Gil Scott-Heron - Winter in America (1974)

[@lorenzoelder6274]

Democracy is ragtime on a corner. 2024

[@funkydrumr51]

The deeply sad thing is that all these lyrics still ring so true for RIGHT NOW.

[@rontoran232]

Just wait, this song means more every day. Hang on tight.

[@becingu]

@@rontoran232 Like now.

[@kyledavis1783]

I saw a comment on another one of his videos that essentially says “the worst part about growing old is seeing all the things you love go away, while seeing all the things you hate stick around”. As a white man, I’ve seen the struggles of black men and women everywhere, even in the most progressive of states. And I can tell you right now I still don’t understand it half as much as they do.

[@quintinfranklin9168]

Oh most definitely, & before Gil's time!

[@quintinfranklin9168]

Wow, this rendition is beautiful!

[@blackmale78]

I listen to this on this 55 degree FEBRUARY day, this man was such prophet and his teachings live on.

[@snowflakepillow8697]

around 2008? I remember it being 99F in a parking lot on the last day of November, and I thought of this song...

[@TICSTUDIOSLLC]

This man is my favorite musician. I love you Gil.

[@ICKXBerlin]

After more than 40 years of listening to music… I couldn't have said it better.

[@DeborahLevoy]

Woke up with "Winter In America" in my head this morning. Brilliant Gil Scott Heron, my you RIP, so sad that your words still timely in 2016.

[@1958Shemp]

sou and me both. I'm old, so I recall the 1970s In the '72 POTUS Election it came to 2 guys: A thoughtful, compassionate man (McGovern) and a SoB (Nixon) -- guess who won then?

[@ruebenaguilera771]

And 2021

[@PaulettaNelson]

I understand waking up with Gil singing in your head. I woke up with him singing Save The Children, with Hubert Laws on the flute.

[@lorenzoelder6274]

Try 2024

[@lorenzoelder6274]

Try 2024

[@kingpleasure]

Brian Jackson's flute playing is magical. His interpolation of Dixie in his solo is brilliant too. The sign of a great jazz artist. And GSH was a poetic and musical genius with prophetic vision and the ability to distill the realities of world events into the most powerful written images imaginable.

[@bsshh]

That's not BJ on flute he had left the band. The beautiful flute solo is Vernon James.The sweet trumpet solo was Kenny Satterfield.

[@rbeeydwan4479]

True!!!

[@quintinfranklin9168]

Very well said!

[@VTtom62]

50 years of winter….

[@WildwoodClaire1]

I feel my upbringing was impoverished because I wasn't introduced to Gil Scott-Heron and I only stumbled onto him by fortuitous accident later in life. The flute in this song is magical, BTW.

[@kyledavis1783]

I only stumbled upon Gil a few days ago when I was in a record store and heard the album First Minute in a New Day playing. Bought the record right there and he has quickly become my favorite artist

[@MikeHonig]

Echoes of things gone by, and now, things to come...

[@robertfriel7999]

Brilliant!

[@joanietaylor7000]

The Sound quality of the Eardrum..must always be in Seasons of Life...Drive Slow Homey and inventively Hear beyond.. The Sound takes u to s place unknown to the Eardrum.. Freedom I'm 66 Still Appreciating True Word Spoken.... Beautiful.

[@ironcurtainsteve]

great song, great voice, timeless & timely. things gotta change soon.

[@KIMJ618]

absolutely the best of his musical discography.

[@JoshuaWinkleman]

RIP pioneer of rap

[@brownsoundgrimes457]

classic nothing like it. gil scott was raw,

[@mizpahboy7513]

The lyrics of this track continue to reverberate in 2021

[@bsshh]

Golden!!

[@RoySmiles100]

How topical is this? God like genius!

[@rontoran232]

You know, Mario Biondi does a version that is pretty righteous. I know of no other rendition and he is an Italian white man with lots of soul. Where is everyone else? Strange!

[@gusmartins6767]

Gil spoke for humanity and mankind. Of course he never wanted to see black people en masse so desperately down and out. But the message he challenged power with spoke to us and for all of us.

[@joedurant9194]

The new national anthem.

[@MatrixMaster777]

Indeed^^

[@rontoran232]

without a doubt! Well put. Welcome to Amerika.

[@rbeeydwan4479]

100%

[@ARUD08]

Even more relevant in the era of enduring Trump.

[@yvettegibson8889]

Still relevant in 2022

[@mr.clean0029]

Beautiful

[@lydiaboyd7629]

Such a kind and gentle soul. What a genius!! Just got caught on the “ other side”

[@jdub8157]

It’s the last days of the year 2020 and Gil let me tell you.....it’s a blizzard now in America.

[@johnhalpin9168]

No shit

[@artisfu9]

...and the BLIZZARD has just subsided for just a little while!

[@AntoniaPi-od4rf]

Yes, and let's add: that this blizzard, those hurricanes, the floods and wildfires, these winters and summers, are not natural events.

[@toddadams8420]

June 21 2020 still freezing in California

[@bluewuppo]

San Francisco is the worst. Foggy 24/7. and on the off-chance you get a good day, tough luck the water still freezing like ice.

[@ethelsteele-robbins337]

Still relevant to this day !2021

[@lorenzoelder6274]

Try 2024

[@dianeperry9066]

"This is history being told; within a smoothly-crafted-jazziness allowing every word to become the PROPHETIC VOICE of AWARENESS. There's a distinctive instrumental profusion of PROLIFIC precision, while pulsating background rhythms accentuate: "It's WINTER in America"; so aptly showcasing the BRILLIANCE of Gil Scott-Heron's style, that will NEVER BE DUPLICATED!! " =17 February 2016=

[@rontoran232]

Check out Mario Biondi's rendition, it has feeling too.

[@smartalek180]

Brilliance -- and who could possibly have so cynical in 1974 as to believe that it would be MORE relevant in 2013 than it was then? Thank you so much for promoting it here -- and in a good, clear, hifi bitrate, too.

[@womack1324]

And more Relevant 2020.

[@ruebenaguilera771]

And 2023

[@johndconqueror555]

election year 2024 brought me here aluta continua

[@joerichardson-vi2kx]

We gotta quit meeting like this.

[@adolphlopez1462]

That Gil Scott Heron really knows and relate in what he knows, and that is about Winter in America, as from The Revolutionary War of America, as from 1776, to the present times.

[@yvettegibson8889]

NOTHING LEFT TO SAY BUT ONE POETIC LYRICAL POLITICAL AND HUMBLE ARTIST TRULY MISSED! !!!!!

[@TEO.SPARK68]

The season is winter This song is called, "Winter in America" From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims And to the buffalo who once ruled the plains Like the vultures Circling beneath the dark clouds Looking for the rain Hey, they've been looking for the rain Just like the cities staggered on the coastline Livin' in a nation that just can't much more Like the forest they buried beneath the highway Never had a chance to grow Well, they never had a chance to grow And now it's winter Come on, sing if you know the words Seemed like winter in America A time when all of the healers done been killed Or been betrayed, say People know that something's wrong Everybody oughta know winter Seemed like winter in America The truth is there ain't nobody fighting Because, well nobody knows what to save Brother, save your soul Lord knows it's winter in America The Constitution, a noble piece of paper With free society Well, they struggled but they died in vain And now democracy is ragtime on the corners On the cord, hoping it'd rain Yes, he's been a-hopin' for some rain But it just don't look like rain And I see the robins, yeah, perched in barren tree tops Watching last-ditch racists marching across the floor And like the peace sign that filtered in our dreams That never had a chance to grow Yeah, they never had a chance to grow Somebody want to go tell them it's winter It's cold, it's like winter in America Time when all the healers, people who have done been killed Or been betrayed, say But the people know there's something wrong Hey, it's winter It seems like winter in America The truth is there ain't nobody fighting 'Cause, well nobody knows what to save Aw, sister save your babies Yes, winter in America I said hey, hey, hey It's winter It's cold, it's like winter in America Time when all the healers, brothers who have done been killed And put them in jail, say People know there's something wrong Something wrong with winter It feels like winter in America The truth is there ain't nobody fighting because Well nobody knows what to save Yes and the truth is There's nobody fighting, nobody fighting Nobody knows, nobody knows what to do, what to do The truth is there ain't nobody fighting because Nobody knows what to save

[@lenorem.7889]

Deep

[@24Kphotography]

Relevant in 2017....

[@birdypajarita2063]

we need to ask the question: why do these lyrics ring so true still???? what is the common denominator, the link across all the different presidents, regimes, systems, nations... the common cause that unites them all in blood and misery... and we need to listen to each other and be ready to walk away from this thing, whatever it is... it is gong to be the END of us all if we don't.

[@macavelli8905]

There are entertainer's then there are artist .

[@ethelsteele-robbins337]

Love him!!!

[@lanubienne2883]

2020 still applies...winter in America. Will we survive to spring?

[@artisfu9]

WOW BROTHER, u said something then!

[@nxtyrjrslm]

.Reno,nv remember? super!!

[@dakaraiakil]

Anybody know where to find this version online up for download?

[@E80-t6e]

2016

[@anthonywalsh7613]

Intended 2 tell story of African American soldier coming home from Vietnam. The narratives in song taken from soldiers therapy sessions in psychiatric ward

[@snowflakepillow8697]

Dead Presidents maybe not as good as this but same topic

[@anthonywalsh7613]

@@snowflakepillow8697 not heard that one brother. I’ll look it up Ah it’s a film

[@kiaba360-4]

0:35

[@georgewitt1765]

Gangsta Gibbs!

[@danielweatherford3243]

Check out Guerilla

[@snowflakepillow8697]

"nobody knows what to say" people saying I should be a teacher... I wouldn't know what to tell kids?!... I gotta figure out what to tell myself first...

[@donsmail6606]

(1/6/2021) Missing the voice of GSH on this historic day. His voice and lyric articulation have been a bedrock for social justice and change. It has been "Winter in America", but last night the good citizens of Georgia cast their votes and helped preserve our democracy with an exemplary example of a free and fair election, led by a pantheon of Patriots who made manifest the most basic tenet of our republic: we have a government that is for, by and of the people, and those people shall not be denied.

[@sockpoppy]

8:11 The Licc

[@pyjamajones4616]

I once bought this album imagining it was (what turned out to be a totally different song) by Doug Ashdown …..When I eagerly got it home and played it...What a disappointment ?

[@itsmevee9386]

Send it to me

[@lydiaboyd7629]

The disappointment is that this song had to be, was compelled to be written!!

[@comeup0902]

Freddie Gibbs sent me here

[@robinharris7368]

Man this song carried me through life and Especially when it was winter But now I really seeing is winter in america and no bodies fighting because nobody know what to say as we watch our Black People being sold out by our so call Black boot licks o I mean people

[@robertfriel7999]

Smooth as owl shit version from a Poet Philosopher 😎