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Maria Lyrics

Tha sun ablaze as Maria's foot
Touches the surface of sand
On Northern Land
As human contraband
Some Rico from Jalisco
Passed her name to tha boss
She's stuffed ten to a truckbed
She clutches her cross
Here come tha exhaust
And it rips through her lungs
Shes off fast to tha pasture
Like cattle she'll cross
Degree 106
Sweat and vomit are thrown
And she prays and suffocates
Upon the memories of home
Of Yanqui guns for blood debts on the loans
Of smoldering fields, rape, rubble and bones
Of graves hidden trapped up in visions of war
Of nothing, no one, nobody, no more
These are her mountains and skies and she radiates
And through history's rivers of blood she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
She's eternally here
Her time is near, Never conquered but here

To tear away at the mask

And now she got a quota
Tha needle and thread crucifixion
Sold and shipped across tha new line
of Mason Dixon
Rippin through denim
Tha point an inch from her vein
Tha foreman approach
His steps now pound in her brain
His presence it terrifies
And eclipses her days
No minutes to rest
No moments to pray
And with a whisper
He whips her
Her soul changed to his will
"My job is to kill if you forget to take your pill"
Her arm jerks
Tha sisters gather round her and scream
As If in a dream
Eyes on the crimson stream
Numb as her wrists spit shots of blood to tha floor
I am nothing, no one, nobody, no more

These are her mountains and skies and
she radiates
And through history's rivers of blood
she regenerates
And like tha sun disappears only to reappear
Maria she's eternally here
Her time is near
Never conquered but here
Song Info
Submitted by
piesupreme On Apr 28, 2001
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Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

This song is about the plight of Latino and Asian workers who labor in 1st-world company factories. Maria is a general representative of those peoples. In the song, she takes her life after suffering as a virtual slave. This is a story repeated thru history and still happening today.

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

And...if you were wondering the line "My job is to kill if you forget to take your pill" refers to the fact that many of the sweatshop laborers are forced to take birth control pills so that they cannot have babies and get maternity leave.

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

agreed, this song is about an "illegal" mexican immigrant who comes to america looking for a better life, but because she's not here "legally" she's forced to work in a sweatshop where she's virtually a slave, eventually she kills herself rather then subject herself to it anymore

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

I was surprised to see that no one took this the same way that I did, but I believe this song is about Nature itself, 'Maria' being the name given to it; sort of like mother nature and what she has endured.

Seriously, relisten to this song with that thought in mind, and tell me your opinions on that. From the very first time I actually listened to the lyrics of this song I felt this was the meaning, and was pretty surprised to find people taking Maria to be a literal person.

Opinions?

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

the line "to tear away at the mask" is a reference to her efforts to expose what happened to her, and what was going on.

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

Regarding Ips41's comments: Those three lines could refer to the boat. However the next line is

As human contraband.

It seems to meen that Mariah is a mexican immigrant. Those three lines and this one together fit this interpretation but not the one about the boat.

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

Lps41 your stupid This song isnt about the santa maria reaching land its about her stepping foot en el norte wich is the north norte is what some of us mexicans use to define the US .

Like cattle shell cross Degree 106 Is her crossing to the US in the dessert at 106 degrees.

It says: As human contraband Some Rico from Jalisco Passed her name to tha boss

The rico from jalisco can be a rich drug dealer that is getting her across

Degree 106 refers to the longitude of the el paso border crossing between the US and Mexico

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

the line

'my job is to kill if you forget to take your pill"

does not refer to this song. the thing about birth control pills may be true, but its not what that metaphor means. the metaphor is also seen in Sleep Now In The Fire. the line is

'for its the end of history its caged and frozen still there is no other pill to take so swallow the one that makes you ill'

the pill refers to your life, the way of life. so swallow the pill means accept the life that your corporate masters have made for you. thats what the guy is shouting in the song, he wants Maria to conform to her slavery. most of the lines in the song are representative of something.

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

Although the woman in the song is Latin American, I think that more generally the song describes the tendency for any economic system other than (ideal) socialism to enslave people everywhere.

Maria represents workers, her time is near suggests an impending revolution.

Cover art for Maria lyrics by Rage Against the Machine

no one has mentioned the reference to the ¨new line of mason dixon¨ This is interesting. The mason dixon line was the line used to seperate slave states from free states until the end of the civil war. A new line of mason dixon is a reference to a new kind of slavery going on that we don´t pay attention to.