Waiting For the Axe to Fall
1980 · Arista AL 9540 · USA
- Artist
- Gil Scott-Heron
- Title
- Waiting For the Axe to Fall
- Release
- Real Eyes
- Year
- 1980
- Label
- Arista # AL 9540
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- USA
- Songwriter
- Gil Scott-Heron
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Funk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
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).Another Gil Scott-Heron track, "Waiting for the Axe to Fall" (Arista Records # AL 9540), in which he told the listener about a "brother" who "served in Vietnam". The song suggested that after the war the government / the military / people no longer cared about the welfare of the veterans. Note the reference to agent orange - the defoliant/herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.
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]