Next to Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine is one of my favorite bands. This song Wake Up performed live is what I love most about the band - the energy and tenacity in which the music - guitar, bass, and drums - is played - and Zack de La Rocha on the mic droppin’ political knowledge in the middle of the song when all goes quiet to build a crescendo and climax of just raw indignation at social injustice.
The lyrics to Wake Up can be found here.
The main points that Zack brings up in the course of the song are those who individually took up their social responsibility to address problems of society - such as racism, poverty, defending rights of the people, opposing war and imperialism and because of their exemplary leadership position were targeted by the ruling class in order to deny and rob the people of this leadership. The prominent individuals named throughout the song, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Leonard Peltier, Dennis Banks, etc., - definitely represent the struggle of the working class and people, be they black or indigenous, to be an intervening force in the equation of politics and the development of society.
Although the song expresses the need for the individual to wake up in the following Whadda I got to / whadda I got to do to wake ya up / To shake ya up / to break the structure up, there is the need to also address the collective in taking up social responsibility.
