You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop 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.
Gil Scott-Heron was an American poet, musician, best known for his work in the 70s and 80s. His work received much critical acclaim and was often associated with African American activism, some would say militantism.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
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.
His style influenced hip hop and much of today's music.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods 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.
His father was a Jamaican football (soccer) play and his mother sang with the New York Oratorical Society. He was born in April 1, 1949 in Chicago, IL, but spent some of his childhood in Jackson, Tennessee, living with his maternal grandmother.
He wrote two novels; "The Vulture" and "The Nigger Factory." The former being published in 1970
In 1970 he began a recording career with the album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox.
The album's 15 tracks dealt with themes such as the superficiality of television and mass consumerism, the hypocrisy of some would-be Black revolutionaries, white middle-class ignorance of the difficulties faced by inner-city residents, and homophobia.
-wikipedia
There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.
The most famous piece on that album is "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised." I have been quoting it through out this diary. Here is the rest:
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney 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 proper 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
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in 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 may 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, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
http://www.gilscottheron.com/...
It is still relevant, maybe even more so, today. For all of us.
He played at the "No Nukes" Concert at Madison Square Garden, September 19-23, 1979 (I'm looking at my old, dusty, bought in 1980 copy, after seeing the movie of the concert, album right now). He sang "We Almost Lost Detroit."
The video of the song below is from his Amnesia Express tour in London, UK, March 14, 1990. Lyrics here
He had problems with drugs. I'll let others discuss that.
For me it is his poetry and his music that I cherish, and will remember. He was one of the good guys. His voice I will miss.
Gil Scott-Heron, April 1, 1949 - May 27, 2011
