Now and Then (11 page)
Authors: Gil Scott-Heron
I never thought of myself as a complex man
Or as someone who was really that hard to understand
Though it would hardly take a genius to realize
I've always been a lot too arrogant and a little too f'n wise
A combination that made a lotta folks duty bound
To do whatever they could to try and bring me down
To head off some of the things I might say
To see if they couldn't take some of my stride away
To bring me disappointment and teach me to fear it
Obviously these are folks who don't have the spirits:
Don't give up. It's time to stop your falling.
You've been down long enough. Can't you hear the spirits
    calling?
It's the spirits can't you hear it calling your name?
There are people whose lives are so far off the track
That what they like best is stabbing brothers in the back
And I was obviously too blind and probably too weak
To see who was responsible for my losing streak
But the best way to explain it is to say simply because
I was looking around outside and truth is that I was the one
So I got locked into all the analysis
And found myself blocked into a kind of paralysis
And something was calling and I almost didn't hear it
But I've spent a lotta time being blessed by the spirits:
Don't give up. It's time to stop your falling.
You've been down long enough. Can't you hear the spirits
   calling?
It's the spirits can't you hear it calling your name?
It don't matter whether it was a child or an adult
There was absolutely no one I couldn't insult.
So that I could isolate myself somewhere off to the side
And continue to juggle all the possible âwhys'
The warmth I once could generate so well
Had turned into a frozen hell.
And all of the discouraging injustices I felt
Pinned me inside a drug-infested cell
Where those who told didn't know and those that knew
   didn't tell
And I could continue to feel sorry for myself:
Don't give up. It's time to stop your falling.
You've been down long enough. Can't you hear the spirits
    calling?
Ain't no way overnight to turn your life around.
And this ain't the conversation of someone who never falls
   back down
But no matter how long you've been on trial
With the days of self denial
And no matter how many times you tried to make it
And found out that right then you just couldn't take it
If you're looking for a loser who found strength and success
Remember the spirit of brother Malcolm X
And know that you can leave all of your mistakes behind
The day you really make up your mind:
Don't give up. It's time to stop your falling.
You've been down long enough. Listen to the spirits calling!
- The Vulture
(novel), 1970, World Publishing; 1996, Payback Press - Small Talk at 125th & Lenox
(poetry), 1970, World Publishing - The Nigger Factory
, (novel), 1972 The Dial Press; 1996, Payback Press - The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron
(poetry booklet/LP), 1979, Arista - So Far, So Good
(poetry), 1990, Third World Press - Now and Then
(poetry) 2000, Payback Press/Brouhaha Books
- Small Talk at 125th & Lenox
, 1970, Flying Dutchman Records - Pieces of a Man
, 1971, Flying Dutchman - Free Will
, 1972, Flying Dutchman - Winter In America
, 1974, Strata-East - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
(compilation), 1974, Flying Dutchman - First Minute of a New Day
, 1975, Arista - From South Africa to South Carolina
, 1975, Arista - It's Your World
, 1976, Live Double LP set, Arista - Bridges
, 1977, Arista - Secrets
, 1978, Arista - The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron
, 1979, Arista - 1980
, 1980, Arista - Real Eyes
, 1980, Arista - Reflections
, 1981, Arista - Moving Target
, 1982, Arista - The Best of Gil Scott-Heron
, 1984, Arista - Space Shuttle
, 1989, Castle Communication - Tales of the Amnesia Express
[Live], 1990, Castle Communication - Glory
[compilation], 1992, Arista-Ariola - Spirits
, 1994, TVT Records
The Vulture & The Nigger Factory
Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron's highly successful two novels are now collected together for the first time.
A hip and fast moving thriller,
The Vulture
relates the strange story of John Lee's murder â telling it in the words of four men who knew him when he was just another kid, working after school, hanging out, and waiting for something to happen. Just who did kill John Lee, and why?
The Nigger Factory
is a scornful statement on the way which human beings are conditioned to think. On the campus of Sutton University, Virginia, the students are trying to carry forth the message of reconstruction to a university resistant to change. The failure of Sutton to embrace the changing attitudes of the Sixties has necessiated extreme reaction, and the revolution is nigh â¦
âThey are impressive and ambitious works that vigorously mix street savvy and intellectual flair. They retain a freshness and energy that has dated them little.'
GQ
âWith the pace of cleanly constructed thrillers they wield the force of a highly focused political consciousness.'
The Herald
âThere's plenty of tension and sex, but also a whole heap of politics. These are ace period pieces.'
Select
âThey're prodigious works, displaying the ability with words that his subsequent recorded works show so clearly.'
Wire
The Vulture & The Nigger Factory
ISBN 0 86241 901 8
£7.99 pbk
Buy online at www.canongate.net for a 20% discount.
Payback Poetry
Rebel Without Applause
â Lemn Sissay
The long-awaited reprint of Lemn Sissay's debut collection.
âFierce, funny, serious, satirical, streetwise and tender.'
The Big Issue
ISBN 1 8419 6 001 7
£
7.99 pbk
Morning Breaks in the Elevator
â Lemn Sissay
This is a twist of Lemn. His first solo collection in eight years.
âEasily the best, most comprehensive collection of poetry about
modern Britain I have read for a long time.'
Straight No Chaser
ISBN 0 86241 838 9
£
7.99 pbk
The Fire People
â Edited by Lemn Sissay
A coming together of the finest contemporary Black British poets,
including Tricky, Jackie Kay and Linton Kwesi Johnson.
âThe collection forms a milestone of great significance.'
The Times
ISBN 0 86241 739 2
Transformatrix
â Patience Agbabi
Inspired by '90s poetry, '80s rap and '70s disco,
Transformatrix
is
an exploration of women, travel and the realties of modern Britain.
âRising Star ⦠Patience Agbabi.'
The Observer
ISBN 0 86241 941 7
£
7.99 pbk
Buy online at www.canongate.net for a 20% discount.
Gil Scott-Heron was born in Chicago in 1949. He has been opening eyes, minds and souls for thirty years. A highly influential and widely admired singer, proto-rapper, jazz pianist, published poet, novelist and socio-political commentator, Scott-Heron remains a unique and major figure in global music. With over fifteen albums to his name, his politically charged output has won him an international following. His work illuminates a philosophy of life that holds human affection as well as political and artistic responsibility as the underlying factors that inspire his writing. The publication of
Now and Then
â the first ever British issue of his poetry â is a major deal. For real.
First published in Great Britain in 2000 by
Payback Press, an imprint of
Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street,
Edinburgh, EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2009
by Canongate Books
Parts of this collection have previously
been published in the United States of America as
So Far, So Good
, Third World Press, 1990
Copyright © Gil Scott-Heron, 1990, 2000
The moral right of the author has been asserted
British Library Cataloguing
-
in
-
Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
on request from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84767 744 0
www.meetatthegate.com
