Gil Scott-Heron - H2O Gate Blues Lyrics
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.
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 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 surprisin'
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 surprisin'
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?
Other Lyrics by Artist
- Gil Scott-Heron - Angola, Louisiana
- Gil Scott-Heron - The Klan
- Gil Scott-Heron - Your Daddy Loves You (For Gia Louise)
- Gil Scott-Heron - Storm Music
- Gil Scott-Heron - Grandma's Hands
- Gil Scott-Heron - Is That Jazz?
- Gil Scott-Heron - Morning Thoughts
- Gil Scott-Heron - Gun
- Gil Scott-Heron - B Movie
- Gil Scott-Heron - Washington, D.C.
- Gil Scott-Heron - Blue Collar
- Gil Scott-Heron - Black History / The World
- Gil Scott-Heron - Message To The Messengers
- Gil Scott-Heron - Spirits
- Gil Scott-Heron - Give Her A Call
- Gil Scott-Heron - Lady's Song
- Gil Scott-Heron - A Legend In His Own Mind
- Gil Scott-Heron - Combinations
Rand Lyrics
- Jones, George - Life Turned Her That Way
- Jones, George - Almost Persuaded
- Jones, George - Lonely Street
- Jones, George - Don't Do It Darlin'
- Jones, George - Am I That Easy To Forget?
- Jones, George - I Threw Away The Rose
- Jones, George - Back In My Baby's Arms Again
- Jones, George - Run 'Em Off
- Jones, George - The Man That You Once Knew
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Gil Scott-Heron H2O Gate Blues Comments
Mr. Gil Scott-Heron a man for all seasons!
I found this because of KRS-One's Why Is That. He used a sample of this, "The government you have elected in inoperable." This man was brilliant as a poet. I wasn't around during Watergate, born in '85, and of course they didn't teach us about it in school, so I guess the best way to learn is from people who did see it.
The more things change... The more they stay the fucking same... It is indeed Winter in America.
AMERICA...HERE ...WE ...GO...AGAIN....WAKE ..UP....HERE WE ARE AGAIN...CHANGE THE NAMES....HERE WE ARE AGAIN !!!!
People talking about Trump and Kremlingate. Idiots really want to believe that they too can be subject to a scandal like Watergate. Well, sorry, it's been proven false. Onto the next controversy now?
Ain't a damn thing changed...
This that shit buddy, no fakin this kinda funk, god bless Scott-Heron
Htf is the things my dad went through I'm going through?
Police brutality, friends who are crippled vets with massive PTSD, drug epidemic, shrinking middle class, blatant political corruption and a cold war to boot. Goddamn, it's like the matrix, it's like we have been sold a shitty script. At least it was cheaper to buy property back then.....
This is so relevant that it's absurd
Fuuuuuuck
34 days into the longest government shutdown in U.S. history and finally it clicked on my head “click, click, the government you have elected is inoperative”! Gil & Brian were prophets!
Mm Mmm So True!
@Mm Mmm #45 IS TO STUPID TO BE COMPARED TO ANY PRESIDENT..HE WANTS TO BE A DICKTATOR......
#PREACH! !!! (-_-)
My dad used to play this all the time when I was a young teen over 25 years ago wow
A blond hair, blue eyed German turned me on when I was in high school -- much luv to Jerry
This Brother was the Shit then AND NOW!
The heavy burden of speaking the truth as a poet killed Gil. But he's a being of light too, his resonance and illumination remains.
Check out I beg your pardon America.
Yup.
Check out "Winter in America", "The Revolutions Will Not Be Televised", etc ..
His entire body of work
Got to apply this to TRUMP...same difference
I bought this in 1978. I had no idea I would be living the same senerio in 2018.
And...2019 here we are...just change the names!
I remember this growing up in Harlem NYC black people are not blind America is but they don't want to hear the truth when we as black people tell it like it is
I agree just change the names and so apropos to today
There are lots of appropriate comments here, but I wish this video had more views. Gil Scott-Heron's voice is needed right now.
Still relevant today (see Mueller investigation of Trump). Great poetry when you read it. Great music when you listen.
We've learned nothing ... Trump and his posse? Putin must be proud.
He kinda sounds like he's rapping
Some have called him the first rapper. I've been listening to him since high school and was glad he recorded more toward the end of life.. Hope you will sample a bit more of his work.
He more like a street poet or a spoken word artist. You can dance to rap. This u just listen and reflect.
He is so much more. He is a musician, singer and poet.
Yes he is ... the rappers came from him and the links of "Last Poets", "Curtis Mayfield", etc.
rappin'
very relevant !
Unfortunately still relevant.
Fantastic
Just change the Names from the 70's to NOW! Was good when it first came out and is ringing true today!
2019 we living it again
just now finding this... absolutely brilliant.
If you listen closely to this song, our late brother Gil Scott-Heron is right on the mark with Washington, Donald Trump and Kremlingate.
Still relevant 1,2, 3 or five years later. How blind?
JUST TURNED ON TO THIS BROTHER...OMG (I SOOOOO LOVE THIS GUY ALRDY) THANKS TO MY CO-WRKR :-)
Had the honor and privilege of meeting him in person. :-)
let these kids who think they rap the preach hated in the ghetto let them listen to gill scott heron then they will know how to be black
The prophet speaks at 5:00. "Let's do the whole God damned election over again." FDT...
"Just how blind America...?" 2017.
Yeah, but this song would still be sung if Hilary got in. Don't matter who you vote for . . .
PROPHET?? Oh Hell yeah !! that is Exactly who he is/was , and Prophets do not die, they carry on, live on thru those who are woke enough to recognize and receive the message!!!
SOUNDS FAMILIAR
Donald Trump is president... how blind America?
Yup🌄😔👻🎃
RIP Gil you called it the way you see it We still drowning as a Nation under the cesspool Water Gate
How blind America????
we need that bread
we need that bread
and of course John Ehrlichman final admits to nixons real reason for his drug war policies: "We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or
black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana
and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could
disrupt those communities." If only Gil was here to hear the final half hearted confession.
Sarcasm inbound. "Oh no! That's nothing more than liberal lies spread by the establishment! I don't have a problem with black people, only the ones who don't work. I love black people, I have many black friends! But if black people choose to be victims of the war on drugs then it's not my problem. If I don't see it, and it never happened to me, then it's not my problem and it doesn't exist." SMH.
All jokes aside, I agree with you 100%. The more I learn about what this country has done, the sicker I feel. It's frustrating and depressing. We are supposed to be the land of the free, but we hurt our own citizens, especially if they come from the "darker groups" more than our supposed "enemies" in some cases. To tell you how stupid and irrational this nation's fears are. America fears being "over run" by brown people from Mexico more than it fears a racist demagogue or a hostile, nuclearly armed, foreign government who has violated the rights of millions tampering with our electoral process. This country is screwed, and not because we legalized gay marriage or had a black man in the White House for 8 years. If we can't figure out how to treat our own citizens like human beings, and if we are still held up on the belief that a 600 year old lie named race justifies mistreating people, well then I can't see this nation lasting that much longer.
500 shades of the blues.....? Good lord, Gil....
Bravo , Bravo........
The two thumbs down were most likely posted by the grandchildren of Richard Nixon & Spiro Agnew.
trump voters...
WATERGATE BLUES ... from the beginning over 500 years ago thru today still.
03:22 America the international Jackel and Hyde the Land of.....
Ain't nothin' changed - Gil could have laid this track down YESTERDAY. How sad is that?
HE SHOUTS OUT #AUGUSTA,GA ON 5:15 .... #OLDSCHOOL
IT FOLLOWS A PATTERN, IF YOU NO WHAT I MEAN?
Check it out today.
try amazon.com
One prophet of a kind. From USA to China thru France or Germany, we can understand politics thx to a poet. A black poet.
I met the great man at Womad 2010 as it was my job to collect him and the band from the airport and drive them to the festival.....he signed my copy of Winter in America that I'd bought specially earlier that day.
Genius, genius, genius. RIP.