Gil Scott-Heron - “B” Movie lyrics

Well, the first thing I want
To say is"Mandate My Ass!"
Because it seems as though
We've been convinced
That 26% of the registered voters
Not even 26% of the American people
But 26% of the registered
Voters form a mandate or a landslide

21% voted for Skippy
And 3, 4% voted for somebody else
Who might have been running
But, oh yeah, I remember
In this year that we have now declared
The year from Shogun to Ray-Gun
I remember what I said about Ray-Gunmeant it
Acted like an actor hollyweird
Acted like a liberal
Acted like General Franco when he
Acted like Governor of California
Then he acted like a Republican
Then he acted like somebody was going
To vote for him for President
And now we act like 26% of the
Registered voters is actually a mandate
We're all actors in this I suppose

What has happened is that in
The last 20 years america has changed from a
Producer to a consumer
And all consumers know that when
The producer names the tune
The consumer has got to dance
That's the way it is we used to be
A producer – very inflexible at that
And now we are consumers and
Finding it difficult to understand

Natural resources and minerals will
Change your world
The Arabs used to be in the 3rd World
They have bought the 2nd World and put a
Firm down payment on the 1st one
Controlling your resources will
Control your world

This country has been surprised by the
Way the world looks now
They don't know if they want to
Be Matt Dillon or Bob Dylan
They don't know if they want to be diplomats
Or continue the same policy
Of nuclear nightmare diplomacy
John Foster Dulles ain't nothing but the
Name of an airport now
The idea concerns the fact that
This country wants nostalgia
They want to go back as far as they can
Even if it's only as far as last week
Not to face now or tomorrow
But to face backwards

And yesterday was the day
Of our cinema heroes riding to the rescue at
The last possible moment
The day of the man in the white hat
Or the man on the white horse
Or, the man who always came to
Save America at the last moment
Someone always came to save America
At the last moment
Especially in "B" movies

And when America found it'self
Having a hard time facing the future
They looked for people like John Wayne
But since John Wayne was no longer available
They settled for Ronald the Ray-Gun
And it has placed us in a situation
That we can only look at like a "B" movie

Come with us back to those inglorious
Days when heroes weren't zeros
Before fair was square
When the cavalry came straight away and
All-American men were like Hemingway
To the days of the wondrous "B" movie

The producer underwritten by all
The millionaires necessary
Will be Casper "The Defensive" Weinberger
No more animated choice is available
The director will be Attila the Haig
Running around frantically declaring
Himself in control and in charge
The ultimate realization of the inmates
Taking over at the asylum
The screenplay will be adapted from
The book called "Voodoo Economics"
By George "Papa Doc" Bush
Music by the "Village People" the
Very military "Macho Man" "Company!"
"Macho, macho man!" "Two-three-four"
"He likes to be well, you get the point"
"Huuut! Your left! Your left! Your leftright
Left, right, left, right!"

A theme song for saber rallying
And selling wars door-to door
Remember, we're looking for
The closest thing we can find to John Wayne
Cliches abound like kangaroos
Courtesy of some spaced out Marlin Perkins
A Reagan contemporary cliches like
"itchy trigger finger" and "tall
In the saddle"
And "riding off or on into the sunset"
Cliches like
"Get off of my planet by sundown!"
More so than cliches like
"He died with his boots on"

Marine tough the man is
Bogart tough the man is
Cagney tough the man is
Hollywood tough the man is cheap steak tough
And Bonzo's substantial

The ultimate in synthetic selling:
A Madison Avenue masterpiece a miracle
A cotton-candy politician presto! Macho!

"Macho, macho man!"

Put your orders in, America
And quick as Kodak your
Leaders duplicate with
The accent being on the nukes
Cause all of a sudden we have
Fallen prey to selective amnesia
Remembering what we want to remember and
Forgetting what we choose to forget
All of a sudden, the man who called
For a blood bath on our college campuses
Is supposed to be Dudley
"God damn" Do-Right?

"You go give them Liberals Hell Ronnie"

That was the mandate
To the new "Captain Bligh" on
The new ship of fools
It was doubtlessly based on his
Chameleon performance of the past
As a liberal democrat – as the
Head of the Studio Actor's Guild
When other celluloid saviors were cringing
In terror from McCarthy ron stood tall

It goes all the way back
From Hollywood to hillbilly
From liberal to libelous
From "Bonzo" to Birch idolborn again
Civil rights, women's rights
Gay rightsit's all wrong
Call in the cavalry to disrupt this
Perception of freedom gone wild
God damn itfirst one wants freedom
Then the whole damn world wants freedom

Nostalgia, that's what we wantthe
Good ol' days when we gave 'em Hell
When the buck stopped somewhere and you
Could still buy something with it
To a time when movies was in black and white
And so was everything else

Even if we go back to the campaign trail
Before six-gun Ron shot off his
Face and developed hoof-in-mouth
Before the free press went
Down before full-court press
And were reluctant to review the menu
Because they knew the only
Thing available was crow

Lon Chaney, our Man of a Thousand Faces
No match for Ron
Doug Henning does the make-up
Special effects from Grecian Formula-16
And Crazy Glue
Transportation furnished by the
David Rockefeller of Remote Control Company
Their slogan is
"Why wait for 1984? You can
Panic nowand avoid the rush"

So much for the good news

As Wall Street goes, so goes the Nation
And here's a look at the closing numbers
Racism's up, Human Rights are down
Peace is shaky, War items are hot
The House claims all ties

Jobs are down, money is scarce
And common sense is at an
All-time low with heavy trading
Movies were looking better than ever
And now no one is looking because
We're starring in a "B" movie

And we would rather had John Wayne
We would rather had John Wayne

You don't need to be in no hurry
You ain't never really got to worry
And you don't need to check on how you feel
Just keep repeating that none of this is real
And if you're sensing
That something's wrong well just remember
That it won't be too long
Before the director cuts the scene yea

This ain't really your life
Ain't really your life
Ain't really ain't nothing but a movie

This ain't really your life
Ain't really your life
Ain't really ain't nothing but a movie