MINER POET GUERILLA TYRANT

Sixteen Tons, Geoff Castellucci

I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number 9 coal
And the straw boss said, "Well-a bless my soul!"
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
I was born one morning, it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an old mama lion [ → Terminus. ]
Can't no high-toned woman make me walk the line

If you see me comin' better step aside
A lot of men didn't, a lot of men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't getcha then the left one will

Feed the Machine, Poor Man's Poison

Do what you know you should, for all (for all)
We all may die
Something's going on, just look around
Fear is on the rise and there's blood all over the ground
Let's all just blindfold the poor, we must remind them what's in store
We got 'em now, just break 'em down a little bit more
Said hey (hey), you (you), feed the machine
Bring 'em all back down to their knees
No time to waste, remind the slaves
They ain't gonna make it out alive today
I said hey (hey), you (you), poison the well [ → Scorched-earth tactics. ]
Watch it all burn, take 'em straight to hell
He's got the whole (whole), world (world) in his hands
It was nice to know ya, we've all been damned
C'mon!

We've all been damned
C'mon (c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon) We've all been damned
C'mon!

Hymn to Virgil, Hozier

[ For Terminus. ]

If I held in my hands everything gold could buy
I'd still not have a thing worth giving you
You tell me the sun is shining in paradise
And I have to watch your lips turn blue
I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat
You are the reason I went through it, oh
The only meaning as I knew it, my-yeah
And I can only do my best, I do not do this for myself
I'd walk through hell on living feet for you
I wouldn't be seen walking through any door
Some place that you're not welcome to [ → Among other things, refusal to grant custom to businesses that do not permit beastformers to enter. ]
You stare at the faces smiling from somewhere warm
From somе place the sunlight won't come through
I would burn thе world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat

Woke Up A Rebel, Reuben And The Dark

The blood will not dry
And time will not heal
I want to be free
But the blood will not dry
And the sun disappeared
Through the hole in the sky
Oh, they made me a shadow
And blackened my bones
But I will rise
I died like a saint
Was reborn a devil
I slept like a slave
And woke up a rebel
I died like a saint
Was reborn a devil
I slept like a slave
And woke up a rebel

I am wild, I am lost
I am sick, I am damned
But I am holding redemption in the palm of my hand
So I tighten my fist
And sharpen my teeth
It's a promise I made
It's secret I keep
I am lookin' for trouble
And trouble I will find
You will get what is comin'
I'll take back what is mine
I'll set fire to this dream
I'll set fire to this dream
And I will rise

Prelude/Angry Young Man, Billy Joel

There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And he likes to be known as the angry young man
Give a moment or two to the angry young man
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand
He's been stabbed in the back, he's been misunderstood
It's a comfort to know his intentions are good [ → "Four million years ago Megatron set out to make the world a better place." ]
And he sits in a room with a lock on the door [ → "My life is a succession of decisions made in confined spaces: mine shafts. Alt modes. Cells." ]
With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor
And he likes to be known as the angry young man
I believe I've passed the age
Of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right
And there's always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
And he's never been able to learn from mistakes
So he can't understand why his heart always breaks
And his honor is pure, and his courage as well
And he's fair, and he's true, and he's boring as hell
And he'll go to the grave as an angry old man

The Boxer, Simon & Garfunkel

I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest

I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station
Runnin' scared, laying low
Seeking out the poorer quarters, where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders [ → "Don't like needles?" / "Something like that." ]
Of every glove that laid him down[ → "You remember Rodion, don't you, bucket head?"...]
Or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame [ → ..."I remember you attacked me." ]
"I am leaving, I am leaving", but the fighter still remains

Champion, Fall Out Boy

I'm calling you from the future
To let you know we've made a mistake

And I'm back with a madness, I'm a champion
Of the people who don't believe in champions
I got nothing but dreams inside
I got nothing but dreams
I'm just young enough to still believe, still believe

I got rage every day, on the inside
The only thing I do is sit around and kill the time
I'm trying to blow out the pilot light
I'm trying to blow out the light

If I can live through this, if I can live through this
If I can live through this, I can do anything
If I can live through this, if I can live through this
If I can live through this, I can do anything
Champion, champion, I can do anything
Champion, champion, and I can do anything
Champion, champion, and I can do anything
Champion, champion, I can do anything!

Red Right Hand, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Take a little walk to the edge of town and go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms, like a bird of doom as it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires, in the humming wires
Hey man, you know you're never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge, past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with a red right hand
He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul
But there won't be a single thing that you can do
He's a god, he's a man, he's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat is a red right hand
You don't have no money? He'll get you some
You don't have no car? He'll get you one
You don't have no self-respect, you feel like an insect
Well don't you worry, buddy, 'cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrio and the Bowery and the slums
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his red right hand

You'll see him in your head, on the TV screen
Hey, buddy, I'm warning you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru
You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by his red right hand

Pray, The Amazing Devil

Pray for me, oh children, pray for what I've, I've, I've, I've done
I'll haunt the very wrinkles of your skin
Pray for me, I'll run until I begin to understand
What holy men really mean
When they speak of sin
Oh woah, oh woah
Pray for me 'cause I won't pray for you

If you knew all that I'd done
The words that shone are all but gone
Oh woah
The hearts I've broken, the minds I've woken
Sweet nothings are screamed not spoken
Oh woah
God made all man in his image (God made all men)
Honey I'm, I'm no man [ → With previous line; unforged, not made according to the 'Will of Primus.' ]

I'm what’s left when children go to war
Run from you, I'll run until I begin to understand (Run from you, understand)
What holy men really mean
When they speak of sand and sons and seams

Pray for me, oh children, pray for what I've, I've, I've undone
I cannot sleep when all you do is cry
Pray for me, I'll run until I begin to understand
What holy men really mean when they speak of all that's been and all that won't
And all you do and don't

I'm stronger now than you have ever known
The cracks you made I fill with mortar
A broken pot can still hold water
Symphonies and sweat and sex mean nothing when you are obsessed
With sin and soil and strength and song and all the words that came out wrong and him

Pray for me 'cause I won't pray for you

Start A War, Klergy

So you wanna start a war
In the age of icons
So you wanna be immortal
With a loaded gun
So you wanna start a war, war
So you wanna start a war
Bang, shots fired
Pain is what you desire
The pen is mightier than the sword [ → "I got to the bit about using pacifist rhetoric to facilitate political reform" ]
Then how did we get here, my God? (My God)
Sail among liars
Blame the deniers
If history is dead and gone
Then how did we get here, my God? (My God)

Fight Back, Konata Small

I am the difference between what it means to be good when you tryna be epic
No, you don't gotta believe in me
Nothing could stop me, I already said it
I'm taking everything they stole stole from us (Yeah)
You got your problems I'm a whole 'nother
I'm giving people somethin' to believe in
I'ma show em freedom like a bolt cutter
We gon' fight back
Yeah, we breaking chains over here (Yеah)
And you could stay over there (Stay)
'Causе this is revolution mixed with execution, we insane over here (Yeah)
We takin' over, making no excuses
They can't control us when they only shooting blanks
Don't obey the rules, we go against the grain
We fight the system, until no one is enslaved
I'm defiant (Yeah)
I rise in a crisis (Uhuh)
I know what the price is (Jump)
I'll show 'em where the fight is
I'm the leader of the pack
I'm here, where you at?
Set the flame, light a match
I will fight back
I'm the leader of the pack (Uhuh)
I'm here, where you at? (Whoo!)
Set the flame, light a match (Yeah)
I will fight back
Nah, this ain't hate speech, this is faith preached
This is Shakespeare mixed with Banksy [ → The great poet, whose word also spreads through graffiti. ]
This is screaming out until you can't breathe
This is I don't care how long it takes me, yeah (I don’t care)
'Cause I know freedom reigns here
Already overcame fear
So if I wanna see it then I gotta be
I'ma be the change (Yeah)

Leaving The Light, Genesis Owusu

Leaving the light
Always thought I was living a lie
Wasn't feeling it right
Always thought I was living a lie
Put my hand up on my heart, I beat my chest
The chaos moving down and down, seep in my flesh
The obstacles won't block my path, I see the test
They can try and swat me down, boy, I'm the pest
Only know what you see from the outside
You can run, God laughs with his mouth wide
I won't die on my knees, though my hands tied

There's a God and he's coming for me [ → Optimus Prime. ]

Crush me with your holy hell, I feel no damage
I can never stop my path, despite the panic
The planet might be burning down
Fuck it, I'll manage
Green hills, I can see them smoking
Big smile as the flames approaching

Code of Silence (feat. Cyndi Lauper), Billy Joel

[ This is an interesting one to include, because Megatron does quite famously use much of his traumatic experiences as material for his rhetoric. However, his point-blank refusal to speak of personal details like his construction method is notable, & I don't think he's ever shown speaking about his (horrific and formative) experience with Trepan. ]

Everybody's got a million questions
Everybody wants to know the score
What you went through
It's something you should be over now
Everybody wants to hear the secrets
That you never told a soul before
And it's not that strange
'Cause it wouldn't change what happened anyhow
But you swore to yourself a long time ago
There were some things that people never needed to know
This is one that you keep, that you bury so deep
No one can tear it out
And you can't talk about it
'Cause you're following a code of silence
You're never gonna lose the anger
You just deal with it in a different way
And you can't talk about it (No, you can't talk)
And isn't that a kind of madness
To be living by a code of silence
When you've really got a lot to say

And you still have a rage inside you
That you carry with a certain pride
In the only part of the broken heart
That you could ever save
But you've been through it once, you know how it ends
You don't see the point of going through it again
And this ain't the place and this ain't the time
And neither's any other day

And if a vow is what it takes
Haven't you paid for your mistakes?
After the moment passes
And the impulse disappears
You can still hold back
'Cause you don't crack very easily
It's a time-honored resolution
'Cause the danger is always near
It's with you now
But that ain't how it was supposed to be (No, no, no)
And it's hard to believe after all these years
That it still gives you pain and it still brings tears
And you feel like a fool, 'cause in spite all your rules
You've got a memory

Square Hammer, Ghost

Living in the night
'Neath heavens torn asunder
You call on me to solve a crooked rhyme
As I'm closing in
Imposing on your slumber
You call on me as bells begin to chime
Are you on the square?
Are you on the level?
Are you ready to swear right here, right now before the devil
That you're on the square?
That you're on the level?
That you're ready to stand right here, right now?
Right here, right now

Eat Your Young (Bekon’s Choral Version), Hozier

Let me wrap my teeth around the world
Start carvin', darlin'

You can't buy this fineness
Let me see the heat get to you
Let me watch the dressin' start to peel
It's a kindness, highness
Crumbs enough for everyone
Old and young are welcome to the meal

Throw еnough rope until the legs havе swung
Seven new ways that you can eat your young
Come and get some
Skinnin' the children for a war drum
Puttin' food on the table sellin' bombs and guns
It's quicker and easier to eat your young

Throne, Saint Mesa

[ @ Optimus. ]

I sleep with the dirt by fire glow
We keep all the hurt you never know
Believe is to see down in the hold

You called me a friend
Now broken bones
Will stay on the mend
Or decompose
Believe, you and me
It's more than drums
I'll burn your ship alive
I'm coming home
You hate my bad behavior
You cut my loosened tongue
You play the part of savior
I watch you come undone

Better, better, better
I bleed applause, I'm fading slow
Alone, distraught, without control
Believe there's freedom, took my soul
I'll burn your shit alive and take the throne

The Grand Experiment, Doomtree

We start with these planets
Waltzing through the darkness
Tip the axis; that one's ours
Zoom the camera in, cue lights up, dim the stars
We shape the stone
Paint our pictures on the wall

And we choose a king
Mine the metal for his forges, to better wage our wars

Out of mind, out of body, out of pocket
I don't mind putting on a bit of mileage
But I won't autopilot with my eyelids shut
I'm still gunning
But I learned what’s worth hunting
And I learned what’s worth nothing
Saw it, read it, outdone it
There’s no escape
They always looking for that easy out
But there's nowhere to go, yeah
Now all the parts are running
Sparks are spilling out the gears
Over some thousand faces
Waiting years to see this work

I’m gonna live forever
Give me guerilla arms
Slingshot me into outer space
In hyper-colored glitter bombs
We'll make our mark, huh?
They'll put no stops to us
We'll leave our footprints on foothills
And dance the Megatropolis

Desperately seeking solutions
To problems we know we'll never fix

Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Lorde

Welcome to your life
There's no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you

It's my own desire
It's my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most of freedom
And of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do, I'll be right behind you
So glad we've almost made it
So sad we had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world

Blackest Hand, Saint Mesa

I've been all the cold, see me
I've been in the world, see me
I've been coming short, breathin'
I've been killing my demons
I'm a second chance, see me
I'm a dead romance, see me
I'm the blackest hand, beating
I'm the biggest man bleeding

In The End, Tommee Profitt, Fleurie, Jung Youth

It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme
To remind myself of a time when I (I tried so hard)
In spite of the way you were mockin' me
Actin' like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so (Got so far)
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me (In the end)
You kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually
Be a memory of a time when I
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end, it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end, it doesn't even matter

In The End (Classical Latin), the_miracle_aligner

Tamenetsi tunc me irridebat,
agens ut eram tua res privata,
si cogito quantum pugnavissemus,
miror quod bene (gestum sit.)
Omnia omnino mutata sint,
iam me ipsum non agnoveris,
ne tunc quidem me noscebas
sed omnia perduntur (extremo.)
Tenuisti omnia corde,
tametsi conatus, omnia perdidi.

The Show Must Go On, Queen

Empty spaces, what are we living for?
Abandoned places, I guess we know the score
On and on
Does anybody know what we are looking for?
Another hero, another mindless crime [ → The false binary of virtuous hero/criminal villain is a heavy theme in IDW1, and it's one that often has Megatron at or around its center.]
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime
Hold the line
Does anybody want to take it anymore?
The show must go on
The show must go on, yeah
Inside, my heart is breaking
My makeup may be flaking
But my smile still stays on
Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance
Another heartache, another failed romance [ → "The others […] Minimus." ]
On and on
Does anybody know what we are living for?
I guess I'm learning (I'm learning, I'm learning, I'm learning)
I must be warmer now
I'll soon be turning (Turning, turning, turning)
'Round the corner now
Outside, the dawn is breaking
But inside in the dark, I'm aching to be free

I'd Love To Change The World, JETTA

I'd love to change the world [ → "I was writing a polemic. I was going to change the world." / "You did." / "I suppose so. But not for the better." ]
But I don't know what to do [ → "And to all those who follow me, I say this: do not expect wisdom, or guidance, or answers. I have none. I never did." ]
So I'll leave it up to you

Hammer To Fall, Queen

Here we stand or here we fall
History won't care at all
Make the bed, light the light
Lady Mercy won't be home tonight

Oh, every night and every day
A little piece of you is falling away
But lift your face, the Western Way
Build your muscles as your body decays, yeah
(Toe your line and play their game)
Yeah, let the anaesthetic cover it all [ → Obediently taking the prescribed 'chemosedatives.']
(Till one day, they call your name) [ → Until the return to Cybertron. ]
You know it's time for the hammer to fall, yeah [ → The 'hammer' being the gavel, and then the executioner's metaphorical axe. ]

For he who grew up tall and proud
In the shadow of the mushroom cloud
Convinced our voices can't be heard
We just wanna scream it louder and louder and louder
(What the hell we fighting for?)
Oh, just surrender and it won't hurt at all
(Just got time to say your prayers)
Yeah, while you're waiting for the hammer to, hammer to fall

Blossoms, The Amazing Devil

The weight of my phone
Like a tablet of stone
Seems to grow with the words I just read [ → The statement Optimus writes for him. ]
And it silently falls
From my hand to the floor
With the wonders I wished I had said
And for a time there is timelessness
Endless furore
To the dark I said pour and forgot to say when
And the words that you wrote
Come back blacker than smoke:
"I'm so sorry, I've done it again"
So I gather up the candlelight
Jangle the chimes
And mop up what is left of my lungs
And I climb up the ladder
Had I taken more care
I might havе seen all the rot in the rungs

And I stare at the soldiers before me
All my blossoms that have waited to fall [ → Spark flowers. ]
And I walk
And I walk
And I walk
And I walk
Knowing every last one of them is painted in light
As I make myself acquainted with the saint of never getting it right

As every step I choose to take begins to set the world aflame
And the soldiers march behind me
I can hear them beat their spears
And for the first time in all my life
I know I'm more than what I fear

Thus Always To Tyrants, The Oh Hellos

Let me die, let me drown, lay my bones in the ground [ → #HisIdeation. ]
I will still come around when the time for sleep is through

Where I go, will you still follow?
Will you leave your shaded hollow?
Will you greet the daylight looming
Learn to love without consuming?

Lost Light, Retronym (With The Empyrean Choir)

Can we rewind the tape
Erase our favorite sins
Or rewrite the story
To see how it all begins
The lost light will lead you home
When the scars refuse to heal
The lost light will lead you home
When the shadows become too real
The lost light will lead you home
You’ve been out mapping stars
Just to file them away
We all have our regrets
And you wonder if you can be saved
After the chaos
You long for a guiding hand
You’ve been flying for so long
You can’t bring yourself to land
The lost light will lead you home
When you’re stumbling in the dark
The lost light will lead you home
When you struggle to find the spark
The lost light will lead you home

The Balancer's Eye, Lord Huron

Heaven never ever heard a word I said
I’ve cried enough to raise the dead
“Everything comes and goes,” they say
Here tomorrow, gone today
Heaven won’t let me in, I don’t know why [ → Inability to open a Matrix despite giving his life for Cybertron & Cybertronians. ]
No one ever loved half as much as I
Everyone’s a sinner in the balancer’s eye
I’ve prayed enough, I rolled the dice
Anyone’s luck can turn, I’ve heard
Not soon enough, I gave my word
I was born right into nothing
Under a very bad sign
Can I cross beyond that line? [ → Can he exist beyond Functionism, or is he doomed only ever to destroy, as he was constructed to do? ]
Is it in my mind?

Nothing’s waiting for us in the great sky [ → #Atheism. ]
Life is equal to dust in the balancer’s eye [ → In this case, Censere. ]
Now I know that I can’t lift an old curse
Tell me, how does a man change the universe?
Will I ever be forgiven for the crime of my life?
Will it haunt me ’til I die?