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LG 449 Out of Africa: Black Englishes
2003-2004, term 1
University of Essex
Gil Scott-Heron
Gil
Scott-Heron is a writer, singer, and activist who has been recording and
publishing his work since 1969. Scott-Heron is renowned for his powerful
political criticism and his deep rich voice, his ironic yet involved stance,
and his successful melding of speech and music, of vernacular and elevated
styles, and for always having top-notch musicians. His home bases have been New
York City and Washington DC, and his work always has local roots and resonances
despite its international perspective. (He also has Jamaican family roots on
his father’s side.)
Gil
Scott-Heron’s work is always full of topical references to events that are, or
should be, news. Some of this may not be as well-known as it should, both to
Americans and others. For example, I could not find any references to the
Tuskegee experiments in several standard historical and social reference works
and encyclopedias. Nevertheless, this is extremely widely known in the African
American community, and much has been written about it.
It is documented fact that
experiments and observations were carried out over several decades on black men
in Tuskegee, Alabama with the venereal disease syphilis. The men were carefully
observed by doctors in frequent visits, in studies funded by the U.S.
government. As Scott-Heron notes, the “tests proved that syphilis will cripple
you, blind you, cause extreme and far-ranging debilitation complications on all
major systems and kill you.” The subjects of this ‘experiment’ were not given
treatment even though it existed and was easily available.
The Ghetto Code (Dot dot dit dit dot dot dash = “Damn if I know”)
(excerpt, rec.
live in Feb 1978 for The Whole Damn Thing album; from The Mind of Gil
Scott-Heron, Arista AL8301 LP)
This
is a long performance piece with communication and linguistic play and
symbolism as its central theme. It’s primarily a meditation on the letter ‘C’
and words that begin with it. Note that the written version (from GSH’s album
notes) is just a jumping-off point for Scott-Heron’s improvisations, in the
grand tradition of African American verbal and musical art.
A few notes on history are probably useful (though if
you read the newspapers in the 1960s and 1970s there would be little about this
material that feels ‘historical’!). If this stuff is already well-known to you,
bear with us – probably it will not be so for everyone.
·
‘Walter
Concrete’ – pun on then-ubiquitous news anchor Walter Cronkite
·
February
– it’s often observed by black folks that Black History Month is the year’s
shortest...
·
‘nickel
bag’ – $5 worth of marijuana.
·
Howard
Hughes – billionaire defense contractor.
·
Bay
of Pigs – 1961 invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles trained and armed by the CIA.
·
‘crib’
– house or home
·
The
Belgian Congo became Zaire, which in 1998 became the Republic of Congo.
·
Lee
Harvey Oswald – probable assassin of President John F. Kennedy, Nov. 22, 1963
·
Arthur
Bremner – shot and crippled segregationist Presidential candidate George
Wallace (Democrat, Alabama) on May 15, 1972 in Laurel, Maryland, the day before
Wallace won the MD primary. (Bremner had been unsuccessfully stalking Pres.
Nixon; Nixon had been covertly aiding Wallace’s campaign to sow dissension
among the Democrats.)
Some lyrics:
C is the first letter in Cash money
C is the last letter in musiC.
C is the first letter in CIA.
The CIA and FBI
Noses pressed against our windowpanes
Ears glued to our telephone
Why won’t they leave us alone?
The CIA and FBI
Noses pressed against our windowpanes
Ears glued to our telephone
Why won’t they leave us alone?
Tryin’ to pick up on… the Ghetto
Code.
Old-fashioned Ghetto codes saw phone
conversations like this:
“Hey, Bree-is-other Me-is-an!
You goin’ to the pee-is-arty
to-nee-is-ight? Oh yeah!
Well, why not bring me a nee-is-ickel
bee-is-ag, you dig?
And some Bee-is-am-bee-is-oo to
ree-is-oll it up in!”
I know whoever they was payin’ at the
time to listen in
on my calls had to be scratchin’ his
head, sayin’
“Dot-dot-dit-dit-dot-dot-dash – Damn
if I know!”
‘nickel bag’ – $5 worth of marijuana
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