Gil Scott-Heron was an emblematic poet, writer, and musician. He was also a key figure in the African American community from a political point of view, and was influential in the evolution of its music culture, with the development of hip-hop being a characteristic example. His last album, the brilliant I'm Νew Ηere, was released in 2010.
BBC's documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: A film about Gil Scott-Heron (2003, dir. Don Letts), interprets his work within a vast musical context ranging from the blues, jazz, and classic soul, to hip-hop artists such as Public Enemy. It also examines its relation to the political and social context in the era of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers.
BBC's documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: A film about Gil Scott-Heron (2003, dir. Don Letts), interprets his work within a vast musical context ranging from the blues, jazz, and classic soul, to hip-hop artists such as Public Enemy. It also examines its relation to the political and social context in the era of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised has been one of the most significant as well as popular poems/tracks by Gil Scott-Heron, a modern classic indeed. I'm posting its original version below, from the album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970). You can listen to the subsequent full band version here, while information on references included in the lyrics is available here.
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 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 Mendel Rivers to eat
General Abrams and Mendel Rivers 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
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
The revolution will not be televised, Brother
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 tv 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 on 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 right occasion
Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction
Will no longer be so goddamned relevant
And women will not care if Dick finally screwed 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, or Englebert Humperdink
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 dove in your bedroom
The tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl
The revolution will not go better with Coke
The revolution will not fight 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, not be televised
Will not be televised, not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run brothers
The revolution will be live
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