Who Will Survive in America – Bilingual Lyrics Spanish/English

• By: Kanye West
• Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into the raw, rhythmic expression of Kanye West to explore contemporary American social vocabulary. This song is unique for its intense delivery and minimal production, making it a powerful tool for understanding how emotion and social commentary are woven into modern hip-hop through repetition and cadence.

[English]

We live our lives upside down

And the new word everyone’s using is revolution

People don't even want to hear the preacher

Give his sermon because God’s entire hand has been thoroughly revealed

And America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey

The youngsters who were programmed to keep on

Messing things up, woke up one night digging

Paul Revere and Nat Turner as the heroes

America prepared for bed, but we hadn't closed our eyes yet

The signs of Truth were tattooed across our open-ended existence

We learned to our amazement the untold tale of scandal

Two long centuries buried in a musty vault

Sprayed down daily with a suffocating perfume

America was a bastard, the illegitimate daughter of the mother country

Whose legs were then spread around the world

By a rapist known as freedom, free doom

Democracy, liberty, and justice were revolutionary code names

That preceded the bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling

In the mother country's crotch

What does the dictionary say about soul?

All I want is a good home and a wife

And children and some food to feed them every night

When all is said and done, build a new route to China if they'll have you

Who will survive in America?

Who will survive in America?

Who will survive in America?

Who will survive in America?

...

[Spanish]

Us living as we do upside down

And the new word to have is revolution

People don't even want to hear the preacher

Spill or spiel because God's whole card has been thoroughly piqued

And America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey

The youngsters who were programmed to continue

Fucking up, woke up one night digging

Paul Revere and Nat Turner as the good guys

America stripped for bed and we had not all yet closed our eyes

The signs of Truth were tattooed across our open ended vagina

We learned to our amazement the untold tale of scandal

Two long centuries buried in the musty vault

Hosed down daily with a gagging perfume

America was a bastard, the illegitimate daughter of the mother country

Whose legs were then spread around the world

And a rapist known as freedom, free doom

Democracy, liberty, and justice were revolutionary code names

That preceded the bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling

In the mother country's crotch

What does Webster say about soul?

All I want is a good home and a wife

And a children and some food to feed them every night

After all is said and done, build a new route to China if they'll have you

Who will survive in America?

Who will survive in America?

Who will survive in America?

Who will survive in America?

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
Revolution /ˌrevəˈluːʃn/ B2	noun - A forcible overthrow of a government or social order.
Preacher /ˈpriːtʃər/ C1	noun - A person who delivers a sermon or religious address.
Survive /sərˈvaɪv/ B1	verb - Continue to live or exist in spite of danger or hardship.
Democracy /dɪˈmɒkrəsi/ B2	noun - A system of government by the whole population.
Bastard /ˈbæstəd/ C2	noun - A person born of parents not married to each other.
Liberty /ˈlɪbəti/ B2	noun - The state of being free within society.
Illegitimate /ˌɪlɪˈdʒɪtɪmət/ C1	adjective - Not authorized by law; born of parents not married.
Scandal /ˈskændl/ B2	noun - An action or event regarded as morally wrong.
Justice /ˈdʒʌstɪs/ B1	noun - Just behavior or treatment.
Tattooed /tæˈtuːd/ B1	verb - Marked with indelible designs on the skin.

Key Grammar Structures

• Us living as we do upside down

  ➔ Participle phrase acting as an adverbial modifier.

  ➔ "Us living" functions as a detached subject introducing the situation.

• People don't even want to hear the preacher spill or spiel

  ➔ Infinitive verb following the verb 'want'.

  ➔ The structure "want + to + verb" is used here to express desire for an action.

• The youngsters who were programmed to continue

  ➔ Passive voice relative clause.

  ➔ "Who were programmed" modifies "youngsters", using the passive "be + past participle".

• America was a bastard, the illegitimate daughter of the mother country

  ➔ Appositive phrase.

  ➔ "The illegitimate daughter..." renames or defines "a bastard".

• Whose legs were then spread around the world

  ➔ Relative clause with possessive pronoun 'whose'.

  ➔ 'Whose' acts as a possessive, connecting the daughter's legs to the mother country.

• Democracy, liberty, and justice were revolutionary code names

  ➔ Subject-verb agreement (plural).

  ➔ Multiple subjects (Democracy, liberty, and justice) require the plural verb "were".

• Build a new route to China if they'll have you

  ➔ First conditional.

  ➔ Expresses a real possibility using 'if' + present + future/modal.

• Who will survive in America?

  ➔ Interrogative future tense.

  ➔ The modal "will" is placed before the subject "who" to form a question.