Sleep Now In The Fire

"Sleep Now in the Fire" is the fifth track from the 1999 album The Battle of Los Angeles by the band Rage Against the Machine. It was released as a single in 2000. The song contains lyrics about greed, such as the conquest of Native Americans and U.S. slavery in the 1800s as well as criticism of actions taken by the US government in wartime, including the bombing of Hiroshima and the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. Tom's solo is also notable as he simply uses feedback from the amp, along with using his whammy bar to adjust the pitch of the feedback. By flicking his toggle switch on and off, he is able to create the high-pitched solo. At the end of the song, there is some sound from a Korean radio station that guitarist Tom Morello picked up on his amp. The video was nominated at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rock Video but lost to Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff", causing the infamous incident where bassist Tim Commerford climbed on a large piece of the award show set. Commerford later stated he had pulled the stunt in protest that cameras at the awards show were already hovering over Limp Bizkit before anything was even announced, with which he disagreed.

[Verse 1] Yeah The world is my expense The cost of my desire Jesus blessed me with its future And I protect it with fire So raise your fists and march around Just don't take what you need I'll jail and bury those committed And smother the rest in greed Crawl with me into tomorrow Or I'll drag you to your grave I'm deep inside your children They'll betray you in my name [Chorus] Hey, hey Sleep now in the fire Hey, hey Sleep now in the fire [Verse 2] The lie is my expense The scope of my desire The party blessed me with its future And I protect it with fire [Pre-Chorus] I am the Niña, the Pinta, the Santa Maria The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer The agents of orange, the priests of Hiroshima The cost of my desire Sleep now in the fire [Chorus] Hey, hey Sleep now in the fire Hey, hey, hey Sleep now in the fire [Verse 3] For it's the end of history It's caged and frozen still There is no other pill to take So swallow the one that makes you ill [Pre-Chorus] The Niña, the Pinta, the Santa Maria The noose and the rapist, the fields' overseer The agents of orange, the priests of Hiroshima The cost of my desire Sleep now in the fire Yeah [Outro] Sleep now in the fire Sleep now in the fire Sleep now in the fire Sleep now in the fire