I listen to my iPod on shuffle fairly regularly, which brings me a random mix of the 3,450 songs that I currently have uploaded to the fantastic little gadget. I like it because I have so much music, sometimes I forget about certain songs that I love, and shuffle reminds me that they are there. And sometimes, when I just can’t decide what to listen to, shuffle helps me out.
Today I flipped on the shuffle, and the 72nd song to come up brought back memories of an old favorite, and a song that had a large impact on my graduate studies.
It is a poem called “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron, and it was first heard in 1970 on the album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, according to Wikipedia, and then reappeared on Gil Scott-Heron’s album Pieces of a Man as the b-side to single, “Home is Where the Hatred Is.”
I first heard the song my sophomore year of college in a sociology class about inequality (in several social categories: race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc.). I was lucky enough to have a professor who was immersed in writing her dissertation about protest music, and who loved to bring in mixed media to drive the points of the class home. She played this song for us as part of the racial inequality unit. It gave me chills. I downloaded it later that day, and it’s been on my iPod ever since. It contains nearly endless political and cultural references, and it exposes the power of the press and television to televise, or not televise important events. It makes you wonder about the impact of cultural brutalities being televised, or not being televised. It makes you think about the power of social movements.
She also played the movie Life and Debt in this class, which has had a lasting impact on my understanding of global commerce. If you haven’t seen it yet, you must.
This class, and its introduction to all of the different types of inequality in the world, along with the fascinating ways we learned about it are a large part of what pushed me to continue on to minor in Sociology, and then get my Master’s degree in the same subject. It rocked my relatively privileged upbringing, and reminded me of what a lucky and blessed life I had grown up in. It made me want to learn more about the ways inequality works in society, and how inequality is established and maintained through social processes and power dynamics. It uncovered a passion for fighting inequality that I still carry with me.
Check out the lyrics:
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
about 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.
Today I flipped on the shuffle, and the 72nd song to come up brought back memories of an old favorite, and a song that had a large impact on my graduate studies.
It is a poem called “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron, and it was first heard in 1970 on the album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, according to Wikipedia, and then reappeared on Gil Scott-Heron’s album Pieces of a Man as the b-side to single, “Home is Where the Hatred Is.”
I first heard the song my sophomore year of college in a sociology class about inequality (in several social categories: race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc.). I was lucky enough to have a professor who was immersed in writing her dissertation about protest music, and who loved to bring in mixed media to drive the points of the class home. She played this song for us as part of the racial inequality unit. It gave me chills. I downloaded it later that day, and it’s been on my iPod ever since. It contains nearly endless political and cultural references, and it exposes the power of the press and television to televise, or not televise important events. It makes you wonder about the impact of cultural brutalities being televised, or not being televised. It makes you think about the power of social movements.
She also played the movie Life and Debt in this class, which has had a lasting impact on my understanding of global commerce. If you haven’t seen it yet, you must.
This class, and its introduction to all of the different types of inequality in the world, along with the fascinating ways we learned about it are a large part of what pushed me to continue on to minor in Sociology, and then get my Master’s degree in the same subject. It rocked my relatively privileged upbringing, and reminded me of what a lucky and blessed life I had grown up in. It made me want to learn more about the ways inequality works in society, and how inequality is established and maintained through social processes and power dynamics. It uncovered a passion for fighting inequality that I still carry with me.
Check out the lyrics:
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
about 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.
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