Saturday, May 28, 2011

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

Gil Scott-Heron has died at the age of 62. His later life was tough, you wouldn't want to hold him up as an example of how to live, but there was a moment in 1970 when his vision was so crystal-clear and his voice so solid and stable that he was able to articulate the unlikely mixture of hope and cynicism of a generation with perfect clarity.
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
about 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.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

sounds like a secular false prophet

like Harold Camping, his prediction was false

not only did the revolution not happen, it was also televised

this lyric is an example of the worst of the sixties

the hipster

nothing wrong with commercials or Natalie Wood or Green Acres

Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdink are all great performers

and for a musician of Scott-Heron's significance to show contempt for a giant like Johnny Cash is really pathetic

but the hipster tries to give his own life meaning by dividing

he is the gangrene of society

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Sunday morning that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin would defeat President Barack Obama should she run as the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.

"Of course she would," said the Arizona senator of Palin's chances in the hypothetical match-up on "Fox News Sunday." He added, however, that he doesn't know whether his 2008 running mate will ultimately decide to make a run for the White House.

The remarks from McCain come the same day that Palin is kicking off a bus tour of the eastern United States. The move, along with news of a documentary premiering next month on the rise of the big name Republican and her tenure as governor have stirred speculation that Palin could jump into the GOP primary race.

In discussing a potential Palin 2012 campaign, McCain said, “I’ve never seen anyone as mercilessly and relentlessly attacked as I have seen Sarah Palin in the last couple of years.” According to The Hill, he added, “But she also inspires great passion, particularly among the Republican faithful.""

oh, and Rick Perry, longtime popular governor of Texas, is also jumping in to add to the wealth of the GOP choices

Barry O, watch out at what's coming your way!

May 29, 2011 4:06 PM  
Blogger JimK said...

I have noticed people using the word "hipster" in the past few weeks as if it were a bad thing. Where does that come from, Anon -- who writes your talking points? I can imagine why people like you would disapprove of creative, idiosyncratic individualists who think for themselves, live to accumulate experince, and have little disregard for the demands of a hypocritical society, but I'm intrigued about the fixation on this one word, hipster. Why don't you people call them "beatniks" or "hippies," who decided it would be "hipsters," of all things?

I think you might have invented this one yourself:
not only did the revolution not happen, it was also televised

It is interesting to compare Gil Scott-Heron's vision to the faux revolution of the fake-grassroots Tea Party, which is entirely a creation of television. If there was no Fox News there would be no Tea Party. The teabaggers' revolt was nothing more than a scripted reality show.

Gil Scott-Heron's revolution never happened, he had a kind of apocalyptic vision of a world where people suddenly woke up and began interacting face to face, not through the corporate media, but it never happened. The hipster got into crack, drifted back to his dirty little hell-hole, and died at the early age of sixty two.

JimK

May 29, 2011 5:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I have noticed people using the word "hipster" in the past few weeks as if it were a bad thing."

I've noticed that too.

"Where does that come from, Anon -- who writes your talking points?"

I read a lot and synthesize things. My take, and it may not match everyone else's, is that hipsterism is a phenomenom that tries to define itself but what it's superior to. It's divisive.

I did read a book last winter called "Hipster Christianity" by Brett McCracken which had as it's point that some Christians try to act this way.

Even if you don't find that of interest, the early chapters trace the history of the concept of "hip" through the last few centuries and did a good job analyzing how the concept came about.

"I can imagine why people like you would disapprove of creative, idiosyncratic individualists who think for themselves, live to accumulate experience, and have little disregard for the demands of a hypocritical society,"

I don't disapprove of any of that. I disapprove of those who are so self-aware that they possess these qualities and others don't.

"Why don't you people call them "beatniks" or "hippies," who decided it would be "hipsters," of all things?"

I like beatniks and hippies. They're hip.

Hipsters are people who think they're hip.

"I think you might have invented this one yourself:
not only did the revolution not happen, it was also televised"

yes, I did

"Gil Scott-Heron's revolution never happened, he had a kind of apocalyptic vision of a world where people suddenly woke up and began interacting face to face, not through the corporate media, but it never happened. The hipster got into crack, drifted back to his dirty little hell-hole, and died at the early age of sixty two."

I actually am not that familiar with his music. I'd heard of him and I usually like jazz fusion stuff but never was big into it.

I was reacting more to the lyrics.

The rap pioneers I prefer are Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses".

"The U.S. intervention in Libya’s civil war, intervention that began with a surplus of confusion about capabilities and a shortage of candor about objectives, is now taking a toll on the rule of law. In a bipartisan cascade of hypocrisies, a liberal president, with the collaborative silence of most congressional conservatives, is traducing the War Powers Resolution.

Enacted in 1973 over President Nixon’s veto, the WPR may or may not be wise. It is, however, unquestionably a law, and Barack Obama certainly is violating it. It stipulates that a president must terminate military action 60 days after initiating it (or 90, if the president “certifies” in writing an “unavoidable military necessity” respecting the safety of U.S. forces), unless Congress approves it. Congress has been supine and silent about this war, which began more than 70 days ago."

May 29, 2011 8:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on Sunday morning that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin would defeat President Barack Obama should she run as the Republican presidential nominee in 2012."

McCain also said:

"She needed the clothes." --explaining to reporters why the RNC spent $150,000 on clothes and accessories for Sarah Palin and her family, Florida, Oct. 23, 2008

"I think she's most qualified of any that has run recently for vice president, tell you the truth." --on Sarah Palin, interview with Don Imus, Oct. 22, 2008

"Our economy, I think, is still -- the fundamentals of our economy are strong." --Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

"Make it a hundred...That would be fine with me." --to a questioner who asked if he supported President Bush's vision for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq for 50 years, Derry, New Hampshire, Jan. 3, 2008

"I might have to rely on a vice president that I select’ for expertise on economic issues." --GOP debate, Nov. 28, 2007

"You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." --breaking into song after being asked at a VFW meeting about whether it was time to send a message to Iran, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, April 18, 2007

June 02, 2011 11:25 AM  

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