The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Lyrics

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised  --  Gil Scott Heron (1975)

You will not be able to stay home brother 
you will not be able to plug in, turn on and drop 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 interruption 
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 moss 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 
Wood 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 Mays 
pushing that cart down the block on the 
dead run 
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen 
ambulance 
NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32 
or the count 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 young being 
run out of Harlem 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 right occasion 
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies and Hooterville 
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant and 
women will not care of 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, Engelbert Humperdinck of 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 germ in your 
bedroom, the tiger in your tank, or the giant in you 
toilet bowl 
The revolution will not go better with Coke 
The revolution will not fight germs that can cause 
bad breath 
The revolution WILL put you in the driver's 
seat 
The revolution will not be televised, will no be televised 
will not be televised 
The revolution will be no re-run brothers 
The revolution will be live--
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