Waiting For the Axe to Fall
1980 · Arista AL 9540 · Chicago, Illinois
- 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
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Songwriter
- Gil Scott-Heron
- Genre
- Soul, Gospel & Funk · Funk
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation
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
Lyrics
English: Brother served in Vietnam / And found out no one gives a damn / Agent Orange fell on his camp / But everybody went deaf / Brother turned around on Uncle Sam / Waiting for the axe to fall / Sometimes, Lord I think that's all / When your head is in the noose / And won't nobody turn you loose / You're waiting for the axe to fall
Notes
Arista ARIST 527, 45, B side, blue label, Made in England; "Waiting for the Axe to Fall" (Gil Scott-Heron), Brouhaha Music Ltd. (Leosongs); produced by Gil Scott-Heron and Malcom Cecil for Spice Ltd.; ℗ 1980, © 1983 Arista Records Inc. [From the record sleeve and labels]
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] 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 #…