Wake Up (Rage Against the Machine song)
Encyclopedia
"Wake Up" is a song by American rap metal
band Rage Against the Machine
. It is the seventh track from their self-titled debut album
. While never released as a single, it remains a staple of their live shows and is usually played as the last song before the encore
. It appeared in the feature film The Matrix
.
', released in 1975.
The lyrics discuss racism
within the American government
and the counter-intelligence programs
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI); a spoken portion of the song is taken from an actual FBI memo in which its director J. Edgar Hoover
suggests targets for the suppression of the black nationalist movement. The song also makes references to prominent African-American figures targeted by the government such as Malcolm X
and Martin Luther King Jr., and goes as far as saying that the government arranged their assassinations.
The closing lines to the song are:
These lyrics refer to a speech made by Martin Luther King Jr. called How Long, Not Long
which paraphrases part of a well-known Bible verse, "whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Galatians 6:7). The speech was delivered at the end of the Selma to Montgomery March on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama
. The final lines in that speech read "How long? Not long, because 'you shall reap what you sow'."
frequently makes statement about political and social issues during a quiet section towards the end of the song. (On the record, this part of the song features De La Rocha reciting a memo written by J Edgar Hoover.) At the 2007 Coachella Festival, De La Rocha made a speech during the song, citing a statement by Noam Chomsky
regarding the Nuremberg Trials
, as follows:
The event led to a media furor. A clip of Zack's speech found its way to the Fox News Channel
program Hannity & Colmes
. An on-screen headline read, "Rock group 'Rage Against the Machine' says Bush admin should be shot." Ann Coulter
(a guest on the show) quipped, "They’re losers, their fans are losers, and there's a lot of violence coming from the left wing." Alan Colmes
then challenged Coulter for having said of former US President Bill Clinton
, "The only issue is whether to impeach or assassinate".
On July 28 at their performance at the Rock the Bells
festival in New York City, they made another speech during "Wake Up" just as they had done at Coachella. During this, De La Rocha made another statement, defending the band from Fox News, whom he alleged misquoted his speech at Coachella:
At the Voodoo Music Festival, during the performance of "Wake Up," De La Rocha gave a rousing speech about his experience in the 9th Ward
of post-Katrina
New Orleans. De La Rocha stated that the United States is fighting two wars: one in Iraq and one "against the people of New Orleans," before breaking into screams of "Wake Up!" at the end of the song.
At the Big Day Out
in Australia 2008, De La Rocha gave a speech discouraging globalism
, saying it makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. He applauded the crowd for voting out former Australian Prime Minister John Howard
, then broke into screams of "Wake Up".
At the band's June 8th gig in Dublin, Ireland, De La Rocha gave a speech discussing the current economic system and how multinational companies are blaming the middle/working class for the problems that the multinational companies themselves caused. De La Rocha was quoted as saying:
feature film
The Matrix
, though the version on the soundtrack
is listed at 6:03, just one second shorter than the original track.
"Wake Up" appears in the debut episode of the ABC
television series Dirty Sexy Money
, first broadcast in 2007.
The song appears on the soundtrack of the action sport video game Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
.
The song is used in the title sequence of Pro Box Live on RTE2 as well as TG4's
coverage of the League of Ireland
.
Rap metal
Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock which fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop music with heavy metal.-History:Rap metal originated from rap rock, a genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with rock...
band Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
. It is the seventh track from their self-titled debut album
Rage Against the Machine (album)
Rage Against the Machine is the debut studio album by rap metal band Rage Against the Machine. The album was released on November 10, 1992...
. While never released as a single, it remains a staple of their live shows and is usually played as the last song before the encore
Encore (concert)
An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...
. It appeared in the feature film The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
.
Composition
The main riff in the opening of the song is similar to Led Zeppelin's single 'KashmirKashmir (song)
"Kashmir" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant over a period of three years, with the lyrics dating back to 1973.-Overview:The song centres around a signature chord progression...
', released in 1975.
The lyrics discuss racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
within the American government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
and the counter-intelligence programs
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI); a spoken portion of the song is taken from an actual FBI memo in which its director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
suggests targets for the suppression of the black nationalist movement. The song also makes references to prominent African-American figures targeted by the government such as Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
and Martin Luther King Jr., and goes as far as saying that the government arranged their assassinations.
The closing lines to the song are:
- How long, not long
- because what you reap is what you sow!
These lyrics refer to a speech made by Martin Luther King Jr. called How Long, Not Long
How Long, Not Long
"How Long, Not Long" is the popular name given to the public speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the steps of the State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after the successful completion of the Selma to Montgomery March on March 25, 1965...
which paraphrases part of a well-known Bible verse, "whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Galatians 6:7). The speech was delivered at the end of the Selma to Montgomery March on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
. The final lines in that speech read "How long? Not long, because 'you shall reap what you sow'."
Political speeches
In live performances, the band's frontman Zack de la RochaZack de la Rocha
Zacarías Manuel "Zack" de la Rocha is an American rapper, musician, poet, and activist best known as the vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine.-Early life and childhood:...
frequently makes statement about political and social issues during a quiet section towards the end of the song. (On the record, this part of the song features De La Rocha reciting a memo written by J Edgar Hoover.) At the 2007 Coachella Festival, De La Rocha made a speech during the song, citing a statement by Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
regarding the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
, as follows:
The event led to a media furor. A clip of Zack's speech found its way to the Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
program Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes was a live television show on Fox News Channel in the United States, hosted by Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, who respectively presented a conservative and liberal perspective. The series premiered on October 6, 1996, and the final episode aired on January 9, 2009. It was the...
. An on-screen headline read, "Rock group 'Rage Against the Machine' says Bush admin should be shot." Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
(a guest on the show) quipped, "They’re losers, their fans are losers, and there's a lot of violence coming from the left wing." Alan Colmes
Alan Colmes
Alan Samuel Colmes is an American radio/television host, liberal political commentator for the Fox News Channel, and blogger. He is the host of The Alan Colmes Show, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show distributed by Fox News Radio that also airs throughout the United States on Fox News Talk...
then challenged Coulter for having said of former US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, "The only issue is whether to impeach or assassinate".
On July 28 at their performance at the Rock the Bells
Rock the Bells
Rock the Bells is an annual hip hop festival that originally took place in Southern California only, but has since toured throughout the world. The concert features a lineup of high-profile alternative hip hop artists, often headlined by a more mainstream artist...
festival in New York City, they made another speech during "Wake Up" just as they had done at Coachella. During this, De La Rocha made another statement, defending the band from Fox News, whom he alleged misquoted his speech at Coachella:
At the Voodoo Music Festival, during the performance of "Wake Up," De La Rocha gave a rousing speech about his experience in the 9th Ward
Ninth Ward of New Orleans
The Ninth Ward or 9th Ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana that is located in the easternmost downriver portion of the city. It is geographically the largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans....
of post-Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
New Orleans. De La Rocha stated that the United States is fighting two wars: one in Iraq and one "against the people of New Orleans," before breaking into screams of "Wake Up!" at the end of the song.
At the Big Day Out
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
in Australia 2008, De La Rocha gave a speech discouraging globalism
Globalism
Globalism can have at least two different and opposing meanings. One meaning is the attitude or policy of placing the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations...
, saying it makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. He applauded the crowd for voting out former Australian Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, then broke into screams of "Wake Up".
At the band's June 8th gig in Dublin, Ireland, De La Rocha gave a speech discussing the current economic system and how multinational companies are blaming the middle/working class for the problems that the multinational companies themselves caused. De La Rocha was quoted as saying:
In other media
A shorter version of the song was featured in the end credits of the 19991999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
, though the version on the soundtrack
The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture
The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture is one of the two 1999 soundtrack albums from the blockbuster film, The Matrix ....
is listed at 6:03, just one second shorter than the original track.
"Wake Up" appears in the debut episode of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money is an American prime time drama series created by Craig Wright, which ran on the ABC from September 26, 2007 to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Berlanti Television and Gross Entertainment...
, first broadcast in 2007.
The song appears on the soundtrack of the action sport video game Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 is the successor to Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX and one of the last videogames created by Acclaim Entertainment before going out of business. It was first released for the PlayStation 2 in August 2001, and in the following months it was ported to the GameCube, Game Boy...
.
The song is used in the title sequence of Pro Box Live on RTE2 as well as TG4's
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
coverage of the League of Ireland
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
.