I was touched by this brother when I was 10 years old. A 3rd ward houston pbh video "children" of the ghetto. I am a poet lyricalist. But moreover, passionate about my black struggle, and will never forget the love Gil Scott had for his people's experience. He is a part of my everything.
I first heard Winter in America in 1976, I was 20 years old and an English guy. It explained Vietnam and all I had witnessed on British TV. I’m still listening to Gil in 2023 and finding nuances in his songwriting after so many years. Peace Brother, you are and always were the man.
I must tell this story. It’s a little lengthy, but Scott fans will appreciate it. In 1979m, I was a DJ and music critic/reporter. Went over to Mississippi State U. to cover a George Benson concert. After interviewing Benson, he said, “you talked to Gil, yet?”… Gil Scott Heron… I went next door to Scott’s dressing room. He invited me to his bus after his show. We sat in his bus that’s night (with Brian Jackson) smoking and talking bout Mississippi. He dubbed me Mississippi Brother… second coolest night of my life. First coolest? Two years later I was in the Army in Indianapolis (Ft. Ben)… picked up the paper… Scott was playing that very night at the Vogue Theater. Went, told the backstage brother “tell Scott it’s the Mississippi
Moments Im sure you will never forget, his music is still relevant, as most great musicians. It's easier for me to understand the art, as the man has gone on to another dimension. Lots of people, bring up his struggles, which were symptoms, of much more complex part of his personality. Thanks to him for sharing the good and bad of struggling addiction, people of color. I've loved his music since, I was introduced to it......❤
I read about the last years of his life..the addiction. I was driving a long way and played this in my car and cried. He was expressing his pain. He, musically, came into my life along time ago...I love this guy, x
A voice of reason, curiosity, social consciousness, pride, economic, environmental concerns. A voice that spoke to power through awesome music at a great personal cost. We need him TODAY!!. I miss him terribly I am big big fan of his. His music was part of my formative years as a young man and I still listen to him to this very day. In the political and social climate of today it is unfortunate that we do not have his voice. I am truly saddened that he is not hear but I have the music and his writings. Gil Scott Heron still lives! I love you Gil! Rest in Power my brother.
He was just incredible. I wish he was still here today as well. Way ahead of his time musically and poetically. And your words are profound "at a great personal cost". And he shared that cost with us. That's more than courageous. I wish I had seen him live. I'm confident you've heard it but one of my favorite songs is his cover of "I'll take care of you" from "I'm New Here" Pure emotion.
This man has carried me thru my teens, as a young man, as a father, as a grandfather, as a middle age man, and now approaching what society calls a senior(bullshit!). I love Gil! Have heard all his music, seen him live, but this trilogy, "The Other Side 1,2,3 is his greatest, cause he's bearing his soul and exposing his demons. All of us who love Gil, gets it 100.
riparkjr l always say to my son, that there is a saying " do as l say, not as l do". Gil couldn't conquer what was happening to him but that didn't diminish his message. In his pain he still gave us truth. What a tragedy the way he died but that's the way of marters. RIP GIL. I'm confident that he's in a better place than this fucked up world. As we're all inevitably destined to be.
mama could change it (crack cocaine) daddy could fix it (heroin). goin home hellofva metaphor for getting high. went from addict to counselor at VA. been Gil fan since I was a young revolutionary 70's serving in the army. favorite artist of all time!!!
Girl is just coke, (not crack cocaine). your mind is so set on saying he is talking about drugs your misquoting...he said "momma could change it daddy could help me". I'm sure he is talking about his famous and probably Rich Dad the black arrow not freaking heroin...he is saying his parents could help alot but he can't get it. Third he goes on to say "momma don't need to see me this way know me this way hold me this way" he not talking about crack cocaine... He is talking about the torn and probably strained relationship he has with his parents probaly caused from the drug addiction...
Being a Gil fan for most of my life I'm well aware that Gils father was a famous Jamaican soccer player. Not only being a Gil Fan since the 60's Im also a recovering addict which I don't say proudly, girl is cocaine in any form. as boy is heroin. Home is a metaphor for shooting up as Gil's brilliantly uses the duality of the phrase, as in kick it quit cant go home" as home in one sense means "home" and in the other sense getting high "he repeats many times kick it quit it . anyone who as lived this life know exactly where he is coming from. you Mama could change it daddy could "fix it" have dual meanings brilliantly written. God Bless.
Absolutely Love GIL SCOTT-HERON Teacher, Poet, Singer, Songwriter, Rapper, Musician & a GENIUS.... BLESS.... BIG RESPECT TO BROTHER GIL SCOTT-HERON MISS YOU TOO MUCH BROTHER... REST IN PARADISE BROTHER GIL, AS YOU WALK AND TALK WITH GOD IN PARADISE.... One Love, Rajesh Semrete Selassie Aggarwal FRSA
What an ARTIST. Jesus, I am so blessed to hear his words. He got me to the other side, we've all been through pain but raising up when everyone thought you couldn't do it. I am still here and I am the other side. Thank you Sir for helping me. My life is better for your lyrics. I went home, got better, now stronger than ever.❤❤❤❤
I heard this version before the original 'home is where the hatred is' . This album 'Spirits' was the first album I ever heard by him. I cried. There is no other song about addiction better than this. He captured it in the original, but that was an early phase in the battle. As time limps by the addictions got stronger, and so did his desire to express this saga. He wanted to be understood. I think this song is for the only people he knew would understand it. Addicts, former addicts. Casual users can listen to the fucking radio. I can be found in a constant state of awe and wonder, while I listen to this... look up his daughter Gia Scott Heron. She is a fantastic poet and a beautiful person. RIP Gill.... the best damned writer we were lucky enough to love and apprectiate
Phoenix, one recovering addict to your great self everything is true. Casual people love to think they know what others go through but they don't even face their own problems. Ex addicts were weak but their struggle was also their baptism of fire. No other misery like addiction either. Doesn't end even when you're clean. People still judge you. You still have your ghosts of the past or demons at your heels. It's ALWAYS a threat waiting to seduce you again. Gil's words aren't preachy but simply a poet telling his human truth. Thank you for your comment. It made a rough but rewarding week even worth it. Good luck my friend x
You've put it perfectly sir...an ex junkie 5 years clean...finally coming out of the cloud not just living, but realizing I'm lucky to be alive...but I could die next year right...he nailed it...and you nailed the commentary man...good job
Wow... ex addict, still addict, another soul here...and man, if you can indulge me, just another stranger that will never meet you in person making another comment out of blue midnight....forgive my grandiosity in capitals, when I say, MY FRIEND YOUR WORDS ARE PROFOUND...ONE TRIES TO READ, LEARN, EXPOSE, PRETEND HE'S SMART, KNOW HE'S INTELLIGENT...I've done em all, ain't nothing foreign to me...but mans your words are profound...you're comment on TH-cam is better than anything I ever heard, and everything I ever said...I mean...you're in the james Baldwin level here my friend...that's a literary stratosphere few reach....but I'll bet your greatest strength is your humility...humility and brilliance always converge...but you expressed something I feel, something I know and understand, but ain't ever heard said before....I'm quote you in my life, and I mean that, ...and you'll get this...I wont even steal your lines, too profound, I'll actually say I read this brilliant comment on TH-cam, and then paraphrase....had to tell you that....and now, goodbye forever....beautiful
I cry each time I hear this....Gil singing as a dope addict "Mama don't need to see me this way....touch me this way...know me this way....love me this way." Oh God.....
And I thought “The Bottle” was deep! I don’t remember this so it’s new to me! So much pain😮 You never know what someone is going through or been through unless they tell you. It reminds me of the Isley Brothers “Ohio” but on a different level of pain, not theirs but someone else’s. Gil is speaking about his own 😮😢
Listening to this reminds me of Marvin Gaye's FLYING HIGH IN THE FRIENDLY SKIESI Always wished that Gil & Marvin did a track or two together. I remember when Marvin did Inner City Blues & then years later Gil did it & put his spin on it with his poetic flair. The Revolution is still live. Long live our brother in the struggle GIL SCOTT HERON!!!
Doesn't just apply to addiction. You can apply this song to any part of dealing with depression of any sort. It is uplifting. It is self empowering, if you let it. It is that power within, speaking out loud!
U R right. I've been told I'm bipolar all my life. I've always said, OK now what? Gil music Helped me from age 17 till now. I'm 70 n still dealing. 😂❤❤❤
His soul's final message to us is the song, Spirits, and this is his siren song to himself. Never forget experiencing his live performance at the Jazz Café in London. I was in a line that went around the corner with folks from all over the world. These two dudes in front of me from Pakistan knew every song he ever recorded and took me to school about his published poetry. Love him
@@moniquedelatour3502 I saw him afterwards at the bar. The only time in my l life I was frozen in my tracks. Regret not going up to him to say so myself. Thank you for letting me know I could have.❤
I love Gil so much. Have done since the first. But for all his gifts generosity knowledge funkiness I am saddened that his addictions made him cut out his prime music bro Brian from their rightful dues.
This man was deeply connected at another level. A spiritual musical messenger. This track is a masterpiece and the guitar solo just takes it beyond here.
This man is beautiful, I'm white, late 50's and only ever really knew 'Revolution' & 'Whitey's on the Moon' until recently. What a mistake that was I never looked sooner, This Man has a voice, a vision, a charm & great songs, everyone should hear it and know it. The depth of his musical prescence is amazing, these were the days when you were defined by the 'genre' you listened to and he encompassed so many into his own style. He just made my world richer and bigger and heightened the colours I sense. 2020
A shame only 13,000 views. Some of the greatest nights of my life were watching Gil and his band. Like this song, his gigs were a non-stop roller coaster ride that would leave me buzzing for days afterwards. A genuine one off. He may have wasted a lot, but he gave the world so much.
I can hear you ... I was lucky to catch him and his band live on stage four times and the feeling during and after the shows was exactly how you are describing it.
Geoff Dillon Gil Scott was one of the greatest poets that ever lived.... a lot of people new about Gil but never really sat down and listened to Gil... not listen to him all the time cuz he makes you think about this sad sad world we live in
Juan Senegal Sr. you're so right I'm getting reacquainted with this great man..Nobody like him ..If nobody around you understand's your soul, this man understands a whole lot.🎼💕 my soul knows...
I've been into Gil's music from a young kid. There is a lot of his songs and music is like a Prophecy as it seems He was far ahead of his own time. I Love this Brothers music forever. RIP MY BROTHER,"
I was so blessed to see this man in concert (London) right before he died. Despite being a big fan of his, the first time I heard this song was when he sang it on stage, and it just completely blew me away. Gil was a true gentleman, very humble, funny, entertaining…. And you could feel the love and warmth emanating from his spirit. Blessed.
Sometimes sadly, only someone who is walking the walk can talk the talk! But we love you GSH! And are so grateful to you for Sharing your knowledge and wisdom ❤
So agreed. I remember the first time -as a young teenager -eating Chinese food for the first time; as it was not only the food that was such a delightful and delicious experience, and it open my mind to new and different ways of knowing. It prepared my mind for GSH. I feel you. WRH
I'm 25 years old. And the first song I ever heard from this guy was home is where the hatred is. man that song was deep and personal. I heard it while playing grand theft auto iv. man that song even had alot to do with the main character in the game. love his songs because there is no lying in his song. is pure, is real
Damn bro. This is so weird. Just today a few hours ago…. I’m 24 and my first full Gil song I heard was Home is Where the Hatred is. and I was playing 2k right before switching to gta5 And his artistry and humanity really resonated w me as well! Peace brother, crazy how life works
Gil Scott Heron, is my musically inclined older Brother. I miss him dearly a great musician. Gil kept it real with the Truth with everything else going on in Life, keep seeking Truth, Walk in Truth at all costs. Shalom shalom.
This is as closest as someone can come to experiencing what it is like to be a drug addict without actually being one. Most powerful piece of music I have ever heard. Thank you so much for posting
never meet you in person making another comment out of blue midnight....forgive my grandiosity in capitals, when I say, MY FRIEND YOUR WORDS ARE PROFOUND...ONE TRIES TO READ, LEARN, EXPOSE, PRETEND HE'S SMART, KNOW HE'S INTELLIGENT...I've done em all, ain't nothing foreign to me...but mans your words are profound...you're comment on TH-cam is better than anything I ever heard, and everything I ever said...I mean...you're in the james Baldwin level here my friend...that's a literary stratosphere few reach....but I'll bet your greatest strength is your humility...humility and brilliance always converge...but you expressed something I feel, something I know and understand, but ain't ever heard said before....I'm quote you in my life, and I mean that, ...and you'll get this...I wont even steal your lines, too profound, I'll actually say I read this brilliant comment on TH-cam, and then paraphrase....had to tell you that....and now, goodbye forever....beautiful
Harlem Renaissance had to be there....and then they brought the hard drugs in to squash it All!!!! Safe neighborhoods artists,jazz, all gone just like that
Since high school 74 I listened to his entire collection thanks to my brother home from Vietnam .💚 & Missing both. Yes it was really nice to still have Gil in my heart.
THIS DUDE WAS THE REAL DEAL.YOU MAY CERTAINLY DISAGREE WITH ME ON THIS,BUT OUR MUSIC AND YES I MEAN OUR BLACK MUSIC HAS LOST IT'S BLACKNESS AND IT'S SOUL.AT NEARLY 60 NOW,I AM QUALIFIED TO SAY THAT.R,I,P. BROTHER GIL.
Sometimes I feel like I’m just wasting time Looking for another side Sometime I feel like I’m losing my mind ‘cause there ain’t No other side Sometimes I’m just spinning my wheels, ain’t no big deal Morning, there’s another side Sometimes I feel like I’m just standing in place, ain’t no real race Ain’t no other side Life is like a circle and you end up where you started If you end up where you started ain’t no other side Yeah, but if life is like a curtain that I’m 90% certain that I’m looking through at something Yes, I’m almost touching something on the other side Yeah, the opposite of new is old The opposite of young is old Seems like everything has got another side Yeah, but young ones want to be old ones Old ones know what they would do if they was young ones People ain’t never really satisfied People ain’t never satisfied If life is like a mirror then the nearer you get clearer You can see it so much clearer Feel like you know about the other side My friends all swear that they know What I should do with my life How I should run my life What should be happening with my life They’re on the other side They’re on the outside I’m on the inside Things always look so much better on the other side Four O’clock in the morning They don’t know All the things I been needing They don’t know Breaking out in a sweat And they don’t know Feeling down And they don’t know They don’t know the other side I need to go home Momma could change it Daddy could help me Yes, I could go home Yeah, Momma don’t need to see me this way Know me this way Touch me this way Love me this way Find me this way I can’t go home I’m saying I don’t want to call him I don’t want to know him I don’t want to need him I don’t want to feel it I don’t want to know But I know, know know Hey, home So I say tomorrow Tomorrow [repeat] I’m going home Tomorrow ain’t coming Tomorrow will always where it was Tomorrow [repeat] I need to go home Maybe I could start all over at home Without the whispers Hanging on me Pulling on me, rolling with me Pulling on me Yes, I’d like to go home Without the whispers
There are truly no words for what Gil Scott has done for my life. He is one of the reasons I found and excel at my passion-writing. His Opus Magnum album Spirits is one of the most incredible self defining and genre defining pieces of art in the African American Music library...Definitive, hands down representative pieces such as this and the soul scorching spirits abound taking the listener on a tour de Godforce through the souls of those of us who came from those descendants of the most incredible Black and Creative Black Spiritualists the world has ever known. To know the God Father of Black Musicology's music, to truly hear and feel his music is to know the frequency of the Diaspora itself. Tears of joy and pain floating round and off the the head... Contemplating the one and only Good Bruva Gil one can not help but understand that God will only let the star of the heavens hover but so long before our sight. His epiphanius Spirits was no other than a living being he birthed and left with us which will glow with our children and theirs and the children of their children who come to learn what it is to be themselves...to learn where they come from and who they people is...Gil left Spirits, and truthfully all of his work, as a beacon upon our journey of self discovery through what he would most assuredly call this beast. We need only point the way as he did....home. Kick it... quit it...home.
Gil always broke down the true feelings of the condition of addiction from 'The Bottle', 'Angel Dust', and 'The Other Side Parts 1-3'. I'm extremely grateful I made it back from The Other Side❤💚🖤💯
My man, this is the most intensely feeling kick-ass ballzy intonation on this *disease* of addiction I've ever heard. Tears rolling down my cheeks. Who is that on guitar, Carlos Santana?? Dude, Gil Scott Heron, you are my hero, I love you.
When I 1st heard this (1995ish), I thought that guitar sounded very Santana-esque. And yeah, Gil is my hero too....my hero, friend, mentor, brother, inspiration... Peace out.
Had to be Ed Brady, Gil's guitarist on recordings. Ed Brady is one of the many underrated guitarists I've ever heard. So is the bassist, Mr. Robert Gordon.
This came from the spirit that knew that the other side was near...we will all know when that time comes .. He speaks of dignity in dieing, didn't want to be a burden on his momma..
I grew up listening to old school Gil, but when I first found this album I played this set end to end for 2 days solid. I've never even touched drugs yet somehow I feel I understand everything this puts across, as weird as that sounds..the yearning for something 'more', the first rush of the high and the blissful delusions and denial, interspersed with brief moments of biting lucidity coupled with the realization that things aren't as they should be, all mixed up with the rejection by the people around you who can't/don't know how to deal with it, you not knowing where to turn, all the time slowly being consumed by the addiction in a self perpetuating cycle. Hang onto your Rosary beads Close your Eyes And Watch me Die Gil, the world is a worse place without you. In your own way you were a visionary and a giant among men, you may not have realized it but your written and spoken word of your own struggles will touch many other people for generations to come. R.I.P.
thank you Richard, met the man twice, also know his son has trouble dealing with a dad with addiction. If only we could all get along, the man was human though!
Music is supposed to make you feel and think. Gil was the master of reaching the deep things inside of us. He was one of the best who never sold his soul for the dollar and he will be miss. Truth was his master that he obeyed until his death, good or bad. Thank you gil
Never smoked more than a Joint...but Brother Gil, allows me to imagine the pain of a dope addict!!! a fan since, I saw that Black boy over there. GSH powerful
Tremendous Guitar from 07:48 - 10:28 - that's 3 mins & 40 seconds of raw inspiration - discovered Gil in Birmingham in 84 & started with Moving Target & the World & then moved out from there, eventually saw him in concert in Manhattan in 88 - still listening in awe in 2023 - its fresh, raw, eternal and nourishing to the soul - now he's home
Hey Meditation London, 3 mins 40 🤔 ? Literally hold on a minute now, ok.... The outstanding guitar is 4 mins & 40 secs long, from 7:48 to 11.28 😂 (like it matters)... Saw him @ Victoria Park, London, June 1985, blissful hot early summer's Saturday, with John Martyn also on the bill. Immeduately bought a GHS best of on audio cassette. Was another 5 yrs b4 I began to appreciate John Martyn...
I was blessed to hear Gill live with The Amnesia Express in Nottingham England at the Marcus Harvey Centre in the mid nineties. It was a Sunday evening and a few of my House music buddies were there, still 'up' from Saturday. It was utterly magical. Gil was a true poet and an inspiration for many a young black artist... rappers and musicians alike... for me his lyrics and poetry were reminders that human beings need each other and will continue to need each other in these dark oppressive times... the power of unity and the celebration of life in music. Sounds cheesy, but sometimes when the world is truly insane, the chance hearing of a tune on a late-night station when you are a million miles from home can turn around the darkest nights as you wait for a brand new day...
The pathos that Gil expresses in this long version of "Home Is Where the Hatred is" "breaks my heart. I loved him and I knew he was sick, but of course, all I could do was pray. Being sick and alone made him more depressed, I know, plus being addicted. I wish I could have told him that the things he created and did where so important and lasting. He was our political voice in music . RIP , Souljah !
He revisited The Other Side once more in his final years with just voice and piano it is on this posthumous album : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_New_(Gil_Scott-Heron_album)
This live track off the brilliant album "Spirits" shows just how great a band the Amenisia Express was- coming after the Midnight Band. When GSH recorded the original version of "Home Is Where The Hatered Is" on his 2nd classic album, he sung it as an observer of watching some of the everyday struggles in Harlem USA. This version comes after that decade of the Reagan 80s where things started to go left for this griot. The great Pee Wee Ellis told the story of Esther Phillips after she first heard the song back in 71(which she could relate to the lyrics since her early teens...) betting him that the writer of that great piece of music has got to be an addict to describe everything so vividly. Pee Wee took the bet & told her no he's just a young poet/musician and he would introduce her to him right now. So off to the basketball court he took Esther as GSH was playing in a pickup game. Upon Ms. Phillips viewing up & down the tall/healthy looking young man, she turned to Pee Wee and said: "Shit, I lose". GSH was a all around great songwriter/vocalist who was singing about Apartheid, Nuclear waste, etc.......YEARS before anyone caught up. His still underrated lyrical range was on constant display as well on great gems like "A Very Precious Time" , "I Think I'll Give Her A Call", "When You Are Who You Are", etc...........The music as always lives on & casual music listeners would do themselves a great service by treating their ears to GSH's 13 albums from 1970-2010. RIP GSH.
....someone said here on TH-cam, thanking Gil for his amazing contributions said"...I stand on your shoulders..." he remarked. I, for one, do not. I don't deserve to. I've done nothing that entitles me to.. Instead, I stand in your shadow Gil.... In awe.
This is one of my all time favor group of songs that Gil recorded . I really hate to say favored because their are so so many of them that I love . So i'm going to say R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron, I'M just gooing to keep on listening to all of your songs , just like I have been doing before and after you past. I know the last time I seen you was at Blue's Alley in Washington. D.C. and it was great as all you shows were. R.I.P. my brother rest .
GREAT choice!!!! Saw him at Blues Alley Twice, and they did this exactly in this form. It was just as good as this- all the instruments. Amazing This isn't a song- it's a treatise
One of America’s greatest and feared poets taken from us by forces many of us can’t and will never understand. But you’re still with us Gil, never to be forgotten.
you are still missed and loved , we need you now! you left us too soon I hope you found the life you were looking for . your Spirit is still here with us .see next time .you were the Greatest .
Thank you, Gil Scott-Heron, for all the music and ideas. What a legacy. We'll keep you up there. There's a long way to go yet and we still need your wisdom ...
Love this guy and the message he tried to bring to the people!!! We need it more than evre! RIP Gil!! Sad that most of the people have forgotten that music is an instrument of revolution and can bring a message to the people...now its just "driving my benz, spending my money on hoes" type of BS!!! Wake up, people!!! I'm a 53 year old white guy who grew up loving R&B, Blues, Jazz, Hip-Hop(not today's) and any music with a message! Gil was much too complex, intelligent and talented to put his music into any genre...just good SHIT!!!!
I love you Gil. I have a few heroes and Gils at the top. Heard him at the jazz Cafe every time he came to London. Miss him so much. All the greats are gone. Richie, Terrry and John. RIP
the piano by kim jordan was put in after the live performance. Ed brady was live on guitar rest in peace my brother I miss you so much, you were amazing on this track, Brian Jackson amazing, also RIP Gil my sweetheart, miss you as always, RIP don mcgriggs, When gil performed this song on his Australian tour '95 promoting spirits album, he cried and tried not to when he sang this (melbourne) . This song should be mandatory in rehab/prisons/middle + high schools.
If you knew where he was in his life when he recorded this you would understand ' he was pleading for help' ( previous contributors have alluded to this ) I had a 250 mile drive home one night last year and listening to this( as I had many times before but ) as I drove home this time I REALLY heard and felt his pain. A man that had brought me so much happiness in the past. Friends and family know me for the love of this man.I am proud of that.
Not sure where to begin except at the bottom line : I have always loved Gil Scott; both from a far as a fan of his and up close when I not just saw him in a very intimate venue but met him and talked with him at length like two brothers talkin’ like old friends catching up. I had featured his music on my WYBC radio shows and in my writings. His metaphors and insights profound: “winter in America; “ the revolution will not be televised, it will be live; the bottle; and so many more. Originally I was part of a few Blacks at Yale ( when we were so few we all knew one another) who came together and changed Yale and grew through the struggles and the joy ( as Frankie Beverly and MAZE called li - life and love “Joy and Pain…like Sunshine and Rain) and was back on the Yale campus what felt like a life time later and there at TOAD’s Place - South Africa’s LadySmith Black Mbazo ( who has traveled with Paul Simon who had introduced them to the world and simultaneously revived his career) and Gil Scott. I was pleasantly shocked to see this - and yet gratified that this was a part of our unspoken legacy when we brought Nina Simone, BB King, Donny Hathaway (concerts I emceed ) including Sly and the Family Stone, and so many others. Yet I also felt that the audience on this particular night did not fully realize and appreciate who LadySmith and Gil Scott were. Another sad commentary that we often overlook the great ones among us - until they no longer are. We move through life seeing through the rear view mirror missing what is around us in the present and before and in front of us - except when some events or remarkable people we admire or finally hear: look not at just where you have been - look where you are now and where you are going. Keep your eyes on the (prize) road - which is the journey of your life even if the road is sometimes bumpy. As two wise ones put it: “ we will not cease in our explorations, as we come to that place where we began and see it (know it) for the first time. TS Elliot- The Four Quartets. “ The Moving hand (finger) writes and having Writ moves on, and neither all your piety nor all your writ, shall lure it back to change a single line, or a word of it”. The Rubuyat of Omar Khyyam. And if a man (person has any greatness in him, it comes not to light in just one flamboyant hour, but is to be found in the daily ledger of his life.” Beryl Markam West with the Night. I quote from memory these gems from my ‘road less traveled. And in the wee wee hours of the this morni I am here typing with my thumbs this no doubt grammatically flawed stream of consciousness triggered by Gil Scott As Nina Simone so eloquently put it: Nuff Said! A seasoned traveler comes to know that every road has bumps ( which can become lessons or baggage) o
I only understood my mother’s and uncle’s addiction 😢after listening to this song it goes on a roller coaster of emotion from the addicts perspective not just the outside looking in .. rest in peace King
A world poet, a black poet, a people's poet, but an American poet, I know by birth he was American, but in life America did it's best to stifle and discourage and derail Gil in his process. America largely didn't accept him in life so it would be unfair for it to claim him in death. His being American is a footnote. But def one of the greatest Richard.
Been listening to this urban troubadour, ever since he first burst onto the music scene back in the early 70s. Gil's message is indelibly etched on the socio-political conscience of an otherwise unconscientious America. Although his physical presence among us ceased prematurely, the spirituality of his music, spoken verse, and scripting of an Afro-Centric cultural awareness for everyone to embrace, will define his life and his body of work for generations to come. Rest in peace my brother...the drums still beat.🪘🪘
I never been on drugs but after listening to his words and him going so deep with this, I see how I'm out the outside looking in... in the other side and trying them to kick it and quit it... it's a lot tougher than that. kinda like someone trying to tell u to leave someone u love.
first heard Gil in the mid 70's; my small mind said that ' he's telling what's going on in the big cities' ... now I realize that he was talking to us folks in these small southern towns as well, like the one I grew up in, here in south Florida. SInce then, I try to see through the fog of ignorance...
I lived this song for many years. I was fortunate enough to "quit it" with the help of a Higher Power. You hear his pain in this suite; and I cry that he never was able to quit it.. RIP Gil.
These are the wisest words he ever gave to us, which means they're amongst the wisest words ever spoken or written. So important yet so largely unknown, consider yourself truly blessed if you know about and dig this.
Gil Scott before rap , the group that put him on the map the last poets. I have been in that pain for thirty plus years. I finally made the decision to move. Chance people places and things . Now I have peace of mind, the important relationship the my creator the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the the blood of the Lord Jesus the saved a total reck that could not get it right. Thank God for his Grace and Mercy and unconditional love that he continues to bestow on me. To God be the Glory. Gil May you rest in peace , and I believe you are up there in the presence of God praising him.
Heard somebody the other day talking about ain't it too bad, ain't it a shame, how sad. They was talking about Gil. But they were blind, double-blind...deaf and dumb to boot. They was talking but never heard. They were in the room but were preoccupied, distracted by the beeping, chirping, and vibration of all manner of device. They may well perhaps one day come to understand that Gil was not a tragic figure. No would-be, wannabe, or has-been. He -Gil- is not to be mourned, pitied or shrouded in sorrow. He was not a broken piece of a man. His struggles, from whenever he came, what he overcame. But for his life, perhaps 3 generations present and myriad going forward have a voice, have understood and stood up and spoken out and now, in 2023 we even more deeply understand that W.E.B, Langston, Thurgood, MLĶ, Malcolm, Last Poets. The Black Arts Movement, the Panthers and untold and unsung others are embodied in the poetry and music of GSH. So when I heard someone talking about "ain't it a shame that he went out that way" It invoked "Vildgolia." (I'm not sure, but I think it was on his Bridges album.) I had the opportunity to see him a couple of times at Umass/Amherst.
When I first got clean 20 years ago I was really struggling and I heard Home Again and it was everything I needed. Here was a man who could put my life into words and I fell in love. I stayed clean and when I saw him perform at SOB’s in NYC it broke my heart to see him still sick and suffering. At least he’s in peace now.
Thank you Gil I love everything you did for my soul, my spirit now I know what my big brother was fighting with I can tell you without you making it so clear its no way I could have ever understand the things that he was trying to overcome Big Terry RIP and Big Gil RIP they dont make them like you or your music it is really music for the soul. I am sorry you came here before your time but your visit was well worth it.
He was ahead of his time, so powerful in his time and until the end. He called the Revolution years ago to the point that the government was startled. wait 4 it! RIP
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I was touched by this brother when I was 10 years old. A 3rd ward houston pbh video "children" of the ghetto. I am a poet lyricalist. But moreover, passionate about my black struggle, and will never forget the love Gil Scott had for his people's experience. He is a part of my everything.
I first heard Winter in America in 1976, I was 20 years old and an English guy. It explained Vietnam and all I had witnessed on British TV. I’m still listening to Gil in 2023 and finding nuances in his songwriting after so many years. Peace Brother, you are and always were the man.
I must tell this story. It’s a little lengthy, but Scott fans will appreciate it.
In 1979m, I was a DJ and music critic/reporter. Went over to Mississippi State U. to cover a George Benson concert. After interviewing Benson, he said, “you talked to Gil, yet?”… Gil Scott Heron… I went next door to Scott’s dressing room. He invited me to his bus after his show. We sat in his bus that’s night (with Brian Jackson) smoking and talking bout Mississippi. He dubbed me Mississippi Brother… second coolest night of my life.
First coolest?
Two years later I was in the Army in Indianapolis (Ft. Ben)… picked up the paper… Scott was playing that very night at the Vogue Theater. Went, told the backstage brother “tell Scott it’s the Mississippi
Moments Im sure you will never forget, his music is still relevant, as most great musicians. It's easier for me to understand the art, as the man has gone on to another dimension. Lots of people, bring up his struggles, which were symptoms, of much more complex part of his personality. Thanks to him for sharing the good and bad of struggling addiction, people of color. I've loved his music since, I was introduced to it......❤
Definitely a troubled soul but his realism is unmatched, I appreciated Gil
I read about the last years of his life..the addiction. I was driving a long way and played this in my car and cried. He was expressing his pain. He, musically, came into my life along time ago...I love this guy, x
yes, i do too
The spirit Gill live on.
The greatest Poet of our generation!imo
Yes! I get it
Love him too. He was right about everything!
A voice of reason, curiosity, social consciousness, pride, economic, environmental concerns. A voice that spoke to power through awesome music at a great personal cost.
We need him TODAY!!. I miss him terribly
I am big big fan of his. His music was part of my formative years as a young man and I still listen to him to this very day.
In the political and social climate of today it is unfortunate that we do not have his voice.
I am truly saddened that he is not hear but I have the music and his writings.
Gil Scott Heron still lives!
I love you Gil! Rest in Power my brother.
Sorry that I misspelled here. Was a bit emotional 😭
I also adore him very much 😓
A poetic genius.
He was just incredible. I wish he was still here today as well. Way ahead of his time musically and poetically. And your words are profound "at a great personal cost". And he shared that cost with us. That's more than courageous. I wish I had seen him live. I'm confident you've heard it but one of my favorite songs is his cover of "I'll take care of you" from "I'm New Here" Pure emotion.
Y’all don’t know, I was there live and in person 😢
This man has carried me thru my teens, as a young man, as a father, as a grandfather, as a middle age man, and now approaching what society calls a senior(bullshit!). I love Gil! Have heard all his music, seen him live, but this trilogy, "The Other Side 1,2,3 is his greatest, cause he's bearing his soul and exposing his demons. All of us who love Gil, gets it 100.
riparkjr l always say to my son, that there is a saying " do as l say, not as l do". Gil couldn't conquer what was happening to him but that didn't diminish his message. In his pain he still gave us truth. What a tragedy the way he died but that's the way of marters. RIP GIL. I'm confident that he's in a better place than this fucked up world. As we're all inevitably destined to be.
Same here at 71, we miss Brother Gil....Age?
This is my sobriety song.
I love Gil - Old White Guy!
Good stuff !! On the other side !! R i P Gill !!
mama could change it (crack cocaine) daddy could fix it (heroin). goin home hellofva metaphor for getting high. went from addict to counselor at VA. been Gil fan since I was a young revolutionary 70's serving in the army. favorite artist of all time!!!
Not sure that's what he meant tbh....
Girl is just coke, (not crack cocaine).
your mind is so set on saying he is talking about drugs your misquoting...he said "momma could change it daddy could help me". I'm sure he is talking about his famous and probably Rich Dad the black arrow not freaking heroin...he is saying his parents could help alot but he can't get it.
Third he goes on to say "momma don't need to see me this way know me this way hold me this way" he not talking about crack cocaine... He is talking about the torn and probably strained relationship he has with his parents probaly caused from the drug addiction...
@@four4four636 I agree. I felt he was speaking about his parents.
Being a Gil fan for most of my life I'm well aware that Gils father was a famous Jamaican soccer player. Not only being a Gil Fan since the 60's Im also a recovering addict which I don't say proudly, girl is cocaine in any form. as boy is heroin. Home is a metaphor for shooting up as Gil's brilliantly uses the duality of the phrase, as in kick it quit cant go home" as home in one sense means "home" and in the other sense getting high "he repeats many times kick it quit it . anyone who as lived this life know exactly where he is coming from. you Mama could change it daddy could "fix it" have dual meanings brilliantly written. God Bless.
@@g.sanders5022 definately not talking about parents.. bless you
Love Gil. Been Listeniing since the 1970''s. I'm 71yrs old.Lost my son to addictions 2yrs ago.
Sorry for your loss Anna.
@@REVOLUTIONREVEALS Thank You.
I too am sorry for your loss, one of a parents worse nightmares losing a child. 😠
Sending much love and support to you. You are not alone, and some of us are still fighting the fight to free folks from the power of addictions.
From God we come to God we will Return. My condolences to you bout yo son.❤
Absolutely Love GIL SCOTT-HERON Teacher, Poet, Singer, Songwriter, Rapper, Musician & a GENIUS.... BLESS.... BIG RESPECT TO BROTHER GIL SCOTT-HERON MISS YOU TOO MUCH BROTHER... REST IN PARADISE BROTHER GIL, AS YOU WALK AND TALK WITH GOD IN PARADISE.... One Love, Rajesh Semrete Selassie Aggarwal FRSA
What an ARTIST. Jesus, I am so blessed to hear his words. He got me to the other side, we've all been through pain but raising up when everyone thought you couldn't do it. I am still here and I am the other side. Thank you Sir for helping me. My life is better for your lyrics. I went home, got better, now stronger than ever.❤❤❤❤
❤
I heard this version before the original 'home is where the hatred is' . This album 'Spirits' was the first album I ever heard by him. I cried. There is no other song about addiction better than this. He captured it in the original, but that was an early phase in the battle. As time limps by the addictions got stronger, and so did his desire to express this saga. He wanted to be understood. I think this song is for the only people he knew would understand it. Addicts, former addicts. Casual users can listen to the fucking radio. I can be found in a constant state of awe and wonder, while I listen to this... look up his daughter Gia Scott Heron. She is a fantastic poet and a beautiful person. RIP Gill.... the best damned writer we were lucky enough to love and apprectiate
You said beautiful things man -
Phoenix, one recovering addict to your great self everything is true. Casual people love to think they know what others go through but they don't even face their own problems.
Ex addicts were weak but their struggle was also their baptism of fire.
No other misery like addiction either. Doesn't end even when you're clean. People still judge you.
You still have your ghosts of the past or demons at your heels. It's ALWAYS a threat waiting to seduce you again.
Gil's words aren't preachy but simply a poet telling his human truth.
Thank you for your comment. It made a rough but rewarding week even worth it. Good luck my friend x
Indeed !! I did as well.
You've put it perfectly sir...an ex junkie 5 years clean...finally coming out of the cloud not just living, but realizing I'm lucky to be alive...but I could die next year right...he nailed it...and you nailed the commentary man...good job
Wow... ex addict, still addict, another soul here...and man, if you can indulge me, just another stranger that will never meet you in person making another comment out of blue midnight....forgive my grandiosity in capitals, when I say, MY FRIEND YOUR WORDS ARE PROFOUND...ONE TRIES TO READ, LEARN, EXPOSE, PRETEND HE'S SMART, KNOW HE'S INTELLIGENT...I've done em all, ain't nothing foreign to me...but mans your words are profound...you're comment on TH-cam is better than anything I ever heard, and everything I ever said...I mean...you're in the james Baldwin level here my friend...that's a literary stratosphere few reach....but I'll bet your greatest strength is your humility...humility and brilliance always converge...but you expressed something I feel, something I know and understand, but ain't ever heard said before....I'm quote you in my life, and I mean that, ...and you'll get this...I wont even steal your lines, too profound, I'll actually say I read this brilliant comment on TH-cam, and then paraphrase....had to tell you that....and now, goodbye forever....beautiful
I cry each time I hear this....Gil singing as a dope addict "Mama don't need to see me this way....touch me this way...know me this way....love me this way." Oh God.....
That's too heavy...too deep.
_Gil has always been deep.._
_But the "pain" I hear in this man is so much deeper.._
_God Bless You, they're listening now.._
Yes. We are listening, Gil.
Many layers, trying to hold on to his"spirit"...I'm losing...
please hold on, we need you..💕
And I thought “The Bottle” was deep! I don’t remember this so it’s new to me! So much pain😮
You never know what someone is going through or been through unless they tell you.
It reminds me of the Isley Brothers “Ohio” but on a different level of pain, not theirs but someone else’s. Gil is speaking about his own 😮😢
Masta Wordsmith , key to so many genere's . Professor of bluesoligy . Soul man . Blues man . One off . 🙏
Listening to this reminds me of Marvin Gaye's FLYING HIGH IN THE FRIENDLY SKIESI Always wished that Gil & Marvin did a track or two together. I remember when Marvin did Inner City Blues & then years later Gil did it & put his spin on it with his poetic flair. The Revolution is still live. Long live our brother in the struggle GIL SCOTT HERON!!!
Whenever back in the days when I was getting high,
I can't comment.The pain is undiscribable. I'm sure many of Gils followers feel the same we respect you guru.
Doesn't just apply to addiction. You can apply this song to any part of dealing with depression of any sort. It is uplifting. It is self empowering, if you let it. It is that power within, speaking out loud!
❤
U R right. I've been told I'm bipolar all my life. I've always said, OK now what? Gil music Helped me from age 17 till now. I'm 70 n still dealing. 😂❤❤❤
This song has gotten me through some tough times. Thank you Gil
I have wrote so many stories for books just listening to this one track. He is/was a true gift.
His soul's final message to us is the song, Spirits, and this is his siren song to himself. Never forget experiencing his live performance at the Jazz Café in London. I was in a line that went around the corner with folks from all over the world. These two dudes in front of me from Pakistan knew every song he ever recorded and took me to school about his published poetry. Love him
Look at the opioid epidemic going on right now
And only a few of us have been blessed to here these three songs
A true Prophet
RIP
GIL SCOTT HERON
Gil would have been really happy to know that ❤ Thanxo he loved performing at the jazz cafe
@@moniquedelatour3502 I saw him afterwards at the bar. The only time in my l life I was frozen in my tracks. Regret not going up to him to say so myself. Thank you for letting me know I could have.❤
@@Mamadramatrauma this Australian saw Gil at the Jazz Cafe in 2000? So glad I got to see him too :)
I love Gil so much. Have done since the first. But for all his gifts generosity knowledge funkiness I am saddened that his addictions made him cut out his prime music bro Brian from their rightful dues.
This man was deeply connected at another level. A spiritual musical messenger. This track is a masterpiece and the guitar solo just takes it beyond here.
All his songs have gotten me through my tough times.😢
Me too. Still do.from 17 to 70. Amazing ❤
Me too ❤
This man is beautiful, I'm white, late 50's and only ever really knew 'Revolution' & 'Whitey's on the Moon' until recently. What a mistake that was I never looked sooner, This Man has a voice, a vision, a charm & great songs, everyone should hear it and know it. The depth of his musical prescence is amazing, these were the days when you were defined by the 'genre' you listened to and he encompassed so many into his own style. He just made my world richer and bigger and heightened the colours I sense. 2020
A shame only 13,000 views. Some of the greatest nights of my life were watching Gil and his band. Like this song, his gigs were a non-stop roller coaster ride that would leave me buzzing for days afterwards. A genuine one off. He may have wasted a lot, but he gave the world so much.
+Geoff Dillon Listening to this I can imagine this band would have been awesome to see live. Everyone's great, including Gil.
I can hear you ... I was lucky to catch him and his band live on stage four times and the feeling during and after the shows was exactly how you are describing it.
IMO Gil wasted nothing. He gave...his all.
Geoff Dillon Gil Scott was one of the greatest poets that ever lived.... a lot of people new about Gil but never really sat down and listened to Gil... not listen to him all the time cuz he makes you think about this sad sad world we live in
Juan Senegal Sr. you're so right I'm getting reacquainted with this great man..Nobody like him ..If nobody around you understand's your soul, this man understands a whole lot.🎼💕 my soul knows...
I admit , blaming myself, that I'm listening for the first time, at 56, this masterpiece. Beauty, pure beauty.
I've been into Gil's music from a young kid. There is a lot of his songs and music is like a Prophecy as it seems He was far ahead of his own time. I Love this Brothers music forever. RIP MY BROTHER,"
As time goes on..in terms of purity, he may be the greatest artist ever
Yes he is!!
I was so blessed to see this man in concert (London) right before he died. Despite being a big fan of his, the first time I heard this song was when he sang it on stage, and it just completely blew me away.
Gil was a true gentleman, very humble, funny, entertaining…. And you could feel the love and warmth emanating from his spirit.
Blessed.
I hope this man is remembered as one of the founding fathers to all that is the best of the modern hip hop movement.
Sometimes sadly, only someone who is walking the walk can talk the talk! But we love you GSH! And are so grateful to you for Sharing your knowledge and wisdom ❤
So agreed. I remember the first time -as a young teenager -eating Chinese food for the first time; as it was not only the food that was such a delightful and delicious experience, and it open my mind to new and different ways of knowing. It prepared my mind for GSH. I feel you. WRH
I'm 25 years old. And the first song I ever heard from this guy was home is where the hatred is. man that song was deep and personal. I heard it while playing grand theft auto iv. man that song even had alot to do with the main character in the game. love his songs because there is no lying in his song. is pure, is real
Damn bro. This is so weird. Just today a few hours ago….
I’m 24 and my first full Gil song I heard was Home is Where the Hatred is. and I was playing 2k right before switching to gta5
And his artistry and humanity really resonated w me as well!
Peace brother, crazy how life works
that is an absolute Hall of Fame album the other side one two and three!Rip.
This is incredibly powerful music. A testament to the man's genius.
Yes....powerful!
Powerful!!!
Gil Scott Heron, is my musically inclined older Brother. I miss him dearly a great musician. Gil kept it real with the Truth with everything else going on in Life, keep seeking Truth, Walk in Truth at all costs. Shalom shalom.
This is as closest as someone can come to experiencing what it is like to be a drug addict without actually being one. Most powerful piece of music I have ever heard. Thank you so much for posting
So very true.
"Most powerful piece of music I've ever heard...." Precisely!
never meet you in person making another comment out of blue midnight....forgive my grandiosity in capitals, when I say, MY FRIEND YOUR WORDS ARE PROFOUND...ONE TRIES TO READ, LEARN, EXPOSE, PRETEND HE'S SMART, KNOW HE'S INTELLIGENT...I've done em all, ain't nothing foreign to me...but mans your words are profound...you're comment on TH-cam is better than anything I ever heard, and everything I ever said...I mean...you're in the james Baldwin level here my friend...that's a literary stratosphere few reach....but I'll bet your greatest strength is your humility...humility and brilliance always converge...but you expressed something I feel, something I know and understand, but ain't ever heard said before....I'm quote you in my life, and I mean that, ...and you'll get this...I wont even steal your lines, too profound, I'll actually say I read this brilliant comment on TH-cam, and then paraphrase....had to tell you that....and now, goodbye forever....beautiful
Musical dope
Harlem Renaissance had to be there....and then they brought the hard drugs in to squash it All!!!! Safe neighborhoods artists,jazz, all gone just like that
After all this time it’s great to see the love for Gil. I grew up with him. He was like no other.
Amen
This Is So Deep And Spiritual, Emotional
Yesss, I have tears flooding my face..brilliant yet got caught up and wasn't able too quit it😪😥
It surely is!!
Since high school 74 I listened to his entire collection thanks to my brother home from Vietnam .💚
& Missing both. Yes it was really nice to still have Gil in my heart.
THIS DUDE WAS THE REAL DEAL.YOU MAY CERTAINLY DISAGREE WITH ME ON THIS,BUT OUR MUSIC AND YES I MEAN OUR BLACK MUSIC HAS LOST IT'S BLACKNESS AND IT'S SOUL.AT NEARLY 60 NOW,I AM QUALIFIED TO SAY THAT.R,I,P. BROTHER GIL.
Sometimes I feel like I’m just wasting time
Looking for another side
Sometime I feel like I’m losing my mind ‘cause there ain’t
No other side
Sometimes I’m just spinning my wheels, ain’t no big deal
Morning, there’s another side
Sometimes I feel like I’m just standing in place, ain’t no real race
Ain’t no other side
Life is like a circle and you end up where you started
If you end up where you started ain’t no other side
Yeah, but if life is like a curtain that I’m 90% certain that I’m looking through at something
Yes, I’m almost touching something on the other side
Yeah, the opposite of new is old
The opposite of young is old
Seems like everything has got another side
Yeah, but young ones want to be old ones
Old ones know what they would do if they was young ones
People ain’t never really satisfied
People ain’t never satisfied
If life is like a mirror then the nearer you get clearer
You can see it so much clearer
Feel like you know about the other side
My friends all swear that they know
What I should do with my life
How I should run my life
What should be happening with my life
They’re on the other side
They’re on the outside
I’m on the inside
Things always look so much better on the other side
Four O’clock in the morning
They don’t know
All the things I been needing
They don’t know
Breaking out in a sweat
And they don’t know
Feeling down
And they don’t know
They don’t know the other side
I need to go home
Momma could change it
Daddy could help me
Yes, I could go home
Yeah, Momma don’t need to see me this way
Know me this way
Touch me this way
Love me this way
Find me this way
I can’t go home
I’m saying
I don’t want to call him
I don’t want to know him
I don’t want to need him
I don’t want to feel it
I don’t want to know
But I know, know know
Hey, home
So I say tomorrow
Tomorrow [repeat]
I’m going home
Tomorrow ain’t coming
Tomorrow will always where it was
Tomorrow [repeat]
I need to go home
Maybe I could start all over at home
Without the whispers
Hanging on me
Pulling on me, rolling with me
Pulling on me
Yes, I’d like to go home
Without the whispers
Thank you.
There are truly no words for what Gil Scott has done for my life. He is one of the reasons I found and excel at my passion-writing. His Opus Magnum album Spirits is one of the most incredible self defining and genre defining pieces of art in the African American Music library...Definitive, hands down representative pieces such as this and the soul scorching spirits abound taking the listener on a tour de Godforce through the souls of those of us who came from those descendants of the most incredible Black and Creative Black Spiritualists the world has ever known. To know the God Father of Black Musicology's music, to truly hear and feel his music is to know the frequency of the Diaspora itself. Tears of joy and pain floating round and off the the head... Contemplating the one and only Good Bruva Gil one can not help but understand that God will only let the star of the heavens hover but so long before our sight. His epiphanius Spirits was no other than a living being he birthed and left with us which will glow with our children and theirs and the children of their children who come to learn what it is to be themselves...to learn where they come from and who they people is...Gil left Spirits, and truthfully all of his work, as a beacon upon our journey of self discovery through what he would most assuredly call this beast. We need only point the way as he did....home.
Kick it... quit it...home.
Gil always broke down the true feelings of the condition of addiction from 'The Bottle', 'Angel Dust', and 'The Other Side Parts 1-3'. I'm extremely grateful I made it back from The Other Side❤💚🖤💯
Thank you ANT1.
"Home is where the needle marks try to mend my broken heart."
My man, this is the most intensely feeling kick-ass ballzy intonation on this *disease* of addiction I've ever heard. Tears rolling down my cheeks. Who is that on guitar, Carlos Santana?? Dude, Gil Scott Heron, you are my hero, I love you.
When I 1st heard this (1995ish), I thought that guitar sounded very Santana-esque. And yeah, Gil is my hero too....my hero, friend, mentor, brother, inspiration... Peace out.
The guitarist was Ed Brady.
Thanks callmephlip.... and you too Ed Brady.
yes, Santana guitar style ;-)
Had to be Ed Brady, Gil's guitarist on recordings. Ed Brady is one of the many underrated guitarists I've ever heard. So is the bassist, Mr. Robert Gordon.
"Mama don't need to see me this way. Love me his way. Know me this way. Touch me this way. Can't go home."
That was deep!
This came from the spirit that knew that the other side was near...we will all know when that time comes .. He speaks of dignity in dieing, didn't want to be a burden on his momma..
Very emotional. I cried. He was crying out to us. I have so much love and respect for brother Gil. He was the greatest.
If only he had known the feeling a mother feels when her child is suffering....
I grew up listening to old school Gil, but when I first found this album I played this set end to end for 2 days solid.
I've never even touched drugs yet somehow I feel I understand everything this puts across, as weird as that sounds..the yearning for something 'more', the first rush of the high and the blissful delusions and denial, interspersed with brief moments of biting lucidity coupled with the realization that things aren't as they should be, all mixed up with the rejection by the people around you who can't/don't know how to deal with it, you not knowing where to turn, all the time slowly being consumed by the addiction in a self perpetuating cycle.
Hang onto your Rosary beads
Close your Eyes
And Watch me Die
Gil, the world is a worse place without you. In your own way you were a visionary and a giant among men, you may not have realized it but your written and spoken word of your own struggles will touch many other people for generations to come. R.I.P.
All of what you said.. so true & very well put. So true......
thank you Richard, met the man twice, also know his son has trouble dealing with a dad with addiction. If only we could all get along, the man was human though!
+Graham “'G'” Wardrope word
JagManBruce _84 o
Music is supposed to make you feel and think. Gil was the master of reaching the deep things inside of us. He was one of the best who never sold his soul for the dollar and he will be miss. Truth was his master that he obeyed until his death, good or bad. Thank you gil
Never smoked more than a Joint...but Brother Gil, allows me to imagine the pain of a dope addict!!! a fan since, I saw that Black boy over there. GSH powerful
Tremendous Guitar from 07:48 - 10:28 - that's 3 mins & 40 seconds of raw inspiration - discovered Gil in Birmingham in 84 & started with Moving Target & the World & then moved out from there, eventually saw him in concert in Manhattan in 88 - still listening in awe in 2023 - its fresh, raw, eternal and nourishing to the soul - now he's home
Hey Meditation London, 3 mins 40 🤔 ? Literally hold on a minute now, ok.... The outstanding guitar is 4 mins & 40 secs long, from 7:48 to 11.28 😂 (like it matters)... Saw him @ Victoria Park, London, June 1985, blissful hot early summer's Saturday, with John Martyn also on the bill. Immeduately bought a GHS best of on audio cassette. Was another 5 yrs b4 I began to appreciate John Martyn...
I was blessed to hear Gill live with The Amnesia Express in Nottingham England at the Marcus Harvey Centre in the mid nineties. It was a Sunday evening and a few of my House music buddies were there, still 'up' from Saturday. It was utterly magical. Gil was a true poet and an inspiration for many a young black artist... rappers and musicians alike... for me his lyrics and poetry were reminders that human beings need each other and will continue to need each other in these dark oppressive times... the power of unity and the celebration of life in music. Sounds cheesy, but sometimes when the world is truly insane, the chance hearing of a tune on a late-night station when you are a million miles from home can turn around the darkest nights as you wait for a brand new day...
I doubt you will see this 6 years after your post, but your words are even more true now. We really need him.
The pathos that Gil expresses in this long version of "Home Is Where the Hatred is" "breaks my heart. I loved him and I knew he was sick, but of course, all I could do was pray. Being sick and alone made him more depressed, I know, plus being addicted. I wish I could have told him that the things he created and did where so important and lasting. He was our political voice in music . RIP , Souljah !
He revisited The Other Side once more in his final years with just voice and piano it is on this posthumous album : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_New_(Gil_Scott-Heron_album)
I had got this for my 21st birthday and me and my dad played this until I memorized the whole c.d.
Lucky you. That must've been an amazing experience. Mos' propers to ya...& your father....and, Gil.
Kendra Brevard
_We're losing all our "Brilliant".._
_Can't seem to find the "light" anymore.._
This live track off the brilliant album "Spirits" shows just how great a band the Amenisia Express was- coming after the Midnight Band. When GSH recorded the original version of "Home Is Where The Hatered Is" on his 2nd classic album, he sung it as an observer of watching some of the everyday struggles in Harlem USA. This version comes after that decade of the Reagan 80s where things started to go left for this griot. The great Pee Wee Ellis told the story of Esther Phillips after she first heard the song back in 71(which she could relate to the lyrics since her early teens...) betting him that the writer of that great piece of music has got to be an addict to describe everything so vividly. Pee Wee took the bet & told her no he's just a young poet/musician and he would introduce her to him right now. So off to the basketball court he took Esther as GSH was playing in a pickup game. Upon Ms. Phillips viewing up & down the tall/healthy looking young man, she turned to Pee Wee and said: "Shit, I lose". GSH was a all around great songwriter/vocalist who was singing about Apartheid, Nuclear waste, etc.......YEARS before anyone caught up. His still underrated lyrical range was on constant display as well on great gems like "A Very Precious Time" , "I Think I'll Give Her A Call", "When You Are Who You Are", etc...........The music as always lives on & casual music listeners would do themselves a great service by treating their ears to GSH's 13 albums from 1970-2010. RIP GSH.
The closest you would ever know about being addicted , without ever being addicted.There always the The Other Side to every thing in life.
....someone said here on TH-cam, thanking Gil for his amazing contributions said"...I stand on your shoulders..." he remarked. I, for one, do not. I don't deserve to. I've done nothing that entitles me to.. Instead, I stand in your shadow Gil.... In awe.
This is one of my all time favor group of songs that Gil recorded . I really hate to say favored because their are so so many of them that I love . So i'm going to say R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron, I'M just gooing to keep on listening to all of your songs , just like I have been doing before and after you past. I know the last time I seen you was at Blue's Alley in Washington. D.C. and it was great as all you shows were. R.I.P. my brother rest .
GREAT choice!!!! Saw him at Blues Alley Twice, and they did this exactly in this form. It was just as good as this- all the instruments. Amazing
This isn't a song- it's a treatise
One of America’s greatest and feared poets taken from us by forces many of us can’t and will never understand. But you’re still with us Gil, never to be forgotten.
you are still missed and loved , we need you now! you left us too soon I hope you found the life you were looking for . your Spirit is still here with us .see next time .you were the Greatest .
The message to the world is.........
Addiction is a life long demon
God is love ........, hold on!
Thank you, Gil Scott-Heron, for all the music and ideas. What a legacy. We'll keep you up there. There's a long way to go yet and we still need your wisdom ...
Truly unsung
Love this guy and the message he tried to bring to the people!!! We need it more than evre! RIP Gil!! Sad that most of the people have forgotten that music is an instrument of revolution and can bring a message to the people...now its just "driving my benz, spending my money on hoes" type of BS!!! Wake up, people!!! I'm a 53 year old white guy who grew up loving R&B, Blues, Jazz, Hip-Hop(not today's) and any music with a message! Gil was much too complex, intelligent and talented to put his music into any genre...just good SHIT!!!!
I love you Gil. I have a few heroes and Gils at the top. Heard him at the jazz Cafe every time he came to London. Miss him so much. All the greats are gone. Richie, Terrry and John. RIP
the piano by kim jordan was put in after the live performance. Ed brady was live on guitar rest in peace my brother I miss you so much, you were amazing on this track, Brian Jackson amazing, also RIP Gil my sweetheart, miss you as always, RIP don mcgriggs, When gil performed this song on his Australian tour '95 promoting spirits album, he cried and tried not to when he sang this (melbourne) . This song should be mandatory in rehab/prisons/middle + high schools.
Great points!
If you knew where he was in his life when he recorded this you would understand ' he was pleading for help' ( previous contributors have alluded to this ) I had a 250 mile drive home one night last year and listening to this( as I had many times before but ) as I drove home this time I REALLY heard and felt his pain. A man that had brought me so much happiness in the past. Friends and family know me for the love of this man.I am proud of that.
Not sure where to begin except at the bottom line : I have always loved Gil Scott; both from a far as a fan of his and up close when I not just saw him in a very intimate venue but met him and talked with him at length like two brothers talkin’ like old friends catching up.
I had featured his music on my WYBC radio shows and in my writings. His metaphors and insights profound: “winter in America; “ the revolution will not be televised, it will be live; the bottle; and so many more.
Originally I was part of a few Blacks at Yale ( when we were so few we all knew one another) who came together and changed Yale and grew through the struggles and the joy ( as Frankie Beverly and MAZE called li - life and love “Joy and Pain…like Sunshine and Rain) and was back on the Yale campus what felt like a life time later and there at TOAD’s Place - South Africa’s LadySmith Black Mbazo ( who has traveled with Paul Simon who had introduced them to the world and simultaneously revived his career) and Gil Scott.
I was pleasantly shocked to see this - and yet gratified that this was a part of our unspoken legacy when we brought Nina Simone, BB King, Donny Hathaway (concerts I emceed ) including Sly and the Family Stone, and so many others.
Yet I also felt that the audience on this particular night did not fully realize and appreciate who LadySmith and Gil Scott were.
Another sad commentary that we often overlook the great ones among us - until they no longer are.
We move through life seeing through the rear view mirror missing what is around us in the present and before and in front of us - except when some events or remarkable people we admire or finally hear: look not at just where you have been - look where you are now and where you are going.
Keep your eyes on the (prize) road - which is the journey of your life even if the road is sometimes bumpy.
As two wise ones put it: “ we will not cease in our explorations, as we come to that place where we began and see it (know it) for the first time. TS Elliot- The Four Quartets. “ The Moving hand (finger) writes and having Writ moves on, and neither all your piety nor all your writ, shall lure it back to change a single line, or a word of it”. The Rubuyat of Omar Khyyam. And if a man (person has any greatness in him, it comes not to light in just one flamboyant hour, but is to be found in the daily ledger of his life.” Beryl Markam West with the Night.
I quote from memory these gems from my ‘road less traveled.
And in the wee wee hours of the this morni I am here typing with my thumbs this no doubt grammatically flawed stream of consciousness triggered by Gil Scott
As Nina Simone so eloquently put it: Nuff Said!
A seasoned traveler comes to know that every road has bumps ( which can become lessons or baggage) o
I only understood my mother’s and uncle’s addiction 😢after listening to this song it goes on a roller coaster of emotion from the addicts perspective not just the outside looking in .. rest in peace King
In the 70's my uncle would just let it play on the record player over and over again ALL his albums
Now I understand I'm 60...
One of America's greatest poets, living or dead.
A world poet, a black poet, a people's poet, but an American poet, I know by birth he was American, but in life America did it's best to stifle and discourage and derail Gil in his process. America largely didn't accept him in life so it would be unfair for it to claim him in death. His being American is a footnote. But def one of the greatest Richard.
D'Accord
Thank you so much for sharing. When you feel the soul of another reach into yours and wrench your heart.....
The Man. The Poet of our times. Jah bless,
Been listening to this urban troubadour, ever since he first burst onto the music scene back in the early 70s. Gil's message is indelibly etched on the socio-political conscience of an otherwise unconscientious America. Although his physical presence among us ceased prematurely, the spirituality of his music, spoken verse, and scripting of an Afro-Centric cultural awareness for everyone to embrace, will define his life and his body of work for generations to come. Rest in peace my brother...the drums still beat.🪘🪘
OG of the spoken word, blues and rap.
I have Gil's rhymes, metaphors, & concepts.
But this man's voice, keys, n just flat out musical aptitude. Elite level. Love this man.
I never been on drugs but after listening to his words and him going so deep with this, I see how I'm out the outside looking in... in the other side and trying them to kick it and quit it... it's a lot tougher than that. kinda like someone trying to tell u to leave someone u love.
first heard Gil in the mid 70's; my small mind said that ' he's telling what's going on in the big cities' ...
now I realize that he was talking to us folks in these small southern towns as well, like the one I grew up in, here in south Florida. SInce then, I try to see through the fog of ignorance...
I Loved Gil! I met him once. Wonderful Poet.
So glad this is available on TH-cam. Wish I could find my cd.
Continue to work for peace new ones unemployed. work for peace 🙏🏿🙏🏿💯 1:32
Wow, I've been a fan since Gil made LPs and Singles, but I've never heard this back to back like this. Thank you... a gem on the internet.
Perfectly describes manic depression for me...
And it still does…😢
Been listening to this song since 95. It still hits like a lightning bolt. God bless you Gil.
I lived this song for many years. I was fortunate enough to "quit it" with the help of a Higher Power.
You hear his pain in this suite; and I cry that he never was able to quit it..
RIP Gil.
There is no other side
Superior upload REVOLUTION REVEALS ......well done
This is musical theatre.....x
....and beyond.
I ain't tears in a long long time. Thanks for this post.
.. i struggle with adjectives.. a rare occurrence for me.. always in my thoughts.. Pieces of a Man... One of the most remarkable things ever...❤✌️
Gil Scott Heron..your vision, poetry, Genius is sorely missed 😢
Love this man.R.I.P to a true legend and icon of real soul revoultion music.Peace#25
One of cherished one, too bad somebody stole my vinyl record.
Gill Scott Herron Lives!
I’ve loved this beautiful Man since 1979.
Mama don't need to see me this way, touch me this way, know me this way, love me this way......
We lost a great one when he passed... wished I knew about him before he passed.
I managed to see him a few times, you should watch his live performances, he was a great person to be in the presence off!
Wish I could've saw him perform this song live in concert.
Saw him 3 times live J, was great with a crowd, made you feel like he was there to see you!
These are the wisest words he ever gave to us, which means they're amongst the wisest words ever spoken or written. So important yet so largely unknown, consider yourself truly blessed if you know about and dig this.
Gil Scott before rap , the group that put him on the map the last poets. I have been in that pain for thirty plus years. I finally made the decision to move. Chance people places and things . Now I have peace of mind, the important relationship the my creator the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the the blood of the Lord Jesus the saved a total reck that could not get it right. Thank God for his Grace and Mercy and unconditional love that he continues to bestow on me. To God be the Glory. Gil May you rest in peace , and I believe you are up there in the presence of God praising him.
Man’s a Legend. A poet. Observer of the Dark side. 110th Street Bobby Womack
Can't question the genius that was Gil, RIP brother man.
Heard somebody the other day talking about ain't it too bad, ain't it a shame, how sad. They was talking about Gil. But they were blind, double-blind...deaf and dumb to boot.
They was talking but never heard. They were in the room but were preoccupied, distracted by the beeping, chirping, and vibration of all manner of device. They may well perhaps one day come to understand that Gil was not a tragic figure. No would-be, wannabe, or has-been. He -Gil- is not to be mourned, pitied or shrouded in sorrow. He was not a broken piece of a man. His struggles, from whenever he came, what he overcame. But for his life, perhaps 3 generations present and myriad going forward have a voice, have understood and stood up and spoken out and now, in 2023 we even more deeply understand that W.E.B, Langston, Thurgood, MLĶ,
Malcolm, Last Poets. The Black Arts Movement, the Panthers and untold and unsung others are embodied in the poetry and music of GSH.
So when I heard someone talking about "ain't it a shame that he went out that way" It invoked "Vildgolia." (I'm not sure, but I think it was on his Bridges album.)
I had the opportunity to see him a couple of times at Umass/Amherst.
A master at his craft.....
When I first got clean 20 years ago I was really struggling and I heard Home Again and it was everything I needed. Here was a man who could put my life into words and I fell in love. I stayed clean and when I saw him perform at SOB’s in NYC it broke my heart to see him still sick and suffering. At least he’s in peace now.
I think I was at that same SOBs gig. He hadn’t long come out of prison. Sang quite well but not at his best.
Thank you Gil I love everything you did for my soul, my spirit now I know what my big brother was fighting with I can tell you without you making it so clear its no way I could have ever understand the things that he was trying to overcome Big Terry RIP and Big Gil RIP they dont make them like you or your music it is really music for the soul. I am sorry you came here before your time but your visit was well worth it.
He was ahead of his time, so powerful in his time and until the end. He called the Revolution years ago to the point that the government was startled. wait 4 it! RIP
RIP BROTHER GIL YOUR STILL REAVEALANT TODAY