The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scott-Heron

A collage of Youtube clips to the original recording from Gil Scott Heron's classic first album.

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Words from the later, and more well-known recording are:

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.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• poetry
• collage
• watts
• riots
• 1960's
• 1970's
• Gil
• Scott
• Heron

[lwplwp]

Maybe I am trying to read Gil's thoughts but I think the real message is that with the corporate/government controlled media we have (even worse now than when this was written) then you will NOT see any "revolution" on TV (televised)....I think the fact that the Tea Party got much more coverage than the anti war protests are a prime example. If you do learn about these things it will be on "alternate" media like the internet....But never on the corporate/government controlled media we have.

[owingawat]

"Occupy Wall Street" - google it

[3DDoor]

The revolution will not be televised, because the real revolution takes place in our minds, usually in deep silence. It happens once we dare to face the injustice that is revealed to us and once we fully realize that we cannot allow things to remain as they are. The inner revolution can't be captured on video and has nothing to do with throwing stones or firing guns. Those are not the kind of actions that change history...

[macmannin]

any sauce?

[WomanWithAnIssue]

@emmers57 Not really. I first heard rap done by Dylan. Examples: "Talkin' World War III Blues" and "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues."

[jtrenoweth]

yea but the start of the revolution was televised. a black President, that allows small African American children to look up and say I can do that. it dam well was televised

[emmers57]

Here is where rap music really started.

[dupontcrespin]

@lwplwp Well... I meant, "even if it were liberal".

[lwplwp]

@dupontcrespin Whenever you find that "liberal" TV please let me know. I have been looking for it for decades.

[jbgandhi2]

@lwplwp Yeah... you pretty much didn't get it at all. Nice try though.

[kcrofoo]

UUHHH ... WHAT THE F^$^?

[4juxtapose4]

the fact that this is the top comment is a reminder that the revolution will not be televised. gil would be ashamed. you should be ashamed

solidarity