Reaching Back To Move Forward: Gil Scott-Heron

Sunday Jun 1, 2008 – By Clutch

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949) is an American poet and musician known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a spoken word performer. He is associated with African American militant activism, and is best known for his poem and song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”; and for writing “Home is Where The Hatred Is” an eerie account of drug use that was a hit by the grammy-award winning R&B singer Esther Phillips in 1972, the song also featured in the videogame Grand Theft Auto IV. Scott-Heron’s father, Giles “Gil” Heron (nicknamed “The Black Arrow”) was a Jamaican football player who, in the 1950s, was the first ever black player to play for Glasgow’s Celtic Football Club. (Continue Reading…)

“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 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
bout 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.

Max Parthas says:

June 3, 2008 at 3:05 pm

One of my idols. In the history of spoken word there has never been another like Gil. His impact is worldwide and longstanding. Peace be unto you brother Gil. I wish you well in your travails.
The revolution may not be televised, but it will be POETICIZED.

Thank you CLUTCH Magazine for exposing those who may not have heard this great artists to a small part of his history. Our history.

Max Parthas

http://www.TheNewWordOrder.com
http://www.PrysmaticDreams.com
http://www.WhisperedWordsPoetry.com
http://www.MaximumImpactPoetry.com

↑ Reply

Pearlsrevealed says:

June 3, 2008 at 11:40 pm

I thought this guy was dead! When I was small child in the 70’s his music was very popular in my home. We need this type of fire in our culture right about now.

mitchell young says:

June 5, 2008 at 1:10 am

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