H2O Gate Blues
(专辑: The Mind Of Gil Scott-Heron - 1979)
Heh, don't wanna be involved in this one, huh? This here is gonna be a
blues number. But first I
wanna do a
little bit of background on the
Blues And say what it is. Like, there are 6
cardinal colors And colors have always come to signify more than that particular shade. Like: "red-neck" or "got the
blues." That's where you apply somethin to a
color, to express what you're trying to say. So, there are 6
cardinal colors: Yellow, Red, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple. And there are 3,000 shades. And if you take these 3,000 and divide them by 6, you come up with 500. Meaning that there are at least 500 shades of The
Blues. For example, there is... The
"I ain't got me no money, blues". There is the
"I ain't got me no woman, blues". There is the
"I ain't got me no money AND I
ain't got me no woman". which is the
double blues. And for years it was thought that Black people was the
only ones who could get the
blues. So the
Blues hadn't come into no international type of fame. (...had a
corner on the
market.) But lately we had.. The
Frank Rizzo with the
"Lie Detector Blues". We had the
United States government talkin bout the
"Energy Crisis Blues". And we gonna dedicate this next poem here to Spearhead X. The
Ex-Second in Command in terms of this Country. (He GOT the
blues.) [laughter] And the
poem is called the
"H2O G-A-T-E Blues". And if H2O is still water And G-A-T-E is still gate What we gettin ready to deal on is the
"Watergate Blues"... (Yeah YEAH haha) [scattered applause] (Rated X!) Lemme see if I
can dial this number.... Click! Whirr ... Click! "I'm sorry, the
government you have elected is inoperative ... Click! Inoperative!" Just how blind will America be? The
world is on the
edge of its seat Defeat on the
horizon. very surprising That we all could see the
plot and still could not... let me do that part again. Just how blind will America be? (Ain't no tellin') The
world is on the
edge of its seat Defeat on the
horizon. very surprising That we all could see the
plot And claimed that we could not. (Alright) Just how blind, America? Just as Vietnam exploded in the
rice snap, crackle, and pop (Uh Oh!) Could not stop people determined to be free. Just how blind will America be? (Yes Sir!) The
shock of a
Vietnam defeat Sent Republican donkeys scurrying down on Wall Street And when the
roll was called it was: Pepsi-Cola and Phillips 66 Boeing, Dow & Lockheed Ask them what we're fighting for and they never mention the
economics of war. Ecological Warfare! Above all else destroy the
land! If we can't break the
Asian will We'll bomb the
dykes and starve the
man! America! The
international Jekyll and Hyde The
land of a
thousand disguises Sneaks up on you but rarely surprises (Yeah!) Plundering the
Asian countryside in the
name of Fu Man Thieu. Afraid of shoeless, undernourished Cambodians While we strike big wheat bargains with Russia Our nuclear enemy Just how blind, America? But tell me, who was around where Hale Boggs died? And what was the
cause of LBJ's untimely demise? And what really happened to J. Edgar Hoover? The
king is proud of Patrick Gray While America's faith is drowning beneath that cesspool-Watergate. (Yeeeah!) How long will the
citizens sit and wait? It's looking like Europe in '38 Did they move to stop Hitler before it was too late? (no...) How long. America before the
consequences of Keeping the
school systems segregated Allowing the
press to be intimidated Watching the
price of everything soar And hearing complaints 'cause the
rich want more? (Alright!) It seems that MacBeth, and not his lady, went mad We've let him eliminate the
whole middle class The
dollar's the
only thing we can't inflate While the
poor go on without a
new minimum wage What really happened to J
Edgar Hoover? The
kind is proud of Patrick Gray And there are those who say America's faith is drowning Beneath that cesspool-Watergate. How much more evidence do the
citizens need That the
election was sabotaged by trickery and greed? And, if this is so, and who we got didn't win Let's do the
whole goddamn election over again! (YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!) The
obvious key to the
whole charade Would be to run down all of the
games they played: Remember Dita Beard and ITT, the
slaughter of Attica, The
C.I.A. in Chile knowing nothing about Allende at this time In the
past. As I
recollect, Augusta Georgia The
nomination of Supreme Court Jesters to head off the
tapes William Calley's Executive Interference in the
image of John Wayne. Kent State, Jackson State, Southern Louisiana. Hundreds of unauthorized bombing raids. The
chaining and gagging of Bobby Seale Somebody tell these Maryland Governors to be for real! We recall all of these events just to prove (Yeah!) The
Waterbuggers in the
Watergate wasn't no news! The
thing that seems to justify all of our fears Is that all of this went down in the
last five years. But tell me, what really happened to J. Edgar Hoover? The
kind is proud of Patrick Gray While America's faith is drowning Beneath that cesspool-Watergate. We leave America to ponder the
image Of justice from its new wave of leaders Frank Rizzo, the
high school graduate Mayor of Philadelphia, whose ignorance Is surpassed only by those who voted for him. (Hahahaha) Richard Daley, imperial Napoleonic Mayor of Chicago. who took over from Al Capone and Continues to implement the
same tactics. George Wallace. Lester Maddawg Strom Thurmond, Ronald Reagan An almost endless list that won't be missed when at last America is purged (Yeah! Alright) And the
silent White House with the
James Brothers once in command. But see the
sauerkraut Mafia men deserting the
sinking White House ship and Their main mindless, meglomaniac Ahab. McCord has blown. Mitchell has blown no tap on my telephone, McCord has blown. Mitchell has blown no tap on my telephone Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean It follows a
pattern if you dig what I
mean. Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean It follows a
pattern if you dig what I
mean. And what are we left with now? Bumper stickers that say Free the
Watergate 500. Spy movies of the
same name with a
cast of thousands. And that ominous phrase: that if Nixon knew, Agnew knew! (check it out!) But Agnew knew enough to stay out of jail What really happened to J. Edgar Hoover? The
kind is proud of Patrick Gray And there are those who swear they've seen King Richard (who? who?) King Richard (who?) King Richard (who?) King Richard (who?) King Richard (who?) King Richard King Richard King Richard King Richard (Yeah!) Beneath that cesspool-Watergate. [Applause] Four more years, Four more years, Four more years, Four more years of THAT?