Take the Power Back (Unplugged at the Hollywood Palladium 25/7/92) Songtext
von Rage Against the Machine

Crank the music up
Bring that shit in
Ugh
Yeah, the movement′s in motion with mass militant poetry
Now check this out
Ugh


In the right light, study becomes insight
But the system that dissed us, teaches us to read and write
So-called facts are fraud
They want us to allege and pledge and bow down to their god
Lost the culture, the culture lost
Spun our minds and through time
Ignorance has taken over
Yo, we gotta take the power back
Bam, here's the plan
Motherfuck 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 the witness of change and to counteract
We gotta take the power back

Yeah, we gotta take the power back
C'mon, c′mon
We gotta take the power back

The present curriculum, 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
Holes in our spirit causing tears and fears
One-sided stories for years and years and years
I'm inferior? Who′s inferior?
Yeah, we need to check the interior
Of the system that cares about only one culture
And that, is why we gotta take the power back


Yeah, we gotta take the power back
C'mon, c′mon
We gotta take the power back
Ayy-yo check, we're gonna have to break it, break it, break it down
Aww, shit
Ugh

And like this
Ugh
C'mon
Yeah
Bring it back the other way
Ugh

The teacher stands in front of the class
But the lesson plan he can′t recall
The student′s eyes don't perceive 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 some of that 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 motherfuckin′ Weathermen)
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

Yeah, we gotta take the power back
C′mon, c'mon
We gotta take the power back

No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
Ugh
Yeah

Take it back y'all
Take it back, a-take it back, a-take it back y′all! C′mon
Take it back y'all
Take it back, a-take it back, a-take it back y′all! C'mon
Ugh, yeah