Back to the Primitive

"Back to the Primitive" is a metal song by Soulfly, released in 2000. The song, composed by Max Cavalera, is played as the first track of the second Soulfly album, Primitive.

Music and lyrics

The song features simple downtuned riffs, plus tribal drumming and blabbering; it also plays berimbau to begin the song. Lyrically, this political song is about demoting national government back to local tribal society. Every choruses begin with 'Back to the Primitive', except for the first line of lyric 'Um dois treis quatro' (one two three four in Portuguese) to begin the song, and verses containing just 'Primitive' per line.

Music video

This song begins with a berimbau, but it is not the case for the accompanying music video. Instead the intro plays tribal percussion with 'Soulfly' chants alternately by Cavalera and spectators. The drumming intro lasts 29 seconds, compared to just 23 seconds for the berimbau intro. The most dramatic scene in the video is a man jumping onto the crowd.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Max Cavalera except where noted, all music composed by Max Cavalera.

CD single
No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"Back to the Primitive"		4:01
2.	"Terrorist" (Total Destruction Mix)	Max Cavalera, Tom Araya	4:39
3.	"Back to the Primitive" (Dub Shit Up Mix)		4:35
Total length:			13:15

• include music video "Back to the Primitive"

Promo CD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Back to the Primitive"	4:01
Total length:		4:01

Promo cassette

Side A
No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"Back to the Primitive"
2.	"Terrorist"	Max Cavalera, Tom Araya

Personnel

Soulfly

• Max Cavalera - vocals, rhythm guitar, berimbau, producer
• Mikey Doling - guitar
• Marcello D. Rapp - bass guitar, percussion
• Joe Nunez - drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Tom Araya - vocals on "Terrorist"
• Toby Wright - producer
• Andy Wallace - mixing
• The Rootsman - remixing