Down He Goes

I should not be a fan of Gil Scott-Heron. On the surface, there is everything arguing against this fact. As a southern white male partial to country rock from the seventies and alt-country music today, Scott-Heron’s music should miss the mark widely.
Gil Scott-Heron, like many of his time, is a complicated man. He is known, when he is known, as the godfather of rap, or a militant activist and founder of political rap whose targets are most often people in my demographic group.
It was 1979. Like a Martian holding forth among the masses, Gil Scott-Heron opened for George Benson at the University of Southern Mississippi, at Reed Green Coliseum. In the audience, I was amazed. A boy who was into Jimmy Buffett and James Taylor, I couldn’t believe what I heard and saw.
In a world of poseurs, Gil is a walking, talking wealth of soul and meaning. Sort of like watching Abe Lincoln or Fredrick Douglas sit at the piano and tell you how it is. Patiently laying down the facts, no matter whether it hurts or not, but feeling bad about having to be the one to deliver the message.
There are the songs that more people know than others. "Angel Dust" and "Johannesburg", which he performed on Saturday Night Live. "The Revolution Will Not be Televised" is cited by some as the quintessential Scott-Heron song. I like all of them. But my favorites are somewhat more obscure. I am especially fond of "B Movie", a hilarious and pointed criticism of 80’s politics and Ronald Reagan in particular, culminating in the "words" of Reagan, "Dammit, first one country wants freedom, the next thing you know, the whole damn world wants freedom!" and my favorite GSH line of all time, "John Foster Dulles ain't nothing but the name of an airport now."
In the early nineties, he released a song titled "Message to the Messengers" in which he said, among other things
"Four-letter words or four-syllable words won't make you a poet, it will only magnify how shallow you are and let everybody know it." It was if he was putting the others on notice. "I am watching and what I think matters a great deal."
But that is where the happy story ends and the downhill slide begins. In 2001, he began a slow descent into drug abuse and conflict with the law. He was sentenced to jail, got out in 2002, and went right back to prison in 2006. He was paroled in 2007 and began a series of shows in New York City, with plans for a new CD and a new book. But one day before he was to perform in NYC, he was arrested again for cocaine possession. Today he is back in jail. Who knows where tomorrow leads? As a fan of unique music and talent, I am eager to see his career reform some day in the future. As a fellow human, I hope only that he makes it back into the light.