Gil Scott-Heron

[fox69]

"Shut 'Um Down"

"Shut 'Um Down"


Did you hear that rumble? Did you hear that sound?
Well it wasn't no eartquake, but it shook the ground.
It made me think about power, like it or not:
I got to work for earth for what it's worth,
'Cause it's the only earth we've got.

Shut 'um Down!
If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!
Shut 'um Down!
If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!

I've heard a lot about safety and human error.
A few dials and gauges is just a wing and a prayer.
If you need perfection, and that's what it takes,
Then you don't need people, can't use people,
You know people make mistakes...

Shut 'um Down!
If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!
Shut 'um Down!
If that's the only way to keep them from melting down!

 

[fox69]

"Sign Of The Ages"

"Sign Of The Ages"


It's a sign of the ages
Markings on my mind
Men at the crossroads
At odds with an angry scab

There can be no salvation
There can be no rest
Until all old customs
Are put to the test

The gods are all angry
You hear from the breeze
As night slams like a hammer
Yeah, and you drop to your knees

The questions can't be answered
You're always haunted by the past
The world's full of children
Who grew up too fast

Yeah, but where can you run
Since there ain't no world of your own
And you know that no one will ever miss you, yeah yeah yeah
When you're finally gone

So you cry like a baby, a baby
Or you go out and get high
But there ain't no peace on Earth, man
Maybe peace when you die, yeah

 

[fox69]

"Small Talk At 125th And Lenox"

"Small Talk At 125th And Lenox"


This is just like listening
to a conversation being held
by the many people who congregate
on one of the most popular blocks
in the largest area of black America

Did you ever eat cornbread and black eye peas
Or watermelon and mustard greens?
Get high as you can on Saturday night
Go to church on Sunday to set things right

Listen

I seen Miss Blake after Willy yesterday
She'd've killed anybody who got in her way
Hey look I got a TV for a pound on the head
And Jimmy Jean got the best Panamanian Red

No I ain't got on no underclothes
But we all got to get through this gypsy rose
I think Clay got his very good points
You say a trade bag with thirteen joints?

Who cares if LBJ is in town?
Up with Stokely and H. Rap Brown
I don't know if the riots is wrong
But whitey's been kickin' my ass for too long

I was s'posed to baby but they held my pay.
Did you hear what the number was yesterday?
Junkies is all right when they ain't broke
They leaves you alone when they high on dope

Damn, but I wish I could get up and move
Shut up. Hell you know that ain't true.

 

[fox69]

"Song For Bobby Smith"

"Song For Bobby Smith"


[Spoken]
I know a young warrior named Bobby Smith
He's gonna be 4 years old on his next birthday
He happened to be with Brian and I when we wrote this song
It's about new life and new spirit, new feelings
We asked Bobby, "Bobby, what should we call this song?"
And he said, "Oh that's pretty, that's my song."
That was very appropriate, this song for new life should be about Bobby
This is 'A Song for Bobby Smith'

[Sung]
Ain't you been there?
Ain't you goin?
Can't you taste your ideas growin?
We are soldiers
Soldiers of a new day
Can't you see it?
Can't you feel it in your heart?

Ain't you been there and ain't you goin
To a place where friendship's flowin?
We are brothers
Brothers and sisters in spirit
Can't you see it?
Yeah, can't you feel it in your heart?

Ain't you been there?
Ain't you goin?
Can't you take this love I'm showin?
Got to be you and me
You and me together
Can't you see it?
Can't you feel it in your heart?

 

[fox69]

"Speed Kills"

"Speed Kills"


Speed on by, don't seem to have the time
What about this life?
What about this life?
Can I come by?

Issues in the paper (somehow I'm not concerned)
Seems that I've been here before
Here before, but I never learn

Children
Slowly turn

Time stay gone, we never saw it go
Now what do we have?
Now what do we have, that we may show?
Friends you swore you'd never lose (melted from your style)
Down the tunnels of your youth, of your youth,
Now you never smile
Children
Learn to smile

 

[fox69]

"Spirits Past"

"Spirits Past"


It's getting to be the time of year
When people once spoke of love and good cheer
Peace on Earth and good will to all men

And we all believed that there'd come a day
When peace would be much more than "on it's way"
Cause peace has been on it's way since I don't know when

And the folks who decide what will be
They haven't confided in me
And i don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

It makes me sad that my kids won't see
Christmas the way it used to be
I was so excited though we didn't have a dime

But that seems like such a long time ago
And I am still a child I know
But it seems like we've lost much more than the time

Cause the folks who decide what will be
They haven't confided in me
And I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

No, I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

No, I don't think that everybody can wait 'til then

 

[fox69]

"Storm Music"

"Storm Music"


What's that music playin' on the radio?
What's that music playin' everywhere I go?
I don't think I've ever heard
a sweeter feelin' in the whole wide world
than that music playin' in my heart.

From time to time the darkness comes along
to terrorize the weak and challenge the strong.
The storm is coming, it grows on the waves
from Johannesburg to Montego Bay.
What's that music playin' on the radio?
What's that music playin' everywhere I go?
I don't think I've ever seen
another music that could make me feel
like that music playin' in my heart.

Justice is coming on the wings of the storm.
We resist in the present for those yet unborn.
Freedom is spreading like the wings of a bird
and the message it carries has got to be heard.
What's that music playin' on the radio?
What's that music playin' everywhere I go?
I don't think I've ever heard
a sweeter feelin' in the whole wide world
than that music playin' in my heart.

 

[fox69]

"The Bottle"

"The Bottle"


See that black boy over there, runnin' scared
his ol' man's in a bottle.
He done quit his 9 to 5 he drink full time
so now he's livin' in the bottle.
See that black boy over there, runnin' scared
his ol' man got a problem and it's a bad one
Pawned off damn near everything, his ol'
woman's weddin' ring for a bottle.
And don't you think it's a crime
when time after time, people in the bottle.

See that sista, sho wuz fine before she
started drinkin' wine
from the bottle.
Said her ol' man committed a crime
and he's doin' time,
so now she's in the bottle.
She's out there on the avenue, all by herself
sho' needs help from the bottle.
Preacherman tried to help her out,
she cussed him out and hit him in the head with a bottle.
And don't you think it's a crime
when time after time, people in the bottle.

See that gent in the wrinkled suit
he done damn near blown his cool
to the bottle
He wuz a doctor helpin' young girls along
if they wuzn't too far gone to have problems.
But defenders of the dollar eagle
Said "What you doin', Doc, it ain't legal,"
and now he's in the bottle.
Now we watch him everyday tryin' to
chase the pigeons away
from the bottle.
And don't you think it's a crime
when time after time, people in the bottle.

 

[fox69]

"The Crutch"

"The Crutch"


His eyes half closed revealed his world of nod,
A world of lonely men and no love, no god,
His life of seeming nonchalance can't hide,
The pain and fear that in his mind reside,
From dawn til dawn his body houses hurt,
And none of us can truly aid his search,
We sit outside and sing cliches, the fool,
It's always easy to forcast other's doom,
The savage beast that once so soothed his brain,
Has reared it's ugly head and staked it's claim,
Call Yama, His is one more soul,
That he will have to add to sorrows toll,
These men, still men, would be like you and me,
But when the world reached out they chose to flee,
The crutch

 

[fox69]

"The Klan"

"The Klan"


Countryside was cold and still
There were three crosses on the hill
Each one wore a burning hood
To hide its rotten core of wood
And I say father, father I hear an iron sound
Hoof beats on the frozen ground
And downhill the riders came
Lord it was a cryin' shame
To see the blood upon their whips
To hear the snarlin' from their lips
And I cried mother, mother I feel a stabbing pain
Blood runs down like summers rain
And each one wore a mask of white
To hide his cruel face from sight
And each one sucked a hungry breath
Out of the empty lungs of death
And I say sister, sister, I need you to take my hand
It's always lonely when it's time to stand
He who rides with the klan
Is a devil and not a man
For underneath his white disguise
I have looked into his eyes
And I say brother, brother, stand by me
It's not so easy to be free
Father, mother, sister, brother, stand by me
It's not so easy to be free
It's not so easy to be free
It's not so easy to be free
Nobody ever said it would be easy
Nobody ever said it would be easy
It's not so easy, no it's not so easy