Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hurray for the Riff Raff
[Verse 1]
Oh I just wanna go to work --
And get back home, and be something
I just wanna fall in line --
And do my time, and be something
Well I just wanna prove my worth --
On the planet Earth, and be, something
I just wanna fall in love
Not fuck it up, and feel something
[Verse 2]
Well lately, don’t understand what I am
Treated as a fool
Not quite a woman or a man
Well I don’t know
I guess I don’t understand the plan
[Verse 3]
Colonized, and hypnotized, be something
Sterilized, dehumanized, be something
Well take your pay
And stay out the way, be something
Ah do your best
But fuck the rest, be something
[Verse 4]
Well lately, it’s been mighty hard to see
Just searching for my lost humanity
I look for you, my friend
But do you look for me?
[Instrumental]
[Verse 5]
Lately I’m not too afraid, to die
I wanna leave it all behind
I think about it sometimes
Lately all my time’s been movin slow
I don’t know where I’m gonna go
Just give me time, I’ll know
[Bridge 1]
Oh, any day now
Oh, any day now
I will come along
Oh, any day now
Oh, any day now
I will come along
I will come along
[Recording]
Dead Puerto Ricans who never knew they were Puerto Ricans
Who never took a coffee break from the 10th commandment
To kill, kill, kill
The landlords of their cracked skulls
And communicate with their Latin souls
Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Olga, Manuel
From the nervous breakdown streets where the mice live like millionaires
And the people do not live at all
[Instrumental]
[Outro]
From el barrio to Arecibo, ¡Pa’lante!
From Marble Hill to the ghost of Emmett Till, ¡Pa’lante!
To Juan, Miguel, Milagros, Manuel, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who came before, we say, ¡Pa’lante!
To my mother and my father, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To Julia, and Sylvia, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who had to hide, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who lost their pride, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To all who had to survive, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
To my brothers, and my sisters, I say, ¡Pa’lante!
¡Pa’lante!
¡Pa’lante!
To all came before, we say, ¡Pa’lante!
Pa’lante was written by Pedro Pietri & Hurray for the Riff Raff.
Pa’lante was produced by Paul Butler.
Hurray for the Riff Raff released Pa’lante on Fri Mar 10 2017.
In 2018, NPR ranked this as the #14 greatest song involving a female or nonbinary artist, saying:
Hurray For The Riff Raff frontwoman Alynda Segarra spent much of her youth hopping trains in search of America. The band’s sixth album, The Navigator, follows the story of a similar young girl, Navita,...