The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #121584   Message #2656541
Posted By: Azizi
14-Jun-09 - 09:42 PM
Thread Name: BS: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Politics
Subject: RE: BS: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Politics
Here's some information on the saying "The revolution will not be televised" by those who aren't familiar with that saying:
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. It was the B-side to Scott-Heron's first single, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is".

It first appeared on the 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which Scott-Heron recited the piece, accompanied only by congas and bongo drums.

A re-recorded version, this time with a full band, appeared on the 1971 album Pieces of a Man and as the b-side to the single "Home Is Where The Hatred Is".

All these releases were issued on the Flying Dutchman Productions label. The piece's name was also used as the title to Scott-Heron's "Best of" album, issued in 1998 by RCA.

The song appeared in the film The Hurricane by Norman Jewison about the wrongful imprisonment of boxer Rubin Carter and the fight to free him from injustice.

The poem is notable for its extensive political and cultural references, many of which may be unknown today.*...

The song has been covered, sampled, and parodied extensively.**
-snip-

*The Wikipedia article contains a listing and explanation of those references.

** The Wikipedia article contains a listing of a number of those artists who have covered and sampled this rap/song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised

-snip-

The words in the composition were directed toward Black Americans and "the revolution" that is talked about is a "Black Power" revolution.

I'll provide the lyrics to this song in my next post to this thread.