The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Ah, The name of this song is uncle sam goddamn
It's a show tune but the show ain't been written for it yet.
Were gonna see if tony Jerome and the band can maybe work this shit out for me
And straighten me out right quick I like it so far man
Yeah Come on, lets go
Welcome to the united snakes
Land of the thief, home of the slave
Grand imperial guard where the dollar is sacred
Come on lets do this shit for real now
Smoke and mirrors, stripes and stars
Stoner for the cross in the name of god
Bloodshed, genocide, rape and fraud
Written to the pages of the law, good lord
e me
Only two generations away from the Worlds most despicable slavery trade
Pioneered so many ways to degrade a human being
That it can't be chains to this day
Legacy so ingrained in the way that we think
We don't need to wear chains to be slaves
Lord that's a sinful display
The overseers even got raped along the way
Cause the children can't escape from the pain
And they're born with the pores and this hatred in their veins
Try and separate a man from his soul
You'll only strengthen him and lose your own
Well shoot that fucker if he walk near the throne
Remind him that this is my home (now I'm gone)
Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave
Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred
And power is god
Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred Hold up, gimme one right here You don't give money to the bums On the corner with a sign, bleeding from their gums Talking about you don't support a crackhead What you think happens to the money from yo' taxes Shit the governments an addict With a billion dollar a week kill brown people habit And even if you ain't on the front line When the master yell crunch time you right back at it You ain't look at how you hustling backwards And the end of the year add up what they subtracted 3 outta twelve months your salary Paid for that madness, man that's sadness what's left get a big ass plasma To see where they made dan rather point the damn camera Only approved questions get answered Now stand your ass up for that national anthem Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred And power is god Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred And power is god [instrumental break] Custom made, the consumer news Keep saying we're free But were all just blue
It's a show tune but the show ain't been written for it yet.
Were gonna see if tony Jerome and the band can maybe work this shit out for me
And straighten me out right quick I like it so far man
Yeah Come on, lets go
Welcome to the united snakes
Land of the thief, home of the slave
Grand imperial guard where the dollar is sacred
Come on lets do this shit for real now
Smoke and mirrors, stripes and stars
Stoner for the cross in the name of god
Bloodshed, genocide, rape and fraud
Written to the pages of the law, good lord
e me
Only two generations away from the Worlds most despicable slavery trade
Pioneered so many ways to degrade a human being
That it can't be chains to this day
Legacy so ingrained in the way that we think
We don't need to wear chains to be slaves
Lord that's a sinful display
The overseers even got raped along the way
Cause the children can't escape from the pain
And they're born with the pores and this hatred in their veins
Try and separate a man from his soul
You'll only strengthen him and lose your own
Well shoot that fucker if he walk near the throne
Remind him that this is my home (now I'm gone)
Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave
Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred
And power is god
Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred Hold up, gimme one right here You don't give money to the bums On the corner with a sign, bleeding from their gums Talking about you don't support a crackhead What you think happens to the money from yo' taxes Shit the governments an addict With a billion dollar a week kill brown people habit And even if you ain't on the front line When the master yell crunch time you right back at it You ain't look at how you hustling backwards And the end of the year add up what they subtracted 3 outta twelve months your salary Paid for that madness, man that's sadness what's left get a big ass plasma To see where they made dan rather point the damn camera Only approved questions get answered Now stand your ass up for that national anthem Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred And power is god Welcome to the united snakes Land of the thief, home of the slave Grant imperial guard where the dollar is sacred And power is god [instrumental break] Custom made, the consumer news Keep saying we're free But were all just blue
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Man i love this country and im proud to be a citizen but there are still many problems we still have to face. I like this song becuase it has a good tune and it points out how greed, racism, and government corruption still taint the country. Its sad to see that we still judge people by their color because its been programmed into our heads to think like that since we were born. Thats all i have to say. peace
dude, this is one of the best hip hop track i've ever fuckin heard.
there's mistakes here though, it should be "bow to the fat and lazy", not "the fact that we're lazy" its "started acting foul" and the spelling of reign is annoying the hell out of me as well. sorry for my analness.
just because the majority of it happened somewhere else doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't the most despicable. it may well have been the most hipocritical of slave trades, what, with all that constitutional rhetoric those fuckin idiots pulled about liberty and equality. you'd think they'd have known better.
what's to be defensive about anyway? i don't get patriotism. is it that you believe your slab of dirt's better than another slab of dirt? or is all dirt dirt and it's the leaders that control the people what you're proud of? cos anyone proud of bush needs serious help. or is it that old piece of paper that no one's ever paid any attention to (except in relation to your right to shoot each other)that you're proud of?
i don't hate american people, but i just don't understand how anyone can be proud to live there.
here's the video for this song: youtube.com/watch
great song...Love the beginning once the bass kicks in. Wonderfully direct lyrics and a great vocal intonation.
The missing word from above is "The Cold Continent latch key child Ran away one day and started acting foul"
great song...Love the beginning once the bass kicks in. Wonderfully direct lyrics and a great vocal intonation.
The missing word from above is "The Cold Continent latch key child Ran away one day and started acting foul"
"Legacy so ingrained in the way that we think We don't need to wear chains to be slaves"
best line in the song. this country and many others train you for your entire youth to enter the real world and sell half of your waking existence to some employer. i think this is what he's referring to more than racism and what we are taught in high school history classes as slavery.
dotson, I don't think most of this nation would fit under the category of "fists raised"...most of them are blinded by their greed and consumerism, as well as the propaganda the media spews out at us.
The last verse is fucking awesome.
Amazing lyrics, and spectacular flow.
"Only two generations away from the Worlds most despicable slavery trade"
Really? Should someone tell him that 95% of the enslavement of blacks took place OUTSIDE of the U.S.?
I do like the line, "fists raised but I must be insane Cause I cant figure a single goddamn way to change it." I think that pretty much sums up alot of Americans these days...
yes but reguardless 1 enslaved person is too many
Truth.
dude really? do you not realize what 5% of 12 million is? its 600,000.... 600,000 slaves were brought to the U.S. we definatly took part in the worlds most dispicable slavery trade.