"Wake Up" is a song by American rock 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 prominently appeared in 1999feature filmThe Matrix to punctuate the final scene, increasing its exposure and cultural cachet.
Composition
The lyrics discuss racism within the American government and the counter-intelligence programs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ; 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., which paraphrases part of a well-known Bible verse, "whatever a man sows, this he will also reap". 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.
Political speeches
In live performances, the band's frontman Zack de la Rocha frequently makes statements about political and social issues during a quiet section towards the end of the song before screaming "WAKE UP!" eight times. 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 quipped, "They're losers, their fans are losers, and there's a lot of violence coming from the left wing." Then Alan Colmes reminded Coulter when she said about former President Bill Clinton that "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 against Fox News, who allegedly 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 8, 2010 gig at the O2 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
The song was used in the end credits of the 1999 feature film The Matrix and was also featured on its.
