[Intro]
Good evening and welcome, my name is Gil Scott-Heron
My accomplices are, first, from left to right:
Eddie Knowles, a drummer for the Denise salute dance group, a drummer for December dances and a percussionist for a group called "Black & Blues";
The brother to my immediate left is Charlie Saunders, of December dance group and a former drummer for Loretta Parker;
David Barnes, a singer of "Black & Blues", will be heard later on in the evening.
We'd like to do a poem for you, called "The revolution will not be televised"
Primarily, because it won't be

[Verse]
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 four 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 Mendell 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 Mae
Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run
Or trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
Or any 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 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
Wilkins 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 Goddamn relevant
And women will not care if Dick finally screws
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 11 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, the tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl
The revolution will not go better with Coke
The revolution will not fight 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
Not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run, brothers
The revolution will be live