“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron – SteemitCentral Lyrics Challenge – Day 15 / 60
“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.”
artist ~ Gil Scott-Heron
song ~ “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 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 Wood 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 TV into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32
On reports 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 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
Wilkins strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he has been saving
For just the proper occasion
Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
Women will not care if Dick finally got 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 or
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Engelbert Humperdinck, 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
(Image source)
Comments
This spoken-word track is Gil Scott-Heron’s signature piece. Recorded in 1971, it envisages a coming revolution, which he describes largely in terms of what it will NOT be.
The revolution will be real
The revolution will be live
Gil Scott-Heron was a poet, musician, author, and literature lecturer who called himself a “bluesologist.” In many ways, his unflinching look at the realities of inner-city life for African-Americans was a precursor to hip hop and neo-soul.
Certain people call him the “first rapper.” Some of us prefer to call him a great American poet.
(Image source)
Gil Scott-Heron – "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (Right-click to hear on YouTube)
Lyrics by Gil Scott-Heron, courtesy of – AZLyrics.com
References – Wikipedia
This is my entry in the 60-Day Lyrics Challenge.
Click here to learn about @SteemitCentral’s – Lyrics Challenge.
The bull market may be televised
And we will see the joys of those who bought the dip.
From the comfort of our bed rooms
We will watch the foolishness of the referee in slow motion because the football match will be televised.
But the revolution will neither be televised nor aired on the radio nor livestreamed on Youtube
The revolution will not be televised, Brother.
We all will be the cast with no directors to tell us our roles.
For me, the lyrics above is your greatest entry so far. I have been hearing the sentence, the revolution will not be televised for a long while but I didn't know how it originated because I never bothered to find out. Having read and reread this lyrics, I can only thank you for sharing it. I feel educated. Inspired. Refreshed. Renewed. The revolution will not be televised, Brother.
Thanks for your comment, and for your additional verse.
I'd agree with you that this is the greatest or finest entry thus far. I first heard this a few decades ago, and of course, it was inspiring back then. It still is.
It's kinda sad that these lyrics and Scott-Heron remain unknown and obscure. This is the kind of stuff that should be taught to youth, and which should have been part of a curriculum for the past 50 years. Don't you think that kids would love to learn this? Don't you think that their understanding of their world would improve from their learning this?
Fortunately, @SteemitCentral's "Lyrics Challenge" gave me the opportunity to present it to a bigger audience. Thanks for that, too!
Always remember, the revolution will be live.
The revolution will be live and will not be televised. These lyrics should be written in gold and learnt by heart by all the school pupils in the world. I agree with you.
Unfortunately, the government, those who dictate the curriculum, will never see any need to adopt the song and teach it. They don't want any uprising or revolt that will mark the end of their oligarchical oppression.
The revolution will be live with nobody to direct the cameras.