Total RecallArnold Schwarzenegger

The year was famine. Austria, a broken land. Allied boots on frozen earth, Hitler's Reich, a forgotten strand. Styria shivered, May brought riots, hunger's cruel decree. Born into the silence, the world looked small to me. Just rubble mountains, whispered fears of tanks beyond the eastern line, Priests painted futures darker than the deepest forest pine. Our house, a stone on a windswept hill, cars, a rumor, seldom seen. Father shoveling coal dust, mother, a spectral queen, Searching for butter, sugar, grain, across the barren fields she'd tread. The cold wind blew through Thal, planting questions in my head... Days were measured in hunger pangs, the chill that bit the bone, Nights were for the whispers, of a life I'd yet to own. Was this the limit? This the sky? This little village, all I'd know? A seed of something different, in the frozen earth, began to grow. Young Arnold Is this... is this really everything? Young Arnold Is this... is this really everything?

"I think that my hunger""And my desire""And my fire in the belly""And that nothing could stop me""I think that comes from growing up the way I did" Meinhard's trousers, always an inch too long, a metaphor I'd later grasp Patchwork ambitions, stitched with want, a future built to last Beyond the confines of the Forsthaus, where the water jug was king And every calorie a victory, the only song the hungry sing Saw the farmer's kid, new leather shoes, a casual, careless stride While mine were bound with twine and hope, a different kind of pride The taste of another's plenty, a bitter, burning brew Fueled a furnace in my belly"Arnold, this ain't meant for you This scraping by, this second best, this echo of a life" The scent of mother's three-day treks, escaping famine's knife Lingered in the threadbare coats, a silent, stark decree You either rise above the dust, or let the dust rise over thee No welfare checks, just welfare stares, the judgment in their eyes Another mouth, another burden, beneath indifferent skies But in that lack, a diamond formed, pressure sharp and keen To not just want, but seize the world, rewrite this sorry scene Hand-me-down crowns, on a borrowed, hopeful head No silver spoons, just calloused hands, and words my father said The neighbors whispered"Gustav's boys, a handful, wild and free" But"free" just meant the freedom to be hungry, same as me I watched the world through windowpanes, fogged by my own damn breath Plotting escapes, in childish schemes, cheating an early death Of spirit, of ambition's flame, before it even caught This ain't just 'bout a full damn plate, it's 'bout the battles fought Within the quiet desperation, the unspoken, gnawing dread So when you see the victory laps, remember what I've said The roots run deep in barren soil, where dreams take longer to ignite But once they burn, they blaze a path, and conquer through the night Every"no" a stronger"yes" every closed door, a wall to climb This ain't just luck, this ain't just fate, this is the art of outsmarting time Hand-me-down crowns, on a borrowed, hopeful head No silver spoons, just calloused hands, and words my father said"When you grow up like that, you don't shy away from anything"

"My father gave me that drive, gave me that fire in the belly" "And with a message, whatever you do Arnold" "BE USEFUL" Gustav's law, a leaden sky, no sun could penetrate, His word, the hammer, my young will, the anvil of my fate. Sawdust prayers for breakfast, before the milk was even poured, Ten-page sermons on Sunday's deeds, meticulously scored. A mispronounced vowel, a misplaced comma, a universe of wrong, Fifty lines of penance, boy, to make your spirit strong. Or break it. That was the gamble, in that house of rigid lines, Where affection was a currency, hoarded in his private mines. He'd conduct the gendarmerie band, then conduct our lives with force, A symphony of "shoulds" and "musts," altering my life's course. The schnapps-soaked Friday furies, a weekly, violent opera, Woke to shatters, mother's whimpers, then the silence, post-trauma. This ain't just discipline, this a pressure cooker's hiss, Building something volatile, sealed with a father's fist. He thought he molded soldiers, obedient and tame, But in that heat, rebellion brewed, whispering my name. "BE USEFUL! NO EXCUSES! EARN YOUR KEEP!" The schoolhouse mirrored home, a different kind of cage, Priests with rulers, teachers striking, turning a new page Of pain. Bounced my friend's face off a desk, for talkin' out of turn, Two front teeth a sacrifice, another lesson learned: Authority's a fickle beast, it bites the hand that's meek. So I learned to bite back harder, turn the other goddamn cheek? Nah, I stored the slights, the petty tyrannies, the daily, dull despair, Each one a log upon the fire, polluting Thal's clean air. He'd say, "You're special, meant for more," but his actions screamed deceit, Or maybe he just saw the future, rising from beneath his feet. This ain't a diss track to my pops, more a psychological sketch, Of how a boy with nothin' much, can learn to truly stretch Beyond the borders of his pain, and flip the script with style, Turn every lash into a ladder, climb it for a mile. So thank you, Gustav, for the fury and the fear, You showed me every wall I had to conquer, crystal clear. Yeah, the ghost of your decree, still echoes in my ear, But now it sounds like rocket fuel, banishing all fear.

"I saw a bodybuilding magazine, and on the cover it said""How Reg Park, Mr. Universe, became the Hercules star" Flippin' through the paper pages, ink and aspiration mixed A single image, frozen, timeless, the universe was fixed Not some random strongman, nah, a vision sharp and clear A titan on the cover, banishing all doubt and fear Reg Park as Hercules, a legend cast in light A roadmap from the misty isles to Hollywood's great height Each muscle was a sentence, every sinew was a line A scripture for a young boy's soul, a destiny divine This wasn't just a picture, this was prophecy foretold A story of a kingdom built from iron, brave and bold The cover of the dream, a blueprint for the climb Bodybuilding, then America, transcending space and time A vision in the ink that lit a burning spark It wasn't 'if' but 'when,' I'd rise and make my mark"I read that and said to myself, Wow!""This is the blueprint" I saw the path laid out for me, a ladder to the sun Each title, every trophy, was a battle to be won First Mr. Universe, like Reg, a record I would break Then cross the sea to where the cinematic fortunes they would make He did it, so I knew I could, no question in my mind A special kind of certainty, the rarest thing to find The boys in Thal were chasing girls, or kicking balls in fields I was chasing down a phantom, with ambition as my shield That magazine my bible, every workout was a prayer Building up the faith to go from here to over there The cover of the dream, a blueprint for the climb Bodybuilding, then America, transcending space and time A vision in the ink that lit a burning spark It wasn't 'if' but 'when,' I'd rise and make my mark.

My whole life I had this Unusual talent That I could see things very clearly in front of me If I can see it then it must be achievable The idea was to sculpt the body To your will But it also can be used to shape your mind To do the things that everyone calls impossible And that gives you The will And no doubt That you could make your visions not only become a reality But go beyond your dreams I had a fire in the belly for much more Much much more [Verse 1] Flesh and bone a block of marble a challenge that was carvable Anatomy a roadmap every ligament was targetable They saw a frame I saw a pantheon of columns I saw the problems wrote the answers solved 'em The iron sings a hymn of pressure that's the genesis Every rep a testament a sworn and sworn-in nemesis To mediocrity I build the house I live in on my back Carve the bicep chisel the trap turnin' muscle into fact This ain't vanity it's clarity you seein' through the sweat Every drop of pain is interest paid on a forgotten debt A promise to a younger me who felt the world was oversized Now I'm the titan notarized look in my own damn eyes Got the blueprint made the vision Every rep was my religion Every Set more plates I'm spinnin' Rinse repeat now I'm winnin' From the body to the mind it's the same exact discipline Every thought's a heavy set I build the win from deep within They see the muscle they don't see the mental warfare The gymnasium of the psyche ain't no spotters there Just you and every doubt they ever threw the ghosts you gotta face To build a mind that's bulletproof a fortified and sacred space From pumping iron on the beach to silver screens I'd reach My life became a masterclass a lesson in a speech My moment of clarity came without a single tear shed Just a cold understanding of the path that lay ahead Got the blueprint made the vision Every rep was my religion Every Set more plates I'm spinnin' Rinse repeat now I'm winnin' Is it lonely at the top? It's a vacuum Every peak I conquer another valley's in the back room They see the podium the trophy glistenin' in the light They don't see the seven-dollar hours in the dead of the night Sometimes I feel like I'm a god but I'm not a god I'm just a guy Who refused to let his future be a thing that passed him by Real is responsibility Real is takin' care of fam Real is knowin' who you are when they don't give a damn More vision more strength More distance more length The blueprint's written but the building's never done there's always more (more more)

Steel wheels sing a new song, a rhythm I can trust Leavin' ghost-towns in my wake, trading mountains for the rust Of a city that is breathin, a beast of brick and steam Two hundred miles an hour, chasin' down an iron dream Hauptbahnhof lights are blazin, a concrete constellation This is the first real station of my new world creation No more lookin' backwards at the life I left behind Just a one-way ticket forward, and the future on my mind And Munich is a promise whispered on the breeze A concrete cathedral rising from the trees A symphony of sirens, a skyline sharp and new The place I'll finally become the me I always knew Yeah, the me I always knew They welcome you with open arms and promises so grand A place to sleep, a helping hand, in this strange and foreign land A"patron" with a business suit, a smile that doesn't reach his eyes Says"Son, I see your future, let me help you reach the prize" But every friendly gesture has a price you have to pay And shadows on the Schillerstrasse don't always go away I learned that every open door can also be a trap And every word of kindness could be hiding something in the back This ain't the Thalersee.. the water's deep and cold The price of the platform is a story to be told This world will try to own you, try to mold you, try to break you It's not enough to be just strong.. you have to let the wisdom make you So let them play their little games, and let them think they know I'm just a seed that's in their soil, but watch how big I grow This city's mine to conquer now, the lesson understood From the shadows of the Schillerstrasse.. something great and good Yeah.. something good.

This ain't a gym, it's a confession booth... The sermons are silent, the prayers are in the proof. In this cathedral of chalk where the saints are all stoic The only hymns are heavy breaths, poetically heroic I'm chasin' apparitions, repetitions of a vision Making surgical incisions on a sub-par disposition It's molecular warfare, cellular collision A holy trinity of sinew, static, and submission To the gravity... a fallacy I'm gladly dismantlin' On a solitary mission, a champion they're channelin' Franco's in the corner, a brother in the alchemy He sees the madness manifestin', what's the final outcome be? We turnin' iron into armor, turnin' fables into fact This ain't a hobby, it's a covenant, a suicidal pact If the bar ain't bendin', then you're just pretendin' You're just pretendin', yeah, you're just pretendin' If the bar ain't bendin', then you're just pretendin' Gotta break it all down for a perfect endin' They think it's all bravado, the arrogance of mass They never see the doubt I gotta dominate and then surpass The lonely hours in the dungeon when the psyche's on the rack Wrestlin' with the whisper tellin' you to turn it back But that echo of my father's voice, that ghost inside the gears Is the metronome that's countin' down the failure that he fears So I go deeper in the séance, the ceremony's set A thousand pounds of penance for a past I can't forget If the bar ain't bendin', then you're just pretendin' You're just pretendin', yeah, you're just pretendin' If the bar ain't bendin', then you're just pretendin' Gotta break it all down for a perfect endin' If the bar ain't bendin', then you're just pretendin' You're just pretendin', yeah, you're just pretendin' If the bar ain't bendin', then you're just pretendin' Gotta break it all down

Flew to London, so certain, the prodigy, the one My victory lap, I thought, before the race had even run Stepped on the stage, the lights were hot, the moment felt so pure A perfect V-shape taper, confident and so secure I saw the others, saw their lines, but I felt I stood apart The mass, the power, a living sculpture, a brand new work of art The crowd was with me, I could feel it, the energy, the pull A future king among the men, my cup was getting full But the pedestal is a lonely place, when you're looking up A taste of second, a bitter drop in a victor's cup Chet Yorton had the chisel, yeah, a lesson I would learn It's not enough to be the best, you have to wait your turn Or never wait at all, just burn the whole stage to the ground A silent vow I made that night, without a single sound I told myself I went to compete, a lie I let myself believe A safety net for my own pride, a trick up my own sleeve But what if I had gone to win? To dominate, to own? Would I have trained a different way? A different seed be sown? The flight back home was quiet, just the humming of the plane Replaying every pose, every moment, in the falling rain Of my reflection in the window, a kid who got it wrong The fire wasn't hot enough, the will was not as strong The pedestal is a lonely place, when you're looking up A taste of second, a bitter drop in a victor's cup Chet Yorton had the chisel, yeah, a lesson I would learn It's not enough to be the best, you have to wait your turn Or never wait at all, just burn the whole stage to the ground A silent vow I made that night, without a single sound Never again.. never just compete.. win.

Yeah! London calling, but a different tone this time Not a lesson, but a reckoning, a legendary climb Back on the stage, a different animal, the hunger in my stare Left the doubt in '66, now there's magic in the air! Ten more pounds of purpose, every fiber finely tuned The product of a year of rage beneath a Munich moon They saw a monster, saw a myth, a kid they couldn't name But by the final pose-down, they were screaming out in flame! MR. UNIVERSE! Sound it out, let the letters ring! The youngest ever in the history to do the blessed thing! MR. UNIVERSE! On the pedestal, the vision made so real! This is how the victory, this is how the conquest feels! I promised I'd be back, a promise kept in steel Turned the theory into fact, made the fantasy feel real The judges saw the difference, the fire in the soul The quiet kid from Austria was now in full control They handed me the trophy, the flashbulbs popped and blew But the real prize came after, a message breaking through... "I just got an invitation from Weider... I'm gonna move to America, bye bye" MR. UNIVERSE! Sound it out, let the letters ring! (Yeah!) The youngest ever in the history to do the blessed thing! (told you!) MR. UNIVERSE! On the pedestal, the vision made so real! This is how the victory, this is how the conquest feels!

'68, touchdown at LAX, a different kind of air A sky so big and bleached with sun it answers its own prayer Came with a gym bag and a promise that I made myself in thunder Left the old world buried six feet deep, six thousand miles under Palm tree soldiers standin' guard on boulevards of chrome This ain't just a city, man, this feels like coming home Gold's Gym was a sand-pit, a temple built for gods Full of friendly giants trading stories, beatin' all the odds Weider sellin' fantasies in Technicolor bright "The Austrian Oak," he called me, bathed me in that Cali light. And in that golden state, I thought the path was clear and straight Just show up with the muscle, and you seal your own fate Yeah, the California dream, I breathed it in so deep A promise whispered from the hills, a fortune mine to keep. Flew to Miami, full of pride, a victory parade Forgot the ink was barely dry on the new vows that I made Walked in overconfident, my momentum was my shield Thought my European crown was all the power I could wield But Zane was cut from diamond, while my body was still dough Got beat by definition, boy, a tough way to say no. The judges' verdict was a gunshot in a silent room Stranded in a paradise that suddenly became my tomb. Staring at the ceiling in a cheap hotel, a ghost Far from every friend I had, and the thing I wanted most This golden state's a gamble, yeah, the stakes are so damn high One minute you're a hero, the next you wanna die. Darkness... silence... a stranger in a strange land... Then a lifeline cuts the silence... the future in my hand. "I was so devastated, I was lying in the middle of the night, in bed, in this hotel room" "And I thought the world is coming to an end" "I'm in this strange country, I cannot communicate here" "I'm thousands of miles away from home" "And I just lost, I disappointed everybody" "The next day I said, ok, you cried like a little baby" "And now let's move on"

The stage lights burn like judgment day, the moment is at hand The final war for all the stones in this new promised land He hit his pose, the classic shot, the one they'd seen before The crowd erupts, they scream his name, they want him, and they roar But I was ready, calm and cold, the architect of fate I studied every line he threw and chose to check and mate He hit his lat spread, I hit mine, but wider, deeper, clean A living statue sent to break the mythic king's routine. MR. OLYMPIA! Put the crown upon the granite dome! The Austrian Oak is standin' here and I am finally home! MR. OLYMPIA! A new king has arrived tonight! I conquered every shadow and I stepped into the light! The final pose-down, face to face, the air was getting thin A psychological assault from deep within I hit three poses for his one, a confident attack I broke his rhythm, broke his will, there was no turnin' back He walked off stage, I pulled him back with just a simple shrug The final nail, the final act, pulled out the final plug The judges saw the shift in power, a transfer of the crown The night I turned the bodybuilding world completely upside down! MR. OLYMPIA! Put the crown upon the granite dome! The Austrian Oak is standin' here and I am finally home! MR. OLYMPIA! A new king has arrived tonight! I conquered every shadow and I stepped into the light!

They ask me if I still get nervous Man, the only thing I'm nervous about is gettin' bored Yeah.. The victory lap '71, '72, just a victory tour Another year, another trophy, what's this really for? The challengers line up with fire in they soul But I'm playing a different game, I'm just takin' my toll Paris, then Essen, Germany's might Same story, different city, bathed in the same stage light Felt like I was playin' chess while they were playin' checkers I was readin' 'em like books while they were lookin' at the records They're trainin' for a title, I'm trainin' for a legend The gap just gets wider, that's the message that I'm sendin This ain't a competition, it's a coronation march I'm just adding layers of gold paint up on this perfect arch Another year, another win, the script is gettin' old Another chapter in the story that's already been told Watchin' rivals rise and fall.. ain't no one left to meet Then the kid from Brooklyn shows up, bigger than a damn house Lou Ferrigno, a new lion, challengin' the cat and mouse The press is gettin' hyped up"Is the champion's run done?""Has the old king gotten lazy, sittin' in the sun?" They're filmin' Pumping Iron, tryin' to build the narrative high The young bull versus the old bull, the question in their eye But they don't see the mental game, the psychological art The simple, quiet confidence that tears a foe apart I played the role, I fanned the flames, I gave 'em all a show But deep inside the certainty continued just to grow The show was in Pretoria, the '75 campaign Just another day at the office, standin' in the rain of praise Another year, another win, the script is gettin' old Another chapter in the story that's already been told Watchin' rivals rise and fall.. ain't no one left to meet Six times I stood up on that stage, and held the Sandow high 'Til the hunger for that win was just a whisper, not a cry There's no more worlds in this small world for me to go and seize The challenge isn't in the gym no more, it's floatin' on the breeze From somewhere else.. somewhere bigger.. somewhere new to climb A different kind of pedestal, a different sense of time I looked around.. No one left So I retired The king of this mountain Time to go find another one.

They always ask me"Arnold, what's the secret?" Like there's some shortcut. Some magic pill There isn't. But there are rules My rules. Listen close Rule one: Trust yourself, no matter what they tellin' you The vision in your gut is the only voice that's sellin' truth Rule two: Break the rules.. not the law, but the status quo The path that's always taken is the slowest way to grow Rule three: Don't be afraid to fail, you can't be paralyzed The master has failed more times than the novice has ever tried And rule four: Ignore the naysayers, the voices of the small They say it can't be done because they're scared that you'll get it all Write it down, make it plain Drill it deep inside your brain The work is what remains The vision and the pain.. become the gain Rule five: Work your tail off, leave no single stone unturned The sweetest taste of victory is knowin' that it's earned And rule six: Always give somethin' back, open up the door For the next kid with the fire who is yearnin' for much more Don't just take from the world, add your value to the pot Share the blueprint, share the knowledge, share the wisdom that you got 'Cause a legacy ain't built on what you have, but what you leave behind A strong body's nothin' without a strong and useful mind Write it down, make it plain Drill it deep inside your brain The work is what remains The vision and the pain.. become the gain Those are the rules Simple. Not easy Now go do something useful.