I see the OWS movement as revolutionary, as we see multitudes of people waking up to the situation we all find ourselves in, spontaneously coming out into the street and speaking out.
The original composition "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" was written in 1970, by Gil Scott-Heron during a period of great turbulence and social change.
I was ruminating on the nature of the news coverage of OWS, when I remembered Gil Scott-Heron's work, which really grabbed me back in 1970.
His piece was probably one of the very early examples of what came to known as "rap".
The original lyrics to this piece here can be found at
http://www.gilscottheron.com/...
His words were set to music.
I just adapted the words without regard to musical phrasing.
I've tried to leave in as many original lyrics as are relevant to the present situation, or for the sake of snarkyness.
So with apologies and abundant kudos to Gil Scott-Heron....below the fold...
The Revolution Will Not Be Happily Televised
The revolution will not be happily televised
The revolution will not be happily brought to you by the main stream media
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions
The revolution will not have Sunday Talk shows featuring John McCain, Lindsay Graham, and Dick Cheney
blowing bugles and leading a charge to restore the middle class and to enable the process to usher in an era beyond petroleum
The revolution will not be happily televised
The revolution will not be brought to you by
Fox News and will not star Bill O’Reilly
Sean Hannity and Glen Beck or Bullwinkle and Sara Palin
The revolution will not make you a reality television star
The revolution will not suddenly solve all of your problems
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be happily televised, brothers and sisters
There will be many pictures of you and Willie May
holding your properly spelled home made signs,
or videos of you trying to elucidate your frustration at the insidious corrupting power of money in politics, to a condescending media interviewer,
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be happily televised
There will be many pictures of police pepper spraying
citizens in the instant youtube replay
There will be many pictures, in the facebook livestream, of police arresting peaceful citizens who exercise their rights
There will be no pictures of Michael Bloomberg issuing rules of engagement to the NYPD
There might be slow motion or still life pictures of Lady Gaga strolling through Zuccotti Park in a Red, Black and Green liberation jumpsuit that she had been saving
For just the proper occasion
America’s Got Talent, American Idol, Dancing With the Stars,
and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Deperate House Wives because American citizens
will be in the street looking for a brighter day
The revolution will not be happily televised
There will be highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Michael Moore blowing his nose
The theme song will not be written by Bono, Toby Keith,
nor sung by Eminem, Beyonce, Tony Bennett, or Justin Beiber
The revolution will not be happily televised
The revolution will not be right back after a message
From General Electric, News Corp. or Walt Disney
The established media will clutch their pearls over their credibility as they consult their regular nightly think tank pundits in an attempt to define us and to tell us what and how to think of all that is happening
The revolution will not go better with Coke
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat
The revolution will not be happily televised,
will not be happily televised,
will not be happily televised,
will not be happily televised.
The revolution will be on many re-runs brothers and sisters.
It will be phone cam-captured, digitized, socially networked, streamed, shared
And heard around the world,
And is beyond the power of the dominant media to control the narrative.
The revolution will be live