Hutu, Tutsi, Leone'
An Afghani in a shanty, Doodle dandy yank on
An Iraqi in Gap khaki, Coca Coma come on
Be ye bishop or pawn in the streets or the lawn
You should know that this example
Could go on and on and what since
Does it make to keep your ears to the street?
As long as oil's in the soil, truth is never concrete
So we dare to represent those with the barest of feet
'Cause the laws to which we're loyal, keep the soil deplete
It's our job to not let history repeat..
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line
Spit for the hated, the reviled, the unrefined
The no ones, the nobodies, the last in line.
So here's the plan
The Ides of March are always at hand
And when the power hungry strike
They strike the poorest of man
And if you dare put up a fight
They'll come and fight for your land
And they'll call it liberation or salvation
A call to the youth, your freedom ain't so free
It's just loose but the power of your voice
Could redirect every truth
Shift and shape the world you want
And keep your fears in a noose
Let them dangle From a banner Star Spangled
I'm willing and able
To lift my dreams up out of their cradle
Nurse and nurture my ideals
'Til they're much more than a fable
I can be all I can be and do much more than I'm paid to and I won't be a slave
To what authorities say do
My desire is to live within a nation on fire
Where creative passions burn
And raise the stakes ever higher
Where no person is addicted
'top some twisted supplier
Who promotes the sort of freedom
Sold to the highest buyer
We demand a truth naturally
At one with the land
Not a plant that photosynthesizes
Bombs on demand
Or a search for any weapons
We let fall from our hands
I got beats and a plan, I'm gonna do what I can
And what you do is question everything they say do
Every goal ideal or value they keep pushing on you
If they ask you to believe it, question whether it's true
If they ask you to achieve, is it for them or for you?
You're the one they're asking to go carry a gun
Warfare ain't humanitarian, you're scaring me, son
Why not fight to feed the homeless, jobless, fight inflation?
Why not fight for our own health care and our education?
And instead, invest in that erasable lead
'Cause their twisted propaganda can't erase all the dead
And the pile of corpses pyramid on top of our heads
Or never mind, said the shotgun to the head!
Or never mind…
Contributed by giorgio - 2010/2/17 - 21:13
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Lyrics & Music by Saul Williams and Zack de la Rocha
Album: Saul Williams
"This is a call out to all the youth in the ghettos, suburbs, villages, townships: to all the kids who download this song for free. By any means. To all the kids short on loot but high on dreams. To all the kids watching TV like, yo, I wish that was me...I hear you. To all the people within the sound of my voice...".
Here, Williams again targets a large audience that transcends the hip hop community. He speaks to the youth of the world. He discusses the "state of affairs, likening the situation to Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar:
"Brutus is an honorable man". It's just coincidence that oil men would wage war on an oil rich land. This one goes out to my man, taking cover in the trenches with a gun in his hand, then gets home and no one flinches when he can't feed his fam. "…But Brutus is an honorable man".
The pollution that arises in this song is the very state of affairs, a corrupt political system that "spills blood in accordance with the Dow Jones". Williams places guilt on no specific party, alluding to the idea that we're all at fault: "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now, for you share the guilt of blood spilled...".
Purification comes into the picture when Williams begins to emphasize resistance: "I won't be a slave to what authorities say do", he explains. Williams directs his audience: "The power of your voice could redirect every truth, shift and shape the world you want”, and encourages his audience to "nurse and nurture ideals ‘til they're much more than a fable". He concludes: "I got beats and a plan, I'm gonna do what I can.
And what you do is question everything they say do, every goal ideal or value they keep pushing on you.
If they ask you to believe it question whether it's true". The eventual redemption that he envisions is "a truth naturally at one with the land, "as social system where reality is individually defined, and constructions of reality are questioned.
In Act III, Scene 2, Williams establishes a leader-centered communication system with the "youth, where the capability of controlling variables is equal, but as the song progresses, Williams shows higher intelligence, advising his audience to recognize that "...freedom isn't free, it's just loose, "and to question authority: "If they ask you to achieve is it for them or for you?"