The Revolution Will Not Be Televised lyrics

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 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 Theater and will not starr 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

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 TV 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 on the instant replay

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down

Brothers on 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 Hooter ville 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 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, Englebert Humperdinck or 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 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 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

• Artist:Gil Scott-Heron
• Album:Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (1970)