Gil Scott-Heron, Ted Roe - Roevolution lyrics

We'd like to do a poem for you called:
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
Primarily because it won't be

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 & Mendel Rivers
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

Mama told me there'd be days like this
Now I'm broke and pissed off
Because it stays like this
While D-boys push packs to stack major chips
Makes me wanna get a sack
And break it down to bit's
(Right?! yeah) but that I ain't
What I do man i'm the dumb nigga that chose
To go to school, man
This shit is not College Hill material
Bought books and got milk in the fridge
But no cereal bitches cost a grip
I know an Alpha that'll swipe em
Couple bops that do it
And for payment I could pipe em
But I'm gripin these Pigs is
Pushing chargers looking nice
Devil's pies still in the streets
I'm droolin' for a slice
No loans, smooth cruise, 22's with the dice
Present into hindsight, looking at a new life
(Right?) but I also know that as a man
Some mud can turn to blood
When you want it off your hands
Woke up from my street dream
Came up with a master plan
There's a cost to be the boss
And step one is selling Grams
Step one is selling Grams
There's a cost to be the boss
And step one is selling Grams

With a clear conscience and a college degree
The irony of it all, of course
Is when a pale face
SDS motherfucker dares look hurt
When I tell him
To go find his own revolution
He wonders why I tell
Him that America's revolution
Will not be the melting pot
But the toilet bowl
Back goes pale face to basics
Does Little Orphan Annie have a natural?
Do Sluggos kinks make him
A refugee from Mandingo?
What does Webster say about soul?
I say: you silly, trite motherfucker
Your great grandfather tied a ball
And chain to my balls
And bounced me through a cotton field
While I lived in an unflushable toilet bowl
And now you want me to
Help you overthrow what?
The only Truth that can be delivered
To a four year revolutionary
With a whole card ie skin is this:

Hard liquor hit my liver
Pull the trigger with ease
Ron Paul would call me "Nigga"
I'm not hanging from trees
I'm just hanging on some
Trees, with my G's, i'm the realer
Chairman of the Frogs:
Revolution's Log Dealer
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Theodore is the notary
This is to the Black Hole we shit on, openly
Most def
We hoped and prayed the quality improves
Keep us wishing for the carrot like
An Ass that couldn't chew
"But Obama" WHAT'S NEW?! Onto
The next objective
"But what about The Church?" They think
My mouth is too reckless
Yet I love my niggas
So I transmit The Message
They respond and we here like Mills
Lane: "Let's Get It On!"
Swamp Up at The Pond, like a river
Flow's ridiculous
Stay spittin' pus like syphilus so bitch
Niggas can't get wit us
Dig in em like chicken guts
Survivors turn to kicking dust
If you take our lickings and
Keep ticking: it's considered luck
Fours on the truck, DUB's on the Benz
Make a list of broke niggas
And reanalyze your friends
Or pull the ends together
Make a circle and defend
Like a clan, and FUCK where you're from
Where do you stand? Gangster state of mind
Middle finger to the man
There's a cost the be the boss
And step one is selling Grams
Step one is selling Grams there's a
Cost to be the boss
And step one is selling Grams

Beverly Hillbillies and Hooterville Junction
Will no longer be so goddamned relevant, and
Women will not care if
Dick finally screwed 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 Humperdinck
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
The 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
Not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run
BrothersThe revolution will be live