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 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 Mendel Rivers 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, the revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays 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 on reports 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 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 right occasion.
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so god damned relevant, and women will not care if Dick finally screwed 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 or Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash or Englebert Humperdink. 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.
Hey, yeah, we the same brothas 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 Make 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 brothas That the man is glad to see us out there killin' 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 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 killed by what they instigated They put some dope on a brotha'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-millimeter brothas...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 brothas and sistas they gotta calm that bullshit 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 of 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 Remember...keep the nerve Keep the nerve Keep the nerve Keep the nerve ...I'm talkin' about peace
Back when Eisenhower was the President, Golf courses was where most of his time was spent. So I never really listened to what the President said, Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead. But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed, Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex. Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe, Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace. Then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex, But all they're doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex. The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary. The Military and the Monetary, get together whenever they think its necessary, They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet into a cemetery. The Military and the Monetary, use the media as intermediaries, they are determined to keep the citizens secondary, they make so many decisions that are arbitrary. We're marching behind a commander in chief, who is standing under a spotlight shaking like a leaf. but the ship of state had landed on an economic reef, so we knew he was going to bring us messages of grief. The Military and the Monetary, were shielded by January and went storming into February, Brought us pot bellied generals as luminaries, two weeks ago I hadn't heard of the son of a bitch, now all of a sudden he's legendary. They took the honour from the honourary, they took the dignity from the dignitaries, they took the secrets from the secretary, but they left the bitch in obituary. The Military and the Monetary, from thousands of miles away in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary, had us all scrambling for our dictionaries, cause we couldn't understand the fuckin vocabulary. Yeah, there was some smart bombs, but there was some dumb ones as well, scared the hell out of CNN in that Baghdad hotel. The Military and the Monetary, they get together whenever they think its necessary, War in the desert sometimes sure is scary, but they beamed out the war to all their subsidiaries. Tried to make So Damn Insane a worthy adversary, keeping the citizens secondary, scaring old folks into coronaries. The Military and the Monetary, from thousands of miles in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary, kept us all wondering if all of this was really truely, necessary. We've got to work for Peace, Peace ain't coming this way. If we only work for Peace, If everyone believed in Peace the way they say they do, we'd have Peace. The only thing wrong with Peace, is that you can't make no money from it. The Military and the Monetary, they get together whenever they think its necessary, they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet, into a cemetery. Got to work for Peace, Peace ain't coming this way. We should not allow ourselves to be mislead, by talk of entering a time of Peace, Peace is not the absence of war, it is the absence of the rules of war and the threats of war and the preparation for war. Peace is not the absence of war, it is the time when we will all bring ourselves closer to each other, closer to building a structure that is unique within ourselves because we have finally come to Peace within ourselves. The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary. Get together whenever they think its necessary, they've turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning parts of the planet, into a cemetery. The Military and the Monetary, The Military and the Monetary, We hounded the Ayatollah religiously, Bombed Libya and killed Quadafi's son hideously. We turned our back on our allies the Panamanians, and saw Ollie North selling guns to the Iranians. Watched Gorbachev slaughtering Lithuanians, We better warn the Amish, they may bomb the Pennsylvanians. The Military and the Monetary, get together whenever they think its necessary, they have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries, they are turning the planet, into a cemetery. I don't want to sound like no late night commercial, but its a matter of fact that there are thousands of children all over the world in Asia and Africa and in South America who need our help. When they start talking about 55 cents a day and 70 cents a day, I know a lot of folks feel as though that, thats not really any kind of contribution to make, but we had to give up a dollar and a half just to get in the subway nowadays. So this is a song about tommorrow and about how tommorrow can be better. if we all, "Each one reach one, Each one try to teach one". Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something, everyone must play a part, everyone got to go to work, Work for Peace. Spirit Say Work, Work for Peace If you believe the things you say, go to work. If you believe in Peace, time to go to work. Cant be wavin your head no more, go to work.
Brother man nowadays livin' in the ghetto Where the dangers sure enough real. Well when he's out late at night, and if he's got his head on right, Well, I lay you 9 to 5 he's walking with steel.
Brother Man says he's 'fraid of gangsters Messing with people just for fun He don't want to be next. He got a family to protect. So just last week he bought himself a gun.
Everybody got a pistol, everybody got a .45 And the philosophy seem to be, At least as near as I can see, When other folks give up theirs, I'll give up mine.
This is a violent civilization; If civilization's where I am. Every channel that I stop on Got a different kind of cop on Killing them by the million for Uncle Sam.
Saturday night just ain't that special. Yeah, I got the constitution on the run. 'Cause even though we've got the right To defend our home, to defend our life, Got to understand to get it in hand about the guns.
Everybody's got a pistol. Everybody got a .45. The philosophy seems to be, At least as near as I can see, When other folks give up, I, I'll give up...
Saturday night just ain't that special. Freedom to be afraid is all you want. Yes if you don't want to be next. You've got a family to protect. 9 out of 10, you've got a friend, you've got a gun.
Everybody got a pistol. Everybody got a .45. And the philosophy seems to be, At least as near as I can see, When other folks give up theirs, I'll give up mine.
Everybody got a pistol, this mosty be the NRA Yeah 'cause when it's time to line up You know damn well they're gonna shine up Everybody...
And the philosophy seem to be At least as near as I can see, When other folks give up theirs, I'll give up mine.
Find a shadow cast by rainbows There you’ll meet the sage. Feeding rabbits bits of lettuce or cleaning out the cage. He can give you more direction than you’ve ever known. Show you your bronzed baby shoes Now, my how you have grown! Ain’t it nice to fly? You’re waving as soft clouds go by, But Peace won’t be still of its own free will. Say you want to go exploring; you got to find some truth. Can’t stand one more day of Christians shouting down at you. You say you don’t dig politics that never was your bag. People who could run for office wave their private flag. Ain’t it nice to fly? You’re waving as soft clouds go by, But peace won’t be still of its own free will Ain’t it nice to fly? You’re waving as soft clouds go by, But peace won’t be still of its own free will.
Speed on by, don't seem to have the time What about this life? What about this life? Can I call mine?
Issues in the paper (somehow I'm not concerned) Seems that I've been here before Here before, but I never learn
Children Slowly turn
Time stay gone, we never saw it go Now what do we have? Now what do we have, that we may show? Friends you swore you'd never lose (melted from your style) Down the tunnels of your youth, of your youth, Now you never smile Children Learn to smile
You explained it to me I must admit But just for the record you were talkin' shit Y'all rap about no knock bein' legislated For the people you've always hated In this hell hole you, we, call home
No knock, the man will say To keep that man from beating his wife No knock, the man will say To protect people from themselves
No knockin', head-rockin', inter-shockin' Shootin', cussin', killin', cryin', lyin' And bein' white No knock
No knocked on my brother Fred Hampton Bullet holes all over the place No knocked on my brother Michael Harris And jammed a shotgun against his skull
For my protection? Who's gonna protect me from you? The likes of you? The nerve of you? Your tomato face deadpan Your dead hands ending another freedom fan
No knockin', head rockin', inter-shockin' Shootin', cussin', killin', cryin', lyin' And bein' white
But if you're wise, no knocker You'll tell your no-knockin' lackeys Ha! No knock on my brother's head No knock on my sister's head No knock on my brother's head No knock on my sister's head
And double lock your door Because soon someone may be no-knockin' Ha, ha! For you
(No knock: To be slipped into John Mitchell's suggestion box.)
