by Rage Against the Machine
----------------------------

(background) Crank the music up.

Bring that shit in! Ugh!
Yeah, the movement's in motion with massive 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 right

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 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
Come on, come on!
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 causin' tears and fears
One sided stories for years and years and years
I'm inferior? Who's inferior?
Yea, ya need to check the interior
of the system who cares about only one culture
And that is why
We gotta take the power back

Yeah, we gotta take the power back
Come on, come on!
We gotta take the power back

Hey yo check it, we're gonna have to break it, break it, break it down
Awww shit!
Ugh! And like this, ugh!
Come on! 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
Bouning off every fucking wall
Composure is well kept
I guess he fears playing the fool
Complacent students sit and listen to 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
Come on, come on!
We gotta take the power back

No more lies (8 times, building volume up to a very mild shout)
Ugh! ... Yeah!
Take it back y'all,
Take it back, a-take it back, a-take it back y'all,
Come on!
Take it back y'all
Take it back, a-take it back, a-take it back y'all,
Come on!
Ugh! ... Yeah!