Gil Scott-Heron - “The New Deal”
[Vocals/Words By: Gil Scott-Heron]

[Intro: Gil Scott-Heron]
Ad hoc and adlib. Haha, two of my favorite ads. This is going to be a position poem on a non-era. Um, most questions concerning change and concerning demonstrations of, of dissent in this country have been identified by the 60’s. People always say, “Well, what do you think about the 60’s?” I personally think that the 60’s are over, that the 60’s were an integral part of what is happening now and were a link between what is happening now and what was happening prior to that, that every era had gradual and constant change and that there were always people who were out there making sure things were moving and that the attempt has been to, to, to make this a non-era, to make people feel as though there’s nothing they can do, nothing they can accomplish and, and, therefore, quit doing everything. Media people seem to believe that we are living in a non-era. It seems to be the vibration, uh, historians of the future will have nothing to look back on and identify the 70’s with. Uh, historians of the 70’s currently are busy reviewing and re... recounting, uh, what happened in the 60’s to people who were here and already know. People who were previously identified as shufflers and were, at other times, lost in a given shuffle, will be glad to find that the political deck has been restacked and that there is a New Deal, not a, a New Deal like FDR’s New Deal, but a New Deal concerning people who will, in the future, look back on this as a non-era and say that nothing happened in the 70’s. We have a position paper on that—this is the analysis

[Verse 1: Gil Scott-Heron]
I have believed in my convictions and have been convicted for my beliefs
Conned by the Constitution and harassed by the police
I have been billed for the Bill of Rights and treated like I was wrong
I have become a special amendment for what included me all along like
“All men are created equal”—well, no amendment needed there
I have contributed in every field, including cotton from Sunset Strip to Washington Square
And back during the non-violent era, well, hell, I was the only non-violent one
As a matter of fact, there was no non-violence ‘cause too many rednecks had guns
There seemed to have been this pattern that a lot of folks failed to pick up on
But all black leaders who dared to stand up was in jail, in the courtroom, or gone
Picked up indiscriminately by the shock troops of discrimination
To end up in jails or tied up in trials while dirty tricks soured the nation
I’ve been hoodwinked by professional hoods, my ego has happened to me
“It’ll be alright, just keep things cool and take the people off the street
We’ll settle all this at the conference table, you just leave everything to me”
Which gets me back to my convictions and being convicted for my beliefs
‘Cause I believe these smiles in three-piece suits with gracious, liberal demeanor
Took our movement off of the streets and took us to the cleaners
In other words, we let up the pressure, and that was all part of their plan
And every day we allow to slip through our fingers is playing right into their hands
The New Deal