Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
Pardon Our Analysis (We Beg Your Pardon)
1975 · Arista A 4030 · Chicago, Illinois
- Artist
- Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
- Title
- Pardon Our Analysis (We Beg Your Pardon)
- Release
- The First Minute Of New Day (Midnight Band)
- Year
- 1975
- Label
- Arista # A 4030
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Songwriter
- Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Soul Jazz
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
The Scott-Heron track "Pardon Our Analysis (We Beg Your Pardon)" (Arista Records # A 4030), featuring his long-term collaborator Brian Jackson, attacked President Ford for pardoning Nixon after his resignation in 1974. While those who "get caught with a nickel bag...will do big Ben" (i.e. those caught with cannabis will go to jail for ten years), the politician who "tried to fix America" received no prison sentence. He then went on to list others, who Scott-Hero thought were unjustifiably pardoned: "they pardoned William Calley, 22 dead, and America in shock".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: We beg your pardon because the pardon you gave wasn't yours to give / They call it due process and some people are overdue / The man who tried to steal America is not in jail / Get caught with a nickel bag, you will do big Ben / But the man who tried to fix America will not do time / Pardon brother Frank Willis, the Watergate security guard... / Pardon H. Rap Brown, it was only burglary / Pardon Robert Vesco, it was only embezzlement / Pardon Charles Manson, it was only mass murder / And pardon us while we get sick / Because they pardoned William Calley / 22 dead, and America in shock
About the artist
Duo of poet-singer Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) and keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson (b. 1952, Brooklyn, New York); they met and began collaborating at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, around 1969-70, recording together through 1980. [Source: Wikipedia] 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…
Themes
In collections
Jazz Songs · My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years] · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs