gil scott-heron died yesterday.
his music was like a match on the gasoline of a young man's emerging sense of indigination at the way the world was arranged. sitting in my suburban semi-detached house hiding behind walls covered with posters of che and miles davis, reading the whole earth catalogue, writing poems and painting and all the while listening with what could only described as hunger to whatever music i could pull my way,
gil scott-heron told some of the truth of what was happening in the bigger world.
his music filled in the spaces between my little red book and soul on ice.
his words were poetry with a purpose.
he released a new album last year after ten years of silence.
this is the title song.
you can listen to the rest of this album streamed right here.
18 comments:
Just from this one clip I have to have this album. So glad you introduced me to this poet/artist Gil Scott-Heron. This man's style, message, being all beg to be known...
Rick
My word verification sums it up: synap! :)
I echo R. Burnett Baker's sentiments .... phenomenal. How come I have missed this voice, those words. My husband caught the tail end of the clip and was 'hooked' too.
Thank you for putting up this post.
I was in a very different place in my room and Gil Scott-Heron was far from me in those days. I just met him last night at Lorenzo's through the recitation he posted. Now this one with him singing, which is so beautiful, and I continue the path, finding him, present and future, live and alive.
hey rick, i'm glad that you also enjoyed gil's music. the link to the streaming tunes is a good idea if you are unsure about dropping coin on someone new. enjoy the journey! steven
aguja - there are so many amazing people out there, we could dream of meeting them all but we meet who we're supposed to or need to or wish to meet. that's what i figure!!! i'm glad you enjoyed gil's voice - it's a beautiful voice for sure. steven
ruth - i'm not a meme person - i ran one a couple of years ago on transformative moments that was amazing. perhaps it's time for a meme on the state and details of blogger's teenage rooms and worlds. i'm happy that you see the beauty in gil's singing. when i was a teenager he was much more like a soft-edged slam poet. the rest of his album is equally mesmerizing with differing qualities of edge and presence in each tune. steven
Thank you for remembering and honoring this guy who channeled a very bright, very intense light into the world of music. What is remembered, lives.
reya - it's so cool to find that so many people have honoured this amazing person who suffered tremendously while channeling the light that of necessity found him and passed through his presence. steven
Scott-Heron is new to me too. I'm glad you shared his music with us. This belongs on my iPod!
Oh, your banner photo is gorgeous!
A sad passing indeed.
hi lizzy! i bought the album today using some christmas itunes credit just sitting there waiting for such an opportunity. it comes with a video of gil making this music. beautiful, sometimes so sad, sometimes so life affirming and always gil. steven
lizzy thankyou. these little flowers were hiding this very morning behind their leafy cousins not ten feet from where i am writing. steven
elizabeth, this man was a force but one of those off-the-radar straight thrpugh the middle of everything people who fly hard and fast to the centre of everything when they die. those who knew his music from the seventies and eighties will be astonished at the music he just released because it is truly a different man. but then also the very same. steven
Too sad. A very cool musician indeed.
rachel! he left a lot of good stuff in his wake and he'll be back. steven
thanks for this post Steven.
For some reason, Blogger problems have meant I could not make a comment to this post. I have not even been able to post comments at my own blogs (except as Anonymous, as I have recently found). But I am here trying again. As you know, I deeply admired GSH and felt moved and influenced by him at a very impressionable age, in a way similar to what you described as his impact on you in your recent comment on my GSH post. I really heard you when you described yourself as somewhere between the little red book and Soul on Ice. Seeing him leave so young pains me, assuaged only by contemplating all he left. I was not familiar with this video and greatly appreciate it.
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