The Glory - Retirement (Gil Scott-Heron Tribute) lyrics

(Intro)(Gil Scott-Heron) Poem here says, Comment #1 Uh, Comment #2 is dynamite But Comment #1 is the one we decided To use here this evening Because it makes a comment if you listen Closely on what is now being advertised In East Harlem as the "Rainbow Conspiracy" - a combination of The Students For A Democratic Society The Black Panthers, and the Young Lords And this is my particular comment about that conspiracy, Comment #1: The time is in the street you know Us living as we do upside down And the new word to have is revolution People don't even want to hear the preacher spill or spiel Because God's hole card has been thoroughly piqued And America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey The youngsters who were programmed To continue f**ing up woke up one night Digging Paul Revere and Nat Turner as the good guys. America stripped For bed and we had not all yet closed our eyes. The signs of Truth Were tattooed across our often-entered vagina We learned to our amazement untold tale of scandal Two long centuries buried in the musty vault Hosed down daily with a gagging perfume America was a ba*tard the illegitimate daughter Of the mother country whose legs Were then spread around the world And a rapist known as freedom: free doom Democracy, liberty, and justice were Revolutionary code names that preceded The bubbling bubbling bubbling bubbling Bubbling in the mother country's crotch And behold a baby girl was born Nurtured by slave holders and whitey racists It grew and grew and grew screwing Indiscriminately like mother, like daughter Everything unplagued by her madame mother The present mocks us, good Black people With keen memories set fire to the ba*tards Who ask us in a whisper to melt and integrate Young, very young, teeny Bopping revolt on weekend young dig By proxy what a mental a** kicking They receive through institutionalized everything And vomit up slogans to stay out of Vietnam They seek to hide their relationship with the world's prostitute Alienating themselves from everything Except dirt and money with long hair, grime, and dope To camo-hide the things that cannot be hidden They become runaway children to walk the streets downtown with everyday Black people sitting on the curb Crying because we know that they will go back Home with a clear conscience and a college degree The irony of it all, of course Is when a pale face SDS motherf**er 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 He is fighting for legalized smoke, or lower voting age Less lip from his generation gap and f**ing in the street Where is my parallel to that? All I want is a good home and a wife and a children And some food to feed them every night Back goes pale face to basics Does Little Orphan Annie have a natural? Do Sluggo's kings make him a refugee from Mandingo? What does Webster's say about soul? I say you silly chipe motherf**er, 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 i.e. skin is this: f** up what you can in the name of Piggy Wallace, Dickless Nixon, and Spiro Agnew Leave brother Cleaver and Brother Malcolm alone please After all is said and done build a new route to China if they'll have you Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? (Outro 1) You're my devil, you're my angel You're my heaven, you're my hell You're my now, you're my forever You're my freedom, you're my jail You're my lies, you're my truth You're my war, you're my truce You're my questions, you're my proof You're my stress and you're my ma**euse Mama say, mama say, mama Maku-san Lost in this plastic life Let's break out of this fake-a** party Turn this into a cla**ic night If we die in each other's arms Still get laid in that afterlife If we die in each other's arms Still get laid, yeah (Bridge)(Gil Scott-Heron) Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? (Outro 2)(Deezy) A junkie walking through the twilight I'm on my way home I left three days ago, but noone seems to know I'm gone Home is where the hatred is Home is filled with pain and it Might not be such a bad idea if I never, never went home again Stand as far away from me as you can and ask me why Hang on to your rosary beads Close your eyes to watch me die You keep saying, kick it, quit it, kick it, quit it God, but did you ever try To turn your sick soul inside out So that the world, so that the world Can watch you die Home is where I live inside my white powder dreams Home was once an empty vacuum that's filled now with my silent screams Home is where the needle marks Try to heal my broken heart And it might not be such a bad idea if I never, if I never went home again (Bridge) (Outro 3)(Kanye West) Walking about the room I saw my grandma sweeping With her old straw broom But she didn't what she was doing She could hardly understand That she was really sweeping up.. Pieces of a man I saw my daddy greet the mailman And I heard the mailman say "Now don't you take this letter to heart now Jimmy Cause they've laid off nine others today" But he didn't know what he was saying He could hardly understand That he was only talking to Pieces of a man I saw the thunder and heard the lightning! And felt the burden of his shame And for some unknown reason He never turned my way Pieces of that letter Were tossed about that room And now I hear the sound of sirens Come knifing through the gloom But they don't know what they are doing They could hardly understand That they're only arresting Pieces of a man (Bridge) (Outro 4)(Deezy) Early this mornin', when you knocked upon my door Early this mornin', when you knocked upon my door And I said, "Hello Satan, I believe it's time to go" Me and the devil, walkin' side by side Me and the devil, walkin' side by side And I'm goin' to see my woman, until I get satisfied She say you don't see why, that you will dog me 'round (Now, babe, you know you ain't doin' me right) Say, don't see why, you will dog me 'round It must be that old evil spirit, so deep down in the ground You may bury my body, down by the highway side (I don't care where you bury my body when I'm gone) You may bury my body, down by the highway side So my old evil spirit, can catch a Greyhound bus and ride (Bridge) (Verse 1)(Deezy) It stands out on the highway Like a creature from another time It inspires the babies' questions ("What's that?") For their mothers as they ride But no one stopped to think about the babies or How they will survive And we almost lost Detroit This time How will we ever get over Losing our minds Just thirty miles from Detroit Lies a giant power station It ticks each night as the city sleeps Like a creature from another time But no one stopped to think about the people or How they will survive The sheriff of Monroe County's got Sure 'nough, disasters on his mind But what would Karen Silkwood say to you If she was still alive That when it comes to people's safety Money wins out every time Almost lost Detroit That time How could we ever get over Cause odds are We're gonna lose somewhere, one time Odds are We're gonna lose somewhere, sometime And how would we ever get over Losing our minds (X2) Didn't they, didn't they decide Almost lost Detroit That time Damn near totally destroyed One time Didn't all of the world know? Say didn't you know? We almost lost Detroit (Bridge) (Bridge) (Bridge) (Verse 2) (C-Beatz) From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims And to the buffalo who once ruled the plains Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds Looking for the rain Looking for the rain Just like the cities staggered on the coastline Living in a nation that just can't stand much more Like the forest buried beneath the highway Never had a chance to grow Never had a chance to grow And now it's winter Winter in America Yes and all of the healers have been k**ed Or sent away, yeah But the people know, the people know It's winter Winter in America And ain't nobody fighting Cause nobody knows what to say Save your soul, Lord knows From Winter in America The Constitution A noble piece of paper With free society Struggled but it died in vain And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner Hoping for some rain Looks like it's hoping Hoping for some rain And I see the robins Perched in barren treetops Watching last-ditch racists marching across the floor But just like the peace sign that vanished in our dreams Never had a chance to grow Never had a chance to grow And now it's winter It's winter in America And all of the healers have been k**ed Or been betrayed Yeah, but the people know, people know It's winter, Lord knows It's winter in America And ain't nobody fighting Cause nobody knows what to save Save your souls From Winter in America And now it's winter Winter in America And all of the healers done been k**ed or sent away Yeah, and the people know, people know It's winter Winter in America And ain't nobody fighting Cause nobody knows what to save And ain't nobody fighting Cause nobody knows, nobody knows And ain't nobody fighting Cause nobody knows what to save (Verse 3) (DJ Tolse) Hey yeah, we the same brothers from a long time ago We was talkin' about television and doin' it on the radio What we did was to help our generation realize They had to get out there and get busy cause it wasn't gonna be televised We got respect for you rappers and the way they be free-weighin' But if you're gon' be teachin' folks things, make sure you know what you're sayin' Older folks in our neighborhood got plenty of know-how Remember if it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be out here now And I ain't comin' at you with no disrespect All I'm sayin' is that you damn well got to be correct Because if you're gonna be speakin' for a whole generation And you know enough to try and handle their education Be sure you know the real deal about past situations It ain't just repeatin' what you heard on the local TV stations Sometimes they tell lies and put 'em in a truthful disguise But the truth is that's why we said it wouldn't be televised They don't know what to say to our young folks, but they know that you do And if they really knew the truth, why would they tell you? The first sign is peace, tell all them gun totin' young brothers That the man is glad to see us out there k**in' one another We raised too much hell when they was shootin' us down So they started poisoning our minds tryin' to jerk us all around And then they tell us they got to come in and control our situation They want half of us on dope and the other half in incarceration If the ones they want dead ain't k**ed by what they instigated They put some dope on a brother's body and claim it was drug related Tell them drug related means there don't need to be no investigation Or at least that's the way they're gon' play it on the local TV stations All your 9-millimetre brothers, give them somthin' to think about Tell them you heard that this is the new word, they got to work that stuff out But somehow they feel in the wrong way with a gun in their hands They feel real independent, but they just pullin' contracts for the man Five and five will tell you it's hopeless out there on the avenue But if they really knew the truth, why would they tell you? And if they look at you like you're insane And they start callin' you scarecrow and say you ain't got no brain Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game Or worse yet implying that you don't really know... That's the same thing they said about us; a long time ago Young rappers, one more suggestion before I get out of your way But I appreciate the respect you give me and what you got to say I'm sayin' protect your community and spread that respect around Tell brothers and sisters they gotta calm that bullsh** down Cause we're terrorizin' our old folks and brought fear into our homes And they ain't got to hang out with the senior citizens Just tell them, Dammit, leave the old folks alone And we know who rippin' off the neighborhood, tell them, That BS has got to stop! Tell them you're sorry they can't handle it out there But they got to take the crime off the block And if they look at you like you're insane And they start callin' you scarecrow and say you ain't got no brain Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks had finally co-opted your game Or worse yet saying that you really don't know That's the same thing they said about me a long time ago And if they tell folks that you finally lost your nerve That's the same thing they said about us, when we said, Johannesburg But I think the young folks need to know, that things don't go both ways You can't talk respect on every other song or just every other day What I'm speakin' on now is the raps about the women folks On one song she's your African Queen on the next one she's a joke And you ain't said no words that I haven't heard, but that ain't no compliment It only insults eight people out of ten and questions your intelligence Four letter words or four syllable words won't make you important It'll only magnify how shallow you are and let everybody know it And if they look at you like they think you insane Or they call you scarecrow thinkin' you ain't got no brain Or start tellin' folks that you suddenly gone lame Or that white folks have finally co-opted your game Or you really don't know, they said that about me a long time ago If they finally start to tell people that you lost your nerve That's what they said about Johannesburg You ain't insane, you have got a brain You haven't gone lame; you have got your game (Verse 4)(Deezy) I sail alone in my paper ship The seat is made of fire I ride my horse of nuts and bolts We're made to never tire The world is just a simple circle I've got to keep on turning Yea, I've got to keep on turning 'Til I fall down To the top of the mountain Inside a hollow stone I pretend I'm an iron man, yes Instead of flesh and bone The world is just a simple circle And it keeps on turning Yea, and it keeps on turning You've got to Go away, I can't stand to see your face Cuz you seem the weakest link And now you know I'm only human Instead of all the things I'd like to be The world is just a simple circle You've got to keep on turning Yea, you've got to keep on turning Or down you fall (uh) (Bridge) (Bridge) (Verse 5) (Gil Scott-Heron) You have understood The riddles of the ages Yes and you have understood The universal nine You have placed your footprints on The everlasting sands of time Yes so tell me why Can't you understand that there ain't no such thing as a superman? There ain't no such thing as a superman You was on the Nile You went to see great Egypt fall It fell down to the ground Yes, and you was out there on the corner When being cool went blind Oh, you alone understand that if we gonna win We've got to get together, stay together, be together, stick together (Deezy) So tell me why, can't you understand That there ain't no such thing as a superman There ain't no such thing as a superman You alone consider mercy after it seems like all you get is pain It seem to me that you have found the courage that others could not find You alone have the wisdom to take this world and make it what it need to be, want to be, will be, someday you'll see The day, the day you understand That there ain't no such thing as a superman There ain't no such thing as a superman (Bridge) (Bridge) (Hook) I'm lost in the world, I'm down on my life I'm new in the city, and I'm down for the night Down for the night Said she's down for the night (Bridge 2) I, I Will Survive, 'ive [I said] I, I Will Survive, 'ive [I said] We, we Will Survive, 'ive [I said] We, we Will Survive, 'ive [Hell yeah...ha!] [Say it again, ha!] I, I Will Survive, 'ive [What's a n***a say?] I, I Will Survive, 'ive [Motherf**er what's you sayin?] We, we Will Survive, 'ive [What's a n***a sayin?] We, we Will Survive, 'ive [Even if we lost] (Hook) (Bridge 2) Maybe were over Maybe we just started Baby, we sober This night is retarded So, I'm leaving the game Yeah, girl I'm gone f** this fake fame I'm outta this zone Set to retire, man So just move the f** on (Verse 6) (Deejay Twitch) 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 s** 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 Ona**is 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 Bbout 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 (Hook) (Bridge) (Bridge) (Hook) (Hook) (Final Outro) Well, I guess I'm done now This is a long a** song Ha. Thank you to all, whoever liked my sh** Whoever liked my raps Whoever liked my songs Thank you. Thank you And now I close the curtains ~The End~