I don't normally think to do this but I have to say that I've been impressed with Linkin Park's new Album "Minutes to Midnight." It's rhythmic drumming and poignant lyrics have really caught my attention and I can't seem to drive anywhere without flipping over to listen to this verbal anthem. So I thought I would post the lyrics and I invite you to go pick up the CD or run over to itunes to get it (a word of warning there is a bit of cussing).
Turn my mic up louder, I got to say something
Lightweights steppin' aside when we come in
Feel it in your chest, the syllables get pumping
People on the street then panic and start running
Words on loose leaf sheet, complete coming
I jump in my mind, I summon the rhyme I'm dumping
Healing the blind, I promise to let the sun in
Sick of the dark ways we march to the drumming
Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping
F*** that, I wanna see some fists pumping
List something, take back what's yours
Say something that you know they might attack you for
'Cause I'm sick of being treated like I had before
Like it's stupid standing for what I'm standing for
Like this war's really just a different brand of war
Like it doesn't cater to rich and abandon poor
Like they understand you, in the back of their jet
When you can't put gas in your tank, these f*****s
Are laughing their way to the bank, and cashing their check
Asking you to have the passion and have some respect
For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
In the living room, laughing like, "What did he say?"
Amen
In my living room watching it, I am not laughing
'Cause when it gets tense, I know what might happen
The world is cold, the bold men take action
Have to react to get blown into fractions
At 10 years old, it's something to see
Another kid my age drugged under a Jeep
Taken and bound and found later under a tree
I wonder if he had thought 'the next one could be me'
Do you see the soldiers that are out today?
They brush the dust from bulletproof vests away
It's ironic, at times like this you'd pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday
There's bombs on the buses, bikes, roads
Inside your market, your shops, and your clothes
My dad, he's got a lot of fear, I know
But enough pride inside not to let that show
My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine on the back
He hand-wrote a quote inside,
"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die"
Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
The rest of the world watching at the end of the day
Both scared and angry, like "What did he say?"
Amen
With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you.
The only place I found it at length online is on utube (here's one with subtitles). I love the second verse especially, taking on the perspective of a 10 year old who's trying to live out life in the middle of all of this chaos, searching for answers. This song is also just a taste of the album as a whole. It's still got a bit of that classic LP vibe but this is really a step out for them. It's about complex issues and is dealing with a lot of anger and frustration in the world.
Think...but also enjoy.
