Composition
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:
- 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 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'."
Wake up is one of many songs by Rage Against the Machine that is played in drop D tuning on the guitar and bass.
Read more about this topic: Wake Up (Rage Against The Machine Song)
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—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
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