Beastie Boys – Sabotage

I agree that those 2 phrases have nothing to do with what the song is about & I think it's probably wrong to leave such a simple comment about a great song like Sabotage. But when It comes to the Beasties, anything is valid. Beastie songs are usually a collage of ideas, quotes, references, samples,........

Foe example:

"I'm Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle"

This line is in reference to famous drummer Buddy Rich & his "Bus Tapes". The bus tapes are recordings that a band member made secretly while riding on the tour bus with Buddy Rich. These tapes are of Buddy Rich going off on his band, telling them that they aren't good enough to keep up with him. Cursing & berating members of his band for making mistakes on stage. In one of them he actually kicks a guy off the bus in the middle of nowhere. These tapes were passed around for years & can now be heard on youtube. Quite hilarious. Worth a listen.

That is for just one line in this song & I could tell you a lot more about the meaning of this song that might make you think twice about the meaning that you have drawn from Sabotage. I agree with KRS's interpretation. It's kinda like his Buddy Rich style rant. But instead of going off on his bandmates, Ad Rock is talking shit to all rapper, wanna be MC's. But whatever this song means to YOU is what's important & it doesn't necessarily have to match up with what the artist meant when they wrote it. Also, in '94 I heard this song & knew that I really liked it. But I had no idea what the song was about. Saying nothing but "this song rocks" doesn't take away from the meaning of this song or diminish this site in any way. I'm happy to know that so many other people like this song. It's definitely worthy of being a favorite by anyone. Any random comment is OK here, I think.

@Pharaoh I think it could easily mean what you said. It could also be about politics, former business partners or business rivals...basically, anyone with a power trip trying to sabotage someone else who clearly sees it for what it is.

@autophobe I'm not sure it is that explicit as this song would have been written more than a decade after the Watergate issue and the guys themselves would have been pre-teen during that timeframe. Not to mention, it gets really ambiguously related after the first line. "Watergate" is also just a common colloquialism for "scandal." Hence why every scandal has "gate" attached to it these days: Filegate, IRSgate, Weinstengate (note, I made the last one up). :)

@autophobe I think it's partly about Watergate yes. Politics and other shady business deals in general for sure where power grabs are made at the demise of others in order to try to win and assert dominance. They also mention Buddy Rich who was a Jazz musician who had a notoriously short temper and that was also from the same time period as Watergate, so there's most definitely a connection to all of that.

@sillybird Look everyone, another person jealous of Americans whining arrogantly about being better informed while providing no information about the topic being discussed, you don't see that every day! Then again, we don't live in holes carved out of dead empires where these things breed ...

@cory194169 dude, the song was released 1994.

@cory194169 hahaha it easily could be a prediction. But I think it's more broadly about politics or business dealings where power is trying to be asserted for someone by means of sabotaging any and everyone else in their way. Could totally fit for Trump thought too. lol

@cory194169 The song is from the 90s. That would be impossible

@cory194169 What. A. Clown.
The song was released in the 1990s.