Gil Scott-Heron

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1970)

by Gil Scott-Heron

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hello, and welcome back to Poetry Wednesday 9/09/09. You can sign in today and take the tour thru Thursday, so take your time.

I’ll be your hostess again this week. My sister, Sans Souci, has completed her poetry book, and is taking a break, but she will check in.

Before we get started, please make sure that your post has a link to get back to this page to make it easier to take the tour:

1) Copy and paste the following link that I have provided for you from this page to somewhere on your poetry post.

Link back to the Poetry Wednesday tour on Laurita’s page

 2) Leave the link of your poetry post in the comments section below. This is the link guests will click on to read your poem.

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1,1949) is an American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word soul performer and his collaborative work with musician Brian Jackson.

His collaborative efforts with Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron.

The music of these albums, most notably Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul.. Scott-Heron’s recording work is often associated with black militant activism and has received much critical acclaim for one of his most well-known compositions “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. On his influence, Allmusic wrote “Scott-Heron’s unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists”.

Scott-Heron began his recording career in 1970 with the LP Small Talk at 125th and Lenox. Bob Thiele of Flying Dutchman Records produced the album, and Scott-Heron was accompanied by Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders on conga and David Barnes on percussion and vocals. 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. In the liner notes, Scott-Heron acknowledged as influences Richie Havens, John Coltrane, Otis Redding, Jose Feliciano, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Nina Simone, and the pianist who would become his long-time collaborator, Brian Jackson.

Scott-Heron’s 1971 album Pieces of a Man used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of Small Talk. He was joined by Johnny Pate (conductor), Brian Jackson on keyboards, piano, Ron Carter on bass and bass guitar, drummerBernard “Pretty” Purdie, Burt Jones playing electric guitar, and Hubert Laws on flute and saxophone, with Thiele producing again. Scott-Heron’s third album, Free Will, was released in 1972. Jackson, Purdie, Laws, Knowles, and Saunders all returned to play on Free Will and were joined by Jerry Jemmott playing bass, David Spinozza on guitar, and Horace Ott (arranger and conductor).

saw another LP collaboration with Brian Jackson, the critically acclaimed opus Winter in America, with Bob Adams on drums and Danny Bowens on bass. The album contained Scott-Heron’s most cohesive material and featured more of Jackson’s creative input than his previous albums had. Winter in America has been regarded by many critics as the two musicians most artistic effort.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron

Pieces of a Man

By Gil Scott-Heron

Jagged jigsaw pieces

Tossed about the room

I saw my grandma sweeping

With her old straw broom

She didn’t know what she was doing

She could hardly understand

That she was really sweeping up..

Pieces of a man

I saw my daddy greet the mailman

And I heard the mailman say

“Now don’t you take this letter to heart now Jimmy

Cause they’ve laid off nine others today”

He didn’t know what he was saying

He could hardly understand

That he was only talking to

Pieces of a manI saw the thunder and heard the lightning!

And felt the burden of his shame

And for some unknown reason

He never turned my wayPieces of that letter

Were tossed about that room

And now I hear the sound of sirens

Come knifing through the gloom

They don’t know what they are doing

They could hardly understand

That they’re only arresting

Pieces of a manI saw him go to pieces

I saw him go to pieces

He was always such a good man

He was always such a strong man

Yeah, I saw him go to pieces

I saw him go to pieces

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.

The tour starts here…

but it will not be televised

26 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 7, ’09 Here’s my post for this week: http://lauritasita.multiply.com/journal/item/1442/Poetry_Wednesday_090909_Is_That_Jazz_ deletereply starfishred wrote on Sep 7, ’09 LOVELY LAURITA here is mine http://starfishred.multiply.com/journal/item/1746/POETRY_WEDNESDAY-TO_THE_MOON- deletereply gileson wrote on Sep 7, ’09, edited on Sep 7, ’09 Back from a week of Sunshine, surf and sea I had to call upon Francois Villon to really understand REGRETS http://gileson.multiply.com/journal/item/570/Regrets deletereply caffeinatedjo wrote on Sep 7, ’09 Here I am: http://caffeinatedjo.multiply.com/journal/item/125/Poetry_Wednesday_Missed_Intentions deletereply fransformation wrote on Sep 8, ’09, edited on Sep 8, ’09 I’m up. http://fransformation.multiply.com/journal/item/357/Poetry_Wednesday_ editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 8, ’09 gileson said Back from a week of Sunshine, surf and sea Welcome back, Tim. deletereply sassyangelac wrote on Sep 8, ’09 http://sassyangelac.multiply.com/journal/item/571/Poetry_Wednesday–Climate_of_Fear editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 8, ’09 Here’s a post for 9/11: http://lauritasita.multiply.com/journal/item/1446/ deletereply sanssouciblogs wrote on Sep 8, ’09 Though many of you may have seen my 4 part series on 9/11, I feel I need to pay annual homage to those who have lost their lives. It is a multimedia presentation ending in my poetry and art, along with my commentary of memories as a New Yorker. Please visit the index here: http://sanssouciblogs.multiply.com/video/item/45 Laurita, thanks for your continued hosting, I appreciate that you are keeping Poetry Wednesday going. Love, Your Sis PS this is a wonderful sign-in page, very powerful stuff. deletereply gileson wrote on Sep 9, ’09 Since it is still Wednesday, I have decided to put a few words in response to what I posted earlier in the week by Francois Villon. These brief phrases address the same topic, but from a decidedly different angle. Growing Older http://gileson.multiply.com/journal/item/573/On_Growing_Older deletereply sylvie1 wrote on Sep 9, ’09, edited on Sep 9, ’09 amazing poetry, a lot of emotions released … powerful. I will be back with my link. deletereply sylvie1 wrote on Sep 9, ’09 http://sylvie1.multiply.com/journal/item/886/_POETRY_WEDNESDAY_ editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 9, ’09 sylvie1 said amazing poetry, a lot of emotions released … powerful Thanks, Sylvie. deletereply gileson wrote on Sep 9, ’09 So the last bunch wasn’t cheery enough? OK, then let’s try this new one. http://gileson.multiply.com/journal/item/574/Be_Cheerful deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on Sep 9, ’09 It’s not Wednesday here anymore…………..it’s already Thursday, but I guess its still Wednesday there so it must be ok to post :-)) ………..at least I hope it is. Very late now will be back tomorow to do ”the tour”…………. http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/399/Poetry_wednesday_Harvest editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 9, ’09 forgetmenot525 said ..it’s already Thursday, but I guess its still Wednesday there so it must be ok to post :-)) ………..at least I hope it is Loretta, it’s ok. Go ahead and do your post. Love, Laurita. deletereply addisleighpark wrote on Sep 10, ’09 Thanks so much for this….what a great artist. editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 10, ’09, edited on Sep 10, ’09 addisleighpark said Thanks so much for this….what a great artist. Thanks to you too for recommending him to me ! deletereply sanssouciblogs wrote on Sep 10, ’09 Part 4> poetry and art http://sanssouciblogs.multiply.com/journal/item/136 deletereply welshdoug wrote on Sep 10, ’09 Hope I’m not too late! http://welshdoug.multiply.com/journal/item/404/Creative_ChallengePoetry_Wednesday deletereply welshdoug wrote on Sep 10, ’09 You may also want to have a look at my buddy’s poem too…. http://mousepotato66.multiply.com/journal/item/319/Creative_Challenge_69_Summer_Regrets?replies_read=8 editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 10, ’09 welshdoug said Hope I’m not too late! It’s never too late for Poetry Wednesday, especially for you ! deletereply pestep55 wrote on Sep 10, ’09, edited on Sep 10, ’09 Wow, this is great (a triple play too /:-) http://pestep55.multiply.com/journal/item/549/ Sorry — I forgot to post the link …out of practice deletereply mousepotato66 wrote on Sep 10, ’09 Wow… I came by via Welsh Doug’s page, read “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, and am blown away. I’ve never heard of this man before… he is powerful. deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on Sep 13, ’09 laurita I just came back to re-read the stuff here, I have neve heard of this artist and I just love his work. The words of ”the revolution….. are so poerful and so strong…………..brilliant artist to post. editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Sep 13, ’09 forgetmenot525 said The words of ”the revolution….. are so poerful and so strong…………..brilliant artist to post. Thanks Loretta, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Add a Comment For: Add a comment to this blog entry, for Laurita’s contacts Send lauritasita a personal message Subject: – Quote original message welshdoug gileson caffeinatedjo forgetmenot525 parsonsblvd Viewing History Viewed 141 times by 16 people, latest on May 29, ’11 Viewing History View This Page as Another User