In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
Yeah!
Got out the six hundred
Blunted
Chicks hunt him
Neighborhood know he comin'
Jakes hate him
Snakes could not violate him
Pimps memorize his lines-verbatim
He reps N.Y. yo
Gives C-notes to winos
Not church
It's how he tithe though
He walks the tenement
Sleeps at his super fly condo
My kinda nigga
My icon, my idol
No certificate
For this misfit who handle business
The odds stacked against him
He fights back mackin' Benzes
Never puts cash or ass
Before friendship
He laughs last
As some die young
He is still existing
Somehow he got around the pitfalls of the system
When he walks we watch
When he talks we listen
Leaders
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
Who do I follow?
Who do I copy?
Look in to the mirror
And it's you I see look at me
Everything new
Like it fresh from the factory
Everything you do?
It impact me
Your lifestyle attract me
Parents try distract me
When I grow up
I want to be like you exactly (exactly)
And as soon as I get over this acne
There's no way anybody coulda stop me
Me gravitate toward the aura
And all the mannerism
The sending out of orders
And man start moving busy
The locking of the corners?
The streets and all the buildings
Me love you like a father
Me ready and me willing
Anything what you a talk
Is law in my dominion
And me have similar thoughts
I share the same opinions
Me have it say you smart
With me best interest at heart
I'm following your path
Yow mine when you a walk
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
They appeal to the conscious
The Paramount
The Cesar, the monsters
The grandiose, the martyrs
The hell on earth pompous
Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson's
The Harlemites the Garveyites
Black as the credit card we swipe
Poppin' Dom tonight
For all of mine
I can see myself back at the Autobahn
Malcolm on the podium
Shells drop to linoleum
Swipe those
Place 'em on display at the Smithsonian
Next to only gems
That were left behind
By holy men
Infectious
Charisma of those who gave us direction
The anti-sexes
Resistance against oppression
Progressive thinking
Ghetto speakers
Protesters against the colored
Only section to the Jena 6 and
The Frost Nixon
The contradiction
The cross the crucifixion
The loss we took for sinning
On Esau's back inscription
That it was written
That nothing is coincidence and
They took our leaders and they lynched them
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
Change the world, change the world
Change the world
Change the world, change the world
You change the world
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
Yeah!
Got out the six hundred
Blunted
Chicks hunt him
Neighborhood know he comin'
Jakes hate him
Snakes could not violate him
Pimps memorize his lines-verbatim
He reps N.Y. yo
Gives C-notes to winos
Not church
It's how he tithe though
He walks the tenement
Sleeps at his super fly condo
My kinda nigga
My icon, my idol
No certificate
For this misfit who handle business
The odds stacked against him
He fights back mackin' Benzes
Never puts cash or ass
Before friendship
He laughs last
As some die young
He is still existing
Somehow he got around the pitfalls of the system
When he walks we watch
When he talks we listen
Leaders
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
Who do I follow?
Who do I copy?
Look in to the mirror
And it's you I see look at me
Everything new
Like it fresh from the factory
Everything you do?
It impact me
Your lifestyle attract me
Parents try distract me
When I grow up
I want to be like you exactly (exactly)
And as soon as I get over this acne
There's no way anybody coulda stop me
Me gravitate toward the aura
And all the mannerism
The sending out of orders
And man start moving busy
The locking of the corners?
The streets and all the buildings
Me love you like a father
Me ready and me willing
Anything what you a talk
Is law in my dominion
And me have similar thoughts
I share the same opinions
Me have it say you smart
With me best interest at heart
I'm following your path
Yow mine when you a walk
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
They appeal to the conscious
The Paramount
The Cesar, the monsters
The grandiose, the martyrs
The hell on earth pompous
Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson's
The Harlemites the Garveyites
Black as the credit card we swipe
Poppin' Dom tonight
For all of mine
I can see myself back at the Autobahn
Malcolm on the podium
Shells drop to linoleum
Swipe those
Place 'em on display at the Smithsonian
Next to only gems
That were left behind
By holy men
Infectious
Charisma of those who gave us direction
The anti-sexes
Resistance against oppression
Progressive thinking
Ghetto speakers
Protesters against the colored
Only section to the Jena 6 and
The Frost Nixon
The contradiction
The cross the crucifixion
The loss we took for sinning
On Esau's back inscription
That it was written
That nothing is coincidence and
They took our leaders and they lynched them
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
This one's for all the leaders
Leader
Lets all change the world
Change the world
Change the world, change the world
Change the world
Change the world, change the world
You change the world
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Leaders Lyrics as written by Nasir Jones Damian Robert Nesta Marley
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Love this track. Only just noticed the line by Marley... 'and as soon as I get over this acne, there's no way nobody coulda stop me' funny.
The track is about dubious characters in power. Generals commanding child armies in Africa and such.