Rage Against the Machine Songs - Testify Lyrics

Rage Against the Machine - Testify

Rage Against the Machine - Testify Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Battle Of Los Angeles
Released: 1999

Testify Lyrics

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
Ones who travel now in coffins
On the corner
The jury's sleepless
We found your weakness
And it's right outside our door
Now Testify

Now testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Yes testify
It's right outside our door

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 is rushing
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
Yeah testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Now testify
It's right outside our door

Mass graves for the pump and the price is set, and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set, and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set, and the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set, 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
Testify
It's right outside our door
Now testify
Testify
It's right outside our door

Writer/s: HARRIS, JAMES SAMUEL III/LEWIS, TERRY/HINESK, GARY
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Testify

This song is about misrepresentation of world events by the US media. News anchors relay lies into the homes of Americans because that's all the Americans, being empty people whose only concerns are the media's showcase of glamour and gossip, can handle. The only way for people to survive is through the opiates that they partake of every day in the form of celebrities and media. It uses the party slogan for the Oceania government in the book 1984: "Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past."

Some lyrical analysis:
"We found your weakness and it's right outside your door, now testify" - In the first part, Zack is trying to be coy about saying what he thinks the government's weakness really is. So think about it this way, what's right outside your door? The world and all the people in it. And if all those people would come together, what powerful tool of revolution we would be?
"Mass graves for the pump and the price is set" - For the mass graves part, Zack is referring to oil. In the middle eastern countries, the battle is for oil, and how that's the real cause for America's involvement over there. We want our oil supply safe, so we try to be a mediator and police officer for those countries. Mass graves? People in war die. That's what it's all about - so basically, there's all this fighting that we participate in to secure oil. You "pump" gas, and the price constantly goes up and down with middle eastern crises.
"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?" - In the last part, Zack is saying that whoever is in charge now, is still, has been, and always will be, in charge. Then he asks who's controlling everything now. Almost asking if we really want it this way, or if we're going to do something to change it.