Gil Scott-Heron - Ain't No New Thing lyrics

We'd like to go into a thing called, uh, "Ain't No New Thing" It's, um, based on, um The fact that white people continue to rip off black artists, They continue to uh, steal their material, their styles, The very cultural elements that make the black artist the outstanding artist, The master of music that he has been Um, and, it ain't no new thing, to tell the truth That these things are going on We point out, very expressly the fact that uh, Stanley Crouch comments on his album Ain't No Ambulances for No n******gs Tonight, That uh, Chuck Berry was doing like a very heavy thing A very rock and roll thing, the king of rock and roll as a matter of fact But um, like, white people couldn't dig having their daughters go to no shows And cream over no black man wiggling on the stage So consequently, they invented Elvis Presley and let him do it. So we gonna get into that, call it 'It Ain't No New Thing' and talk about some people. Cultural rape and no geographical boundaries on white hate And bizarre scarcely-concealed attempts to eliminate Black generators of sun-heat feeling. Ain't no new thing to to see demon fangs curling out from under squeezed-tight, too-thin lips And leaping at jugular veins and burning black throats that either blow or sing or cry or scream. Ain't no new thing to see the bubbling envy flashing from the depths of soulless eyes As still another link with God is created We used to having white people try to rob us. Why don't they try stealing some of this poverty? Ain't no new thing. Anything they can't understand, they try to destroy Anything they can't understand, they try to control In 1896, black men picked up bra** instruments and began to evoke and conjure Entice and struggle with black spirits Rhythmic spirits of blues, work songs, Gospel songs, freedom songs And songs of love and mother night Screaming rhythm, juju rhythm, black, black magic That calls back to lost worlds and lost lifestyles Calling back to lost peace and peace of mind Calling back to Genesis Calling back to the drum Calling back to the drum Calling back to the first song/chant, song/chant, song/chant That original man created. In 1896 this new spasm was called "Ass" But the "Ass" would not be kicked So it was copied in an attempt to control it And then it was called "Jazz." We used to having black innovators copied and sent back to us. What about the Osmond Brothers? What about Elvis Presley? What about Tom Jones? We used to havin' people try to rob us, It ain't no new thing. They use the media to project their jazz idols Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey And Harry James and Benny Goodman And I suppose one day Lawrence Welk will join that elite group And then there was sweet Bessie Smith, laying on the blood-soaked backseat of that broken-down jalopy With a tattered quilt wrapped around her shoulders Waiting for someone to come to her aid on a rainy Mississippi night While a white hospital would not accept her right across the street. Ain't no new thing; Fats Navarro screaming through tormenting dreams Frustration ripping at his mind and bowels Over a hundred pounds melted from his frame as he battled that white powder mountain Ain't no new thing. Cultural rape and no geographical boundaries on white hate Hired black musicians away in funky smoke-filled nightclubs The chitlin' circuit. Saturate their world with two-bit punks, washed-out, baggy-face white who*es Weasel-face, yellow-skin junkies And cutthroat white managers Producers, agents, owners And on and on and on We used to havin' white people try to rob us Ain't no new thing, we have dug his game. Charlie Parker will live on John Coltrane will live on Eric Dolphy will live on Billie Holiday will live on Jimi Hendrix and Clipper Brown and Lee Morgan will live on And on in the sunshine of their accomplishments The glory of the dimensions that they added to our lives. We declare war on Eric Burdon! We discredit the talents of Janis Joplin and Rare Earth! We urge that the next blue-eyed soul group include Melvyn Layer, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon and Spearhead Agnew And be called As the Stomach Turns. We urge that the album John Wayne Sings the Blues be released! Release the album, J. Edgar Hoover Sings James Brown! Release the album, Wallace and Maddox sing Sam and Dave! Why not? We hear Tony the Tiger saying "Right on, Tiger!" We heard Nixon talking about "Power to the people" It ain't no new thing, it ain't no new thing It ain't no new thing, it ain't no new thing America is always the same old sh**!