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Rage Against the Machine - War Within A Breath

Rage Against the Machine - War Within A Breath Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Battle Of Los Angeles
Released: 1999

War Within A Breath Lyrics

War Within A Breath

"It's land or death" is a phrase that emphasizes that land, for the agrarian cultures of Chiapas, Mexico, is life - sustained by relationships with supernatural forces, and nurtured in communal and familial rituals. Land is the essential part of being, and is worked, cared for, and ritualized in a cultural, symbolic, and matter-of-survival context. When the Mexican government "changed" article 27 of the Constitution, eliminating community property, they also eliminated the people, dividing them into pieces, families, or individuals, and privatizing the land. If the Zapatistas don't take arms and fight for land - they face death.

Rage Against the Machine - New Millennium Homes

Rage Against the Machine - New Millennium Homes Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Battle Of Los Angeles
Released: 1999

New Millennium Homes Lyrics

New Millennium Homes

This is about capitalism and how it negatively affects the poor working class. Lyrics like "Old south order, new northern horizon" are in reference to large corporations that make you think they have great positive ideals and practices when in actuality they have the same slave owning way of thinking of the old American south. The title New Millennium Homes could be a slightly sarcastic way of saying so called charity is a fraud to make you believe something is being done about the problem of poverty.

The chorus to this riff is the same as the ending riff on the Rage/Tool collaboration.

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.

Rage Against the Machine - Guerilla Radio

Rage Against the Machine - Guerilla Radio Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Battle Of Los Angeles
Released: 1999

Guerilla Radio Lyrics

Guerilla Radio

This song is about the 2000 US presidential Election, and in particular the way media shaped the campaigns of the two competitors, George Bush and Al Gore.

The line "More for Gore or the son of a drug lord" refers to the discovery that, while George Bush Sr. was President, the CIA was supplying drugs to inner city areas. (thanks, rudi - melbourne, Australia, for above 2)

This song is a statement about the worthlessness of democracy in the United States. Since the people don't truly understand "choice" and are only able to grasp a small glimpse of those running to represent them in office, they are unconsciously under a one-party system. Rage are using music and sound as a weapon against such "low intensity warfare."

This was the first single from The Battle Of Los Angeles, and is the most recognizable as their sound in relation to their past releases. It's basically a manifestation of Rage's goal and purpose, acting as "guerrilla radio" to alert the masses of the change to radical ideas. (thanks, Tim - Pittsburgh, PA, for above 2)

This was used on the popular late-'90s skateboarding game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. (thanks, Chris LaBenne - Niles, OH)

Rage Against the Machine - Voice Of The Voiceless

Rage Against the Machine - Voice Of The Voiceless Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Battle Of Los Angeles
Released: 1999

Voice Of The Voiceless Lyrics

Voice Of The Voiceless Song Chart

This is about Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and former black panther convicted of killing the Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in a 1981 altercation. Abu-Jamal, who was shot in the chest, was sentenced to death but the death sentence was overturned in 2001.

Abu-Jamal was a radio host in Philadelphia, where he was referred to as "The Voice Of The Voiceless" for his exposure of issues in poor and underrepresented communities.

The song prompted police protests as cops objected to Rage supporting a man convicted of killing one of their own. During a show in Philadelphia, Rage introduced a song with "Good evening, We want to just quickly send a nice friendly message to uh, the fraternal order of police in Philadelphia. Here's something nice and friendly, and it goes something like this..." They proceeded to play "F--- the Police" by NWA. (thanks, Rory - Philadelphia, PA, for above 2)

Rage guitarist Tom Morello visited Abu-Jamal in jail, and used the band's website to rally support for him.

"And Orwell's hell, a terror era coming true. But this little brother's watching you too." This is a reference to the classic George Orwell novel 1984, where the state is basically this unseen authoritarian force that controls everything and everybody. The term Orwell uses for the government is "Big Brother" (which is still used as a metaphor for government over 50 years after he wrote the book in 1948). So "little brother" in that lyric would be the average citizen, who's aware of the government's abuse/authority and knows it's wrong. (thanks, Tim - Pittsburgh, PA)