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Thu 17 Jul, 2003 10:19 am
My white ass was educated seeing Gil perform 'Johannesburg' on Saturday Night Live as a kid, and I have been a fan ever since. I know Kitchenpete is also a big fan, just wondering who else out there has a passion for his poetry and music? I think a lot of rap artists owe plenty to the man....nuff said, except for this from a fan site:
"What can I say? This is a classic. Though the beat and lyrics have been used and abused by the very agents mentioned in the poem, its message still rings loud and clear."
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and drop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruption.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
Blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
Hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Wood and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
Thinner, because
The revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays
Pushing that cart down the block on the dead run,
Or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not predict the winner at 8:32
or the count from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of young being
Run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a red, black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the right occasion.
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
Women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
News and no pictures of hairy armed women
Liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be right back after a message
About a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a germ on your
Bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that cause bad breath.
The revolution WILL put you in the driver's seat.
The revolution will not be televised, WILL not be televised,
WILL NOT BE TELEVISED.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
Wow, I used to listen to him a looooong time ago. What a flashback! Didn't he coin the term Ray-Gun for Reagan?
It's funny. I've been thinking about him lately. Wondering if he's still around. Thinking about maybe listening to him to see what I think in retrospect. I wasn't real familiar with his music, but he left his mark. I've wondered if the rap and hip hop people know him and are inspired by him. Probably. I would imagine some of them have sampled his stuff.
I know for sure that he has been sampled in a big way. Public Enemy for one lifted beats and lines directly from 'The Revolution Will not be Televised', can't remember the tune...it was a cool track though.
Good to see there's some appreciation for Gil-Scott Heron. I got indoctrinated with his stuff around 1975, and I remember how impressed I was. Anyone remember The Last Poets? Here's a good one from Gil-Scott:
The Bottle
See that black boy over there, runnin' scared
his ol' man's in a bottle.
He done quit his 9 to 5 to drink full time
so now he's livin' in the bottle.
See that Black boy over there, runnin' scared
his ol' man got a problem
Pawned off damn near everything, his ol'
woman's weddin' ring for a bottle.
And don't you think it's a crime
when time after time, people in the bottle.
See that sista, sho wuz fine before she
started drinkin' wine
from the bottle.
Said her ol' man committed a crime
and he's doin' time,
so now she's in the bottle.
She's out there on the avenue, all by herself
sho' needs help from the bottle.
Preacherman tried to help her out,
she cussed him out and hit him in the head with a bottle.
And don't you think it's a crime
when time after time, people in the bottle.
See that gent in the wrinkled suit
he done damn near blown his cool
to the bottle
He wuz a doctor helpin' young girls along
if they wuzn't too far gone to have problems.
But defenders of the dollar eagle
Said "What you doin', Doc, it ain't legal,"
and now he's in the bottle.
Now we watch him everyday tryin' to
chase the pigeons away
from the bottle.
And don't you think it's a crime
when time after time, people in the bottle.
I've got that tune...great one. One of my other favorites is 'There Ain't No Such Thing as a Superman'.
Saw Gil perform with Flava Flav of Public Enemy several years ago. Don't remember the name of the tune they did together but obviously, it must have been the one PE sampled.
The Last Poets. Those were truly the good ol' days for me...
Yeah,
I remember his performance on SNL when I was in grade school, and had always remembered that song, but I didn't know who he was. Not too long ago, I saw a re-run of that show. Man, that dude with the beads in the basket could GET DOWN! As soon as I saw that re-run, I got on Amazon.com and looked him up, and bought the CD. I just love 70's funk. And Gil Scott-Heron had a message too.
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