You will not be able to stay home, brotherYou will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop outYou will not be able to lose yourself on skagAnd skip out for beer during commercials, becauseThe revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be televisedThe revolution will not be brought to youBy Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptionsThe revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugleAnd leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams, and Spiro AgnewTo eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuaryThe revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award TheatreAnd will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and JuliaThe revolution will not give your mouth sex appealThe revolution will not get rid of the nubsThe revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner, becauseThe revolution will not be televised, brother
There will be no pictures of you and Willie MaePushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead runOr trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulanceNBC will not be able predict the winnerAt 8:32 on report from twenty-nine districtsThe revolution will not be televised
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replayThere will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replayThere will be no pictures of Whitney YoungBeing run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new processThere will be no slow motion or still lifes of Roy WilkinsStrolling through Watts in a red, black, and green liberation jumpsuitThat he has been saving for just the proper occasion
Green Acres, Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville JunctionWill no longer be so damn relevantAnd women will not care if Dick finally got down with JaneOn Search for TomorrowBecause black people will be in the street looking for a brighter dayThe revolution will not be televised
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock newsAnd no pictures of hairy armed women liberationistsAnd Jackie Onassis blowing her noseThe theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott KeysNor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny CashEngelbert Humperdinck, or The Rare EarthThe revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be right backAfter a message about a white tornadoWhite lightning, or white peopleYou will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroomThe tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowlThe revolution will not go better with CokeThe revolution will not fight germs that may cause bad breathThe revolution will put you in the driver's seat
The revolution will not be televisedWill not be televisedWill not be televisedWill not be televisedThe revolution will be no re-run, brothersThe revolution will be live
by Gil Scott-Heron
For more information about the songwriter, Gil Scott-Heron, see:
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