Gil Scott-Heron - Ain’t No New Thing lyrics

We'd like to go into a thing called, um
"Ain't
No New Thing" It's, um, based on, um
The fact that white people continue to
To rip off black artists they
Continue to, um, um, steal
Their material, their styles
The very cultural
Elements that make the black
Artist the outstanding artist, the
Master of music that he has been um
And it ain't no
New thing, to tell the truth
That these things are going
On we point out, very
Expressly, the fact that, um stanley Crouch
Comments on his album Ain't No Ambulances
For No Nigguhs Tonight that
Uh, Chuck Berry was doing, like
A very heavy thing
A very rock and roll thing


The king of rock and
Roll as a matter of fact but, um, like
White people
Couldn't dig having their daughters go
To no shows and cream
Over no black man wiggling on
The stage, so, consequently, they
Invented Elvis Presley and let him
Do it so we wanna
Get into that, call it "Ain't No New Thing
" and talk about some people

Cultural rape and no geographical
Boundaries on white hate and bizarre
Scarcely concealed attempts to eliminate
Black generators of sun heat feeling
Ain't no new thing to see demon
Fangs curling out from under
Squeezed-tight, too-thin lips and leaping at
Jugular veins and burning black
Throats that either
Blow or sing or cry or scream

Ain't no new thing to see the bubbling
Envy flashing from the depths of
Soulless eyes
As still another link with God is created
We’re used to having white people
Try to rob us why don't they try stealing
Some of this poverty? Ain't no new thing

Anything they can't understand
They try to destroy
Anything they can't understand
They try to control in 1896
Black men picked up brass instruments
And began to evoke and conjure
Entice and struggle with black spirit's
Rhythmic spirit's of blues, work songs
Gospel songs, freedom songs
And songs of love of mother night
Screaming rhythm, juju rhythm, voodoo rhythm
Black, black magic that calls
Back to lost worlds and lost lifestyles
Calling back to lost peace and peace of mind
Calling back to Genesis
Calling back to the drum
Calling back to the drum
Calling back to the first song chant
Song chant, song
Chant that original man created

In 1896, this new spasm was called "Ass"
But the "Ass" would not be kicked
So it was copied in an attempt to control it
And then it was called "Jazz"
We’re used to having black innovators copied
And sent back to us
What about the Osmond Brothers?
What about Elvis Presley?
What about Tom Jones?
We’re used to having people try to rob us
It ain't no new thing

They use the media to
Project their jazz idols
Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey
And Harry James and Benny Goodman
And I suppose, someday
Lawrence Welk will join that elite group
And then there was sweet Bessie Smith
Laying on the blood-soaked backseat of
That broken down jalopy
With a tattered quilt wrapped
Around her shoulders
Waiting for someone to come to her
Aid on a rainy Mississippi night
While a white hospital would not accept
Her right across the street
Ain't no new thing

Fats Navarro screaming through
Tormenting dreams
Frustration ripping at his mind and bowels
Over a hundred pounds melted from his frame
As he battled that white powder mountain
Ain't no new thing

Cultural rape and no geographical
Boundaries on white hate
Hired black musicians away in
Funky smoke-filled nightclubs
The Chitlin' Circuit
Saturate their world with
Two-bit punks, washed-out
Baggy-faced white whores
Weasel-faced, yellow-skinned junkies
And cutthroat white managers
Producers, agents, owners
And on and on and on
We’re used to having white people
Try to rob us
Ain't no new thing we have dug his game

Charlie Parker will live on
John Coltrane will live on
Eric Dolphy will live on
Billie Holiday will live on
Jimi Hendrix and Clifford Brown and
Lee Morgan will live on
And on in the sunshine
Of their accomplishments
The glory of the dimensions that
They added to our lives
We declare war on Eric Burdon!
We discredit the talents of Janis
Joplin and Rare Earth!
We urge that the next blue-eyed soul group
Include Melvyn Layer, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon
And Spearhead Agnew
And be called As the Stomach Turns

We urge that the album: John Wayne
Sings the Blues be released!
Release the album: J edgar
Hoover Sings James Brown!
Release the album: Wallace and Maddox
Sing Sam and Dave! Why not?
We hear Tony the Tiger saying "Right on
Tiger!" we heard Nixon talking about
"Power to the people"
It ain't no new thing
It ain't no new thing
It ain't no new thing
It ain't no new thing
America is always the same old shit!