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What Can’t Be Taken Back Lyrics by Cryptodira

The Angel of History

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Those who have overseen the writing of history
Are the same who have forced it to be class warfare
Those who have overseen the writing of history
Have forced history into dialectics: the gravedigger
Those who have overseen the writing of history
Take a step back into surveying their horror and scream:
“I have never known peace
I was born wrapped in blood, not peace
Hitherto history has been endless warfare
“All my timе is spent folding itself in scale and valuе
All my time feels the anxious pressure of condensation
“It’s the time of my machines, but also
The labor time without which there would be no profit
Every cycle, I manipulate the organic composition of capital
Ever so slightly more for the momentary promise of profit
But in doing so cleave the numerator and denominator
Further apart from a sustainable exploitation
Every cycle I dig my own grave that much deeper
“My ideology is the product of imitating a second nature
Yet divining it as the first. Organic cycles of summer and winter
Maimed and displaced into an apology for booms and busts
It is repetition, the empty time of my fate and mythology
In every trace there is guilt, on and with which I squander labor
The circuit was once as simple as buy—sell—buy more
Now my profit-guarantees are warfare, torture and starvation
“Where warfare was once consequence, now is profit itself
Thus, I have never known peace, and never want to know it
But I can’t escape the consequence; each breath I fire out
Draws in counter-fire: each breath is a self-quickening death
All I want is perpetual change, but also to sanction that change
I want a change that can never hurt me or take my property
All I want is a history evacuated of the very motor force I constitute
All I want is a history where my deprivation and oppression and exploitation
Of the overwhelming masses can continue forever, unchecked and unbalanced.”
Since time is the essence of consciousness, time which is free
Seeks the highest expression of consciousness: freedom
The impulse of the ruling class to hyper-accumulate greater surpluses
Coupled with irrational allocation, only means greater waste
An expa/ending divide which kills both meaning and time
An expa/ending divide in the demand: “your money or your life.”
The question only has its meaning if the worker is bleeding
It only has meaning if there’s trembling singing, and missing hope
When we are made to abandon our most profound sense—
Historicity; our feeling of history; how history falls before us
At the level of our skin; how we locate ourselves in its epic—
All that remains to ground us is a generalized and empty time
When meaning is lost, and so too any value labored for;
When there is no proper referential substitute to guide us;
In that temporality, we are led in serialized procession
By causal chains of history: fetishes at root
They are formed from our practical engagement in society
So, with every moment that passes, the true subject of history—
But a subject which knows better than to call itself one of history
Since its honest project is to end class-war-history—
Knows no rest in trying to reclaim our “to be”
From the omnipresent ghost of our own labor
History is reclaimed “to be” a stance of hope
History “to be” absolution, stared in its eyes without revulsion
History reclaimed from those who, in search of profit
Squander the life and health of the worker
We will know peace. We will know rest
We will know life. We will know love
We will know dignity, and so much more
Credits
Cryptodira

Cryptodira

About “What Can’t Be Taken Back” by Cryptodira

Read the complete lyrics to "What Can’t Be Taken Back" by Cryptodira from the album "The Angel of History". On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Rock.

"What Can’t Be Taken Back" is performed by Cryptodira. from the album "The Angel of History" This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "What Can’t Be Taken Back", explore more songs by Cryptodira using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

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Frequently asked questions

"What Can’t Be Taken Back" is credited to Cryptodira. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

"What Can’t Be Taken Back" appears on "The Angel of History".

Visit the Cryptodira artist page at /artist/cryptodira for biography, popular tracks, and links to more lyric pages.