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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,
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 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, 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 television 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 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
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 Hooterville
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 Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout 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.

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The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized (With Apologies and Thanks to Gil Scott-Heron)


You will be able to go out, Brother.
You will be able to unplug, turn off, and record “Cops”.
You will be able to tape your shows, to hunt and skip,
But not skip out on beer commercials,
Because the television will not be revolutionized.

The television will not be revolutionized.
The television will be brought to you by Xerox.
It will not be Xeroxed. It will have four commercial interruptions.
The television will show you a picture of Clinton
Blowing a saxophone and leading a charge by Janet Reno
With an M1 Abrams and a flamethrower to cook
God freaks holed up in a Waco sanctuary.
The television will not be revolutionized.

The television will be brought to you by the
Master Piece Theatre, and will star Natasha Gregson
and Steven R. McQueen, or Rocky, Bullwinkle, and Rambo.
The television will give your house sex appeal.

The television will get rid of the tubes.
The television will look 0.5 inches thinner,
But the television will not be revolutionized, Brother.

There will be pictures of you and Bryan Williams
In 3-D, pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
Trying to slide that hi-def television into your foreclosed enclosure.
NBC will be able to predict the winner at 8:32,
After reporting from only 29 districts. Three years before the election.
The television will not be revolutionized.
There will be pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers in instant replay.
There will be pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers in instant replay.
There will be pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers in instant replay. Every day. All day.
The pigs will be acquitted by a jury under peer pressure.
There will be no pictures of Brothers shooting down
Pigs, but the pigs will be ruled “justified”.

There will be pictures of Whitney Houston being
Run off of television for doing rails with a brand new process.
There will be slow motion or montages of Chris Brown
Storming off-set in a red-faced, black-eyed, and white-haired rage
That he had been saving up just for Rihanna and ABC.

American Idle, Desperate Housewives, and Jersey Shore
Will be deemed relevant, and women
Will care if Dick finally goes on The View because
Search for Tomorrow has been cancelled, and nothing else is on. Black people will be on the street, having given up looking for a brighter day, brighter whites, or brighter teeth.
But the television will not be revolutionized.

There will be highlights on the eleven o’clock news,
And every hour on the hour we’ll get pictures of Girls Gone Wild
And Paris Hilton blowing her nose. Or blowing her boyfriends.
The theme song will be written by Miley Cyrus, the cast of Glee, and Bryan Adams, and sung by Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Sting, and U2.
The television will not be revolutionized.

The television will be right back with a message
About a white tea party, a black president, and brown people.
And only one of them will be deemed relevant.
You will have to worry about the WiFi in your bathroom,
The Tiger in your bedroom, and a webcam in your toilet tank.
The television will go better with Koch Brothers.
The television will sell you the germs that cause bad breath.
The television will be put in the driver’s seat. And the passenger’s seat.

The television will not be revolutionized, will not be revolutionized,
will not be revolutionized, will not be revolutionized.
The television will be on re-runs, Brothers;
The television will be re-runs, live.

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