Did You Hear What They Said?

Annotation

Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011), born in Chicago, but mainly based in New York, is well-known as a soul and jazz artist with cutting edge political and social spoken-word recordings, particularly on issues to do with the treatment of African-Americans. He often collaborated with Brian Jackson. Several of these spoken-word tracks referenced the Vietnam War - "Comment # 1" (1970), "H20 Gate Blues" (1974), "Pardon Our Analysis (We Beg Your Pardon)" (1975), and "Bicentennial Blues" (1976). He also mentioned the war in the soul tracks "Did You Hear What They Said?" (1972) and "Waiting for the Axe to Fall" (1980).In the song "Did You Hear What They Said?", released on Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label (# FD-10153), Scott-Heron focused on the impact of the war on the families of soldiers fighting the war. The narrator told of hearing about a soldier "shot in his head", and that someone said it was in order to "save his country". But a mother cried "cause her only son was dead". So Scott-Heron, horrified by this scenario, said "come on, this can't be real".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011), born in Chicago, but mainly based in New York, is well-known as a soul and jazz artist with cutting edge political and social spoken-word recordings, particularly on issues to do with the treatment of African-Americans. He often collaborated with Brian Jackson. Several Scott-Heron spoken-word tracks referenced the Vietnam War - Comment # 1 (1970), H20 Gate Blues (1974), Pardon Our Analysis (We Beg Your Pardon) (1975), and Bicentennial Blues (1976). He also mentioned the war in the soul track Waiting for the Axe to Fall (1980) (below).In the song "Did You Hear What They Said?", released on Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label (# FD-10153), Scott-Heron focused on the impact of the war on the families of soldiers fighting the war. The narrator told of hearing about a soldier "shot in his head", and that someone said it was in order to "save his country". But a mother cried "cause her only son was dead". So Scott-Heron, horrified by this scenario, said "come on, this can't be real".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

About the artist

American poet, singer and composer, born 1 April 1949 in Chicago, Illinois; pioneer of politically charged spoken-word soul ('The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'); died 27 May 2011 in New York City, New York. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Anti-War

In collections

Jazz Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs