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We Are Winning Lyrics

[spoken]
Rival gangsters sit down to plan an after-school program
A religious fanatic posts footage of an interfaith service project
A group of teenage boys watches a video of a father playing catch with his son
An adult film star paints thumbnail portraits of elderly couples, fully clothed and smiling
A record executive records a demo of his apology
A policeman makes reverse 911 calls instructing residents to take to the streets
A patriot reports for duty
She's wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding a picket sign
She's ashamed of her birthplace
But retreat is not an option


Women and children
Frontline
Logon
Tune in
Stand and be counted
Wounded
Stationed
In the belly of the vulture
Watch your back
Theres no civilians
Women children
Frontline
Listen
Consider this a distant early warning
The fires imminent
Pollution gathering dust particles
Funneling through smokestacks
Airwaves
Bandwidth
Disinformation tube fed
Check the label
Delete the virus
Alert the masses

[spoken]
Butterfly wing crosswinds send black hawks toward hurricane survivors
Roses sprout from empty lots and sidewalk cracks
Pacifist guerrillas move undetected through concrete jungles
New forms are beginning to take shape
Once-occupied minds are activating
People are waking up
The insurgency is alive and well

Rise of the flobots
Portrait of the new american insurgent
Rattle and shake the foundation of the world order
Assembly line consent
Resist
Refuse
Inform
Create
Direct loved ones to the trenches
Suit up
Forge rubble into fortresses
Plaster
Cloth
Aluminum
Broken porcelain
Rusted platinum
Burn bloodstains from decompressed diamonds
Hammer the battlecry into braille-studded armor

[spoken]
We are building up a new world
Do not sit idly by
Do not remain neutral
Do not rely on this broadcast alone
We are only as strong as our signal
There is a war going on for your mind
If you are thinking you are winning
Resistance is victory
Defeat is impossible
Your weapons are already in hand
Reach within you and find the means by which to gain your freedom
Fight with tools
Your fate and that of everyone you know depends on it
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19 Meanings

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Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

This song is deep.

The first part where the women is speaking is very ironic. Rival gangsters coming together to start a program a police man makes reverse 911 calls etc. Its all very ironic.

It seems to me that this song is about fighting against what you have become and rebelling against what society deems you.

Hard to explain. But I do love this song.

Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

I love this song for the same reason I love the fact that Flobots went mainstream. See, the problem with most good bands going mainstream is that too many people get their hands in the bands' pocket, and eventually it gets to the point where the band has no control and must do whatever they're told. You get success, but you sort of lose your original purpose. That's why people call it SELLING OUT.

With them, though, all of their songs on this "mainstream" album persist with a deeper meaning, with a deeper intent and goal. For those of us whom are already aware of these social issues, this album can be a calling, a source of inspiration, or thought provoking as we consider things we hadn't thought of before.

For those who haven't, though, and got this album because they liked "Handlebars" and how it sounded, these songs are a perfect way to open their eyes. The other songs are much more complicated, and it's easy to miss the message if you aren't looking for it or at least paying proper attention. This song, however, slows it down to tell us all directly. It basically sums up the entire album, and spells it out slowly. I'd be interested to see how many people were moved or saw their lives differently after hearing this song, along with the whole album.

Rise of the Flobots.

I classify myself as one of those people who got the album because of "Handlebars" but upon listening to the entire album, I quickly realized that "Handlebars," although being the most catchy, easily accessible song on the album, is certainly not the best song. When I listened to this song, it made me stop, and really listen to the rest of the album, and I realized that it is really incredible. It definitely changed the way I see my life, and has made me more interested in helping change the world, or at least my own life....

Not Valid
Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

-Butterfly wing crosswinds send black hawks toward hurricane survivors. -I think they are talking about the Choas theory. Which the most common example is that a butterfly flapping it's wings in south America can trigger a hurricane in North America.

Well your completely wrong.

Not Valid

well, if he is wrong, it wouldnt be far off...

Not Valid
Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

Intense and Beautiful. This is one of those songs that comes about very rarely that actually inspires me.

"We are building up a new world Do not sit idly by Do not remain neutral Do not rely on this broadcast alone We are only as strong as our signal There is a war going on for your mind If you are thinking you are winning Resistance is victory Defeat is impossible Your weapons are already in hand Reach within you and find the means by which to gain your freedom Fight with tools Your fate and that of everyone you know depends on it"

That passage is incredible. I especially love "If you are thinking you are winning". I think what the overall message comes down to here is, the world's changing and it's incredibly important to stand up and take part in it. The new generation is slowly gaining power, and we all need to take it seriously, stand up, use our voices, and make a difference in the name of peace. Just my two cents...

Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

Love this song. So inspiring.

damn straight

Not Valid
Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

I hate to simply repeat what people are saying, but... wow. Talk about inspiration, yanno?

This may be just something that happens to me, but my skin crawls when I hear the song.. especially when it's the spoken word. Not in the bad sense, but, it gives me goosebumps. Its terribly uncommon in todays scene to find touching and thought-invoking lyrics. It is music like this that makes me wonder what has happened to music itself. I'll listen to anything, granted. And I do prefer my fair share of screaming and growling. But, if I had to choose a single album to listen to, nonstop, for months at a time (no-one can listen to the same thing forever)? It would be Fight With Tools.

The chaos theory passage needs an edit: bringing Blackhawks (one word; its the helicopters they're referencing).

I love how its telling us to be insurgents, to stand up and fight back, but not to actually fight. They reference in other songs how blow for a blow never reaches equilibreum.

Their message is deep and their beats are strong. No matter how you slice these guys, no matter what music you prefer, these guys should be among your reportoire of albums. I despise paying for music, but I'll gladly shell the money I have enough trouble scraping together to these artists and their cause.

If you have the mp3s, do not pay for the cd. That's dumb. Paypal these guys $5 or something: sure, its not much, but its a helluva lot better than the nothing they get from you buying the cd in stores.

Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

I think this song is great. I suggest to get a full effect, listen to Handlebars first, then this one.

I agree with the people above. Its a song about how the people are taking charge and really using the power we all have to accomplish. In the first bit, each line is, in a way, a stereotypical oxymoron. Common conception is that gangs are bad, yet they meet to plan after school programs. I think that's the best one of them.

I think the black hawks going to the survivors is another oxymoron thing in that the government may not typically spend the money to send the aircraft there. Incidentally the wind blows them there to help following the oxymorons presented earlier.

Another line I love is the roses from the lots and sidewalk cracks. Just the music its self right there is great.

And finally the line about "If you are thinking you are winning"; just great. The best part of it all is that the first time you hear it, you probably won't recognize or even pick up the line, but after you really listen to what she's saying, it all makes sense after a few times and by that point you really are winning cause you're thinking.

Great song for sure.

Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

It's a modern day revolution song, and a beautiful one at that. They say the arts are the canary in the mine - the first sign of an upcoming change. If so, then this is one of them.

I wonder if all the instances the lady speaks of are true happenings... I speculate they are. If so, that's awesome. "Pacifist guerrillas move undetected through concrete jungles" is interesting. I think it's partially a reference to parkour, and partially a reference to revolutionaries. Very cool

"If you are thinking you are winning"

Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

This song is really inspiring. I agree with a lot of peoples interpretation of the song, but I find it more about change, the first verse of the woman speaking is ironic, but also shows a dramatic change of what could happen.

Cover art for We Are Winning lyrics by Flobots

They aren't exactly things which might happen...they are things which have already happened somewhere around the world.