Original subtitles

- Oh, thank you very much.

Needed that.

♪ What's that music

♪ That's playin' on the radio?

♪ Say what's that music?

♪ I hear it everywhere I go

♪ I don't think I've ever seen

♪ Another music that could make me feel

♪ Like that music

♪ Playin' in my heart

♪ Time to time the darkness come along

♪ To terrorize the weak and challenge the strong

♪ Storm is coming, it grows on the waves

♪ From Johannesburg to Montego Bay

♪ What's that music

♪ Playin' on the radio?

♪ What's that music?

♪ I hear it and I got to know

♪ And I don't think I've ever heard

♪ A sweeter feelin' in the whole wide world

♪ Than that music

♪ Playin' in my heart

♪ And justice is comin' on the wings of the storm

♪ We resist in the present

♪ For those yet unborn

♪ Freedom is spreading it's wings like a bird

♪ The message it carries has got to be heard

♪ What's that music

♪ Playin' on the radio?

♪ Hey, what's that music

♪ Playin' everywhere I go?

♪ I don't think I've ever heard

♪ A sweeter feelin' in the whole wide world

♪ Than that music

♪ Playin' in my heart

- Two.

- Yeah, I forget what Washington

did on the Potomac, this is the Potomac, God.

Black folks will sometimes refer to that

as the Poto-mac.

This is, this is the Potomac.

Saw a duck floatin' out there a little while ago,

somebody said, yeah, when Reagan is in charge

we're all ducks.

Dead ducks, you dig it?

♪ Symbols of democracy

♪ Are pinned against the coast

♪ Outhouse of bureaucracy surrounded by a moat

♪ Citizens of poverty are barely out of sight

♪ The overlords escape in the evening

♪ The brothers on the night

♪ Morning comes and brings the tourists

♪ Straining rubber necks

♪ To catch a glimpse of the cowboy makin' the world

♪ A nervous wreck

♪ It's a mass of irony for all the world to see

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C.

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's the nation's capital

♪ it's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C.

♪ Mm-hmm

- If I had to define myself, and people often ask me,

you know, what it is that I do,

I would have to say that I am a blues-ologist.

And this is a scientist's concern

with the origins of the blues.

Like, you know it's a science 'cause you see the "ology"

on the end of it.

This just makes everything scientific.

The way that I got my background,

and the things that make me qualified for this

is that first of all, I was born in Chicago.

Right on.

And before I moved to D.C., I've been living in D.C. now

for about 10 years, but before I moved to D.C.

I was certain that the only way

you could get a head start on everybody else

in terms of the blues was to be born in Chicago.

'Cause like we went through Chicago about 6 weeks ago,

they said it was two degrees and they were lookin' for them.

So there's definitely,

definitely the blues in Chicago.

When I was eight months old, I escaped,

bag and baggage, to a town called Jackson, Tennessee.

And Jackson, Tennessee, for those who do not know,

is located about 85 miles east of Memphis.

I was also about 50 miles north of Mississippi.

There was nothin' we could do about that.

We thought about movin' to town.

'Cause they see, when I was growin' up

they used to have this old joke, says,

what has four eyes and will never see?

And the answer was always "Mississippi."

Most folks felt that Mississippi was the home of the blues,

and when I was being raised down there,

the people that we listened to on the radio,

like the folks we listened to, popular people now,

were the blues-icians.

John Lee Hooker, Earl Hooker, Jimmy Reed,

Jimmy Witherspoon, Lightening Hopkins, B.B. King,

these were the people everybody kept up with,

and the blues was the music of the day.

When I was 13, I moved to New York City.

And I walked around for about six months like...

I couldn't believe New York City,

but they was zippin' every which way simultaneously.

Somebody told me the other night, if you gave

people from New York some speed,

they would all go into a nod.

You know, couldn't make it,

too low-key for them.

I mean, I still feel the same way, I just learned

to keep my mouth closed.

It still amazed the hell out of me.

You know, but when you move somewhere,

the first thing that you try to do

is get in touch with the music, you know,

find out where the music is

you're gonna be groovin' on, so,

I set the radio on, turned it all the way down to the right,

over there where they keep the black people's music.

That's just a coincidence.

Everywhere you go, we be over in this corner here.

You know, somewhere north of 13th, you'll find...

You know, turn over there.

And I couldn't find no black music.

I could not find the blues,

I was wondering what the hell was goin' on.

I said, well you know, I come from Jackson, Tennessee,

and this is New York, maybe I need

a longer radio.

Turn, B.B. King is right over there, right on

the other side of 16.

So I went out into the street,

and I run into one of the brothers on the avenue,

I said brother, look here, what's happening,

where can I find the blues?

He said, well hell, you don't have to do nothin',

just stand here.

New York City.

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to find the blues.

It'll find you.

Did a poem called "Painted Black,"

'cause people used to ask me what the difference was

between Jackson, Tennessee and New York City,

and I'd say about five, 600 miles.

Truth was, it went a whole lot deeper than that.

And the description of the poem was something like this,

Picture a man of nearly 30, who appears twice as old

with clothes torn and dirty.

Give him a job shining shoes

or cleaning out toilets with bus station crews.

Give him six children with nothing to eat,

and expose him to life on the ghetto street.

Tie a little rag around his wife's head

and have her pregnant, lying in bed.

Stuff all eight of these people in a D.C. house

and then tell them how bad things are down south.

That was "Painted Black."

- Hi.

Got a rhythm comin' through here, y'all comin' here

it's like,

♪ Them brother livin' in a cell

♪ Doin' time at the county jail

♪ Now you might think your life is hell

♪ But he told me

♪ That's the first room he ever had to himself

♪ Stop and think about it, say

♪ Waiting for the ax to fall

♪ And sometimes, Lord, I think that's all

♪ So when your head is in the noose

♪ And won't nobody turn you loose

♪ You're waiting for the ax to fall

♪ What I said

♪ Brother served in Vietnam

♪ And found out no on gives a damn

♪ Agent Orange fell on his camp

♪ Brother George was taken

♪ Got a brother lookin' for Uncle Sam

♪ And saluting them you're

♪ Waiting for the ax to fall

♪ And sometimes, Lord, I think that's all

♪ 'Cause when your head is on the block

♪ And ain't no way for you to stop

♪ You're waiting for the ax to fall

♪ Sister on the welfare line

♪ Was examining the threads of her life

♪ She never thought she'd be cheatin' and lyin'

♪ To make sure her and her kids survive

♪ She'd do anything

♪ Waiting for the ax to fall

♪ And sometimes, Lord, I think that's all

♪ Said when your head is in a noose

♪ And won't nobody turn you loose

♪ You're waiting for the ax to fall

♪ Nay, one more, say

♪ Last night grandma sure got shook

♪ 'Cause someone grabbed her pocketbook

♪ She feel like

♪ She ain't safe in the neighborhood

♪ 'Cause too many young'ns up to no good

♪ They sick and tired

♪ Of waiting for the ax to fall

♪ And sometimes, Lord, I think that's all

♪ Said when your head is in the noose

♪ And won't nobody turn you loose

♪ You're waiting for the ax to fall

♪ Seem like we're waiting

♪ Standin' round and waiting

♪ Worried but we're waiting

♪ No bad down the way

♪ Seem like we're waiting

♪ Seem like we're waiting

♪ Seem like we're waiting

♪ And waiting, and waiting, and waiting

♪ Waiting for the ax to fall

♪ And sometimes, Lord, I think that's all

♪ Said when your head is on the block

♪ Ain't no way for it to stop

♪ You're waiting for the ax to fall

♪ It seem like we're waiting

♪ Standing round and waiting

♪ Nervous, but we're waiting

♪ No bad time for the waiting

♪ Seem like we're waiting

♪ Seem like we're waiting

♪ Seem like we, seem like it, seem like it,

♪ Seem like it

♪ Oh, we're waiting for the ax to fall

♪ And sometimes, Lord I think that's all

♪ Said when your head is in the noose

♪ And won't nobody turn you loose

♪ You're waiting for the ax to fall ♪

- Thank you very much.

Waiting for the ax to fall.

♪ May not have the glitter or the glamour of L.A.

♪ It may not have the history or the intrigue of Bombay

♪ But when it comes to makin' music

♪ And sure enough makin' news

♪ People who just don't make sense

♪ And people makin' do

♪ Seems a mass of contradiction

♪ Pulling different ways

♪ Between the folks have come and go

♪ And the one's who've got to stay

♪ It's a mass of irony for all the world to see

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C.

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C. ♪

- So I wanted to contribute myself.

I was writing down and puttin' all the categories together,

I ain't got no money, I ain't got no job blues,

I ain't got no woman blues, then I said wait a minute,

see I don't want to waste no categories.

The "I ain't got no money" blues,

the "I ain't got no job" blues,

the "I ain't got no woman" blues,

hell, them the same thing.

'Cause if I could get me a job,

I could make me some money, I could call me a lady.

I'd be doin' a whole bunch better.

So I put them all in the same category.

But I wrote other pieces of blues,

blues information.

Because what had happened was that

I had found out later on, unfortunately,

in my education about people like Langston Hughes.

About people like Sterling Brown.

About people like Countee Cullen and Gene Tuma

and Claude McKay.

And these people had taken the blues

as a poetry form back in the '20s and the '10s

during the Harlem Renaissance,

and they had fine-tuned the blues.

They sanded it down so it became

a remarkable sort of art form.

But what happened is that in many instances

we didn't learn about them.

We learned about the kind of poetry

that nobody can understand,

like on 17th street and ninth avenue

when I was a teenager, man we didn't want

to hear nothing about poetry.

Somebody say something about poetry,

we say, oh yeah, where's he at?

We don't know him.

'Cause we into shootin' the jumper.

And that was damn near all.

So in the ninth grade, like a teacher

sneaked up on up us and put these

pieces of paper on the table, told everybody

to read 'em, and then tell her what we though about it.

So I said, well it's all right.

Said, I'll try it.

I looked at the poem, poem said,

"What now outside the wall I see,

"shadow of an image me."

I said, God damn, I'm gonna read this again.

"What now outside the walls..."

And at the back of the room somebody say,

hey, this must be deep.

You know, like this must be deep.

It's like a drape that we throw over everything.

Like what "this must be deep" means,

like I recognize all of these words individually...

But damn if I can get anything

out of the order in which they currently appear.

This must be deep.

I mean, 'cause you think it must be deep,

it's in this book, you say well why the hell

would they put it in this book if it didn't mean nothin'?

'Cause on them, if you read that and it don't

mean nothin' to you, you say, hey, this must be nonsense.

But you don't wanna say that

with the teacher standing right next to you.

Say, why you give me this?

You know?

So you say, hey, this must be deep.

And what happens is that when a lot of folks

get ready to write poetry, that's what they decide

they gonna be, deep.

They decide they gonna be poetic.

So they come up to me, people come up to me sometimes,

say hey, read my poem.

I read it.

"What now outside the wall I see."

And all I can say to them is hey, this must be deep.

Because like being influenced

by the kind of poetry that we were all

introduced to, people feel as though

the way to be poetic is to make sure

that there's certain little parts

that can't nobody understand.

Why would you need a poet to make things

more complex?

Two winos can make things more complex.

One of 'em say to the other one,

well, is...

And the other one look at him right serious and say,

Yeah.

And they communicated, you see?

If communication is what it's all about.

As far as most people sittin' around watching it,

it could have been two poets talkin' to one another.

They didn't have a clue.

So the idea became not only to use ideas

that were familiar to people in the community,

but to use the language that everybody could understand.

Course this poetry was always put down

as street poetry, because, of course, that's where

the people were.

People were on the street, and those are the people

that you wanna communicate with.

Then an idea one time about how often

it is that folks brother and sister one another,

and how rare it is that something actually comes

out of that that people can grasp onto.

Did a poem about the fact that oftentimes

the people who were doin' the most talkin'

in the conversations that you run into

around this neighborhood, should be the ones

doin' the most listenin'.

Poem I did was called "Billy Green is Dead."

The economy's in an uproar,

the whole damn country's in the red.

The tax affairs is goin' up, what?

You say Billy Green is dead?

The government can't decide on bussin',

or at least that's what they said,

yeah I heard you when you told me,

you said that Billy Green was dead,

but let me tell you about these hot pants

that this beg-legged sister wore when I was partying

the other night,

what you say, Billy took an overdose?

Well now, junkies will be junkies,

but did you see Gunsmoke last night?

Man they had themselves a shootout

and folks was dyin' left and right.

At the end when Matt was cornered I had damn

near give up hope.

Why you keep on interrupting me?

You say my son is taking dope?

Well then call the law and call the doctor,

what you mean I shouldn't scream?

My only son is on narcotics,

should I stand here like I'm pleased?

Is that familiar to anybody?

Check out what's inside your head.

You see, it never seems to matter

when it's Billy Green who's dead.

We'd like to include y'all in on a party if we could.

Brother Robert Gordon, who is our secretary of entertainment

has been responsible for the vibe-mosphere.

That's a combination of the vibrations

and the atmosphere, you see,

that permeates everything.

Truth is that sometimes the rhythm needs

to establish the party,

and we do have parties from time to time.

In case there are those of you who did not

receive your invitation,

it would've read something like this.

♪ Well the rhymin' G

♪ Is the man to see

♪ Mother, RSVP, wanna party, party, party

♪ The rhymin' G is the man to see

♪ Mother, RSVP

♪ Wanna party, party, party

See, we wanna have the kind of parties

where everybody can BYOT,

you know "bring your own thang."

And we don't like to place too many restrictions on folks

but we do like to say you got to be, well,

a skull and crossbones.

You see the skull and crossbones

can sneak up on you sometimes.

You at the party laying back, being cool as you like to do

most of the time,

and all of a sudden there's a hint

of a scent of mint

movin' through the air.

And skull and crossbones.

You see the only thing that we have against

skull and crossbones, really,

is street corner chemistry.

Street corner chemists are most responsible

for amnesia.

When they put that shit together,

they can't remember what's supposed to be

a little bit of this, and a little bit of this,

and a lot of that.

Or was that

a lot...

♪ The rhymin' G is the man to see

♪ Mother, RSVP, wanna party

♪ The new AD

You got to read the fine print

on the invitation, it goes something like this.

♪ The rhymin' G is the man to see

♪ Got to RSVP, wanna party, but no AD ♪

Cause AD is what we remember as skull and crossbones.

Used to be BC and AD,

that was the way folks described the world.

BC was Before Christ

and AD was After the Death,

but AD has gone through changes.

Now skull and crossbones removes you

of trying to unlock doors that you thought

were somewhere behind you.

Trying to climb stairs that just seem to

go up and up and up

and up...

Might have to bring you a description that reads

something like this

which reminds you that you...

♪ Cracks in the sidewalk seem to expand

♪ I can't get a walk

♪ It must be dust

♪ Flowers on the wallpaper chain

♪ The size and color, brother

♪ It must be dust

♪ I got my back against the wall

♪ I know there's no one there at all

♪ But I'm lookin', dust

♪ Can't remember

♪ Conversation between me and me

♪ And me and dust

- We'd like to have brother Robert Gordon,

the secretary of entertainment do a little bit

of the melody, because we'd like

to have y'all help us with the song

as we're going to do.

Like to have the chairman of the vibe-mosphere

come together, the song is called "Angel Dust."

Everybody got their part?

Everybody got their part?

♪ Angel Dust

- Second time we get to two, we gonna be lookin'

for everybody to help us out a little bit.

Say one,

two,

one, two.

♪ Angel Dust

- One time, say it.

♪ Angel dust

Looking for a harmony this time, y'all.

♪ Angel dust

- Come on, say it.

♪ Angel dust

♪ He was groovin'

♪ And that was when he could've sworn

♪ The room was movin'

♪ Hey, but that was only in his mind

♪ He was sailin'

♪ Never really seemed to notice

♪ Vision failin'

♪ Hey, 'cause that was all part of the high

♪ Sweat was pourin'

♪ And he couldn't take it

♪ The room was exploding

♪ He might not make it, say

♪ Angel dust

♪ Pain to say, somebody help me

♪ Angel dust

♪ Don't mean nobody no good

♪ Angel dust

♪ And you won't remember what you're missin'

♪ But down some dead end street

♪ There ain't no turnin' back

♪ The devil get away from dust

♪ Sometimes just pickin' up on

♪ Say dust

♪ And they were standin'

♪ Everybody in a circle

♪ The whole family

♪ And listening to the preachers' words

♪ Sis was cryin'

♪ She alone knew the secret

♪ About his dyin'

♪ Tears fallin' to Earth

♪ Maybe it was her fault

♪ He was so trusting

♪ And God only knew why

♪ They were dustin'

♪ Angel dust

♪ Struck again say, somebody help

♪ Angel dust

♪ It don't mean nobody no good

♪ Angel dust

♪ And you won't

♪ Remember what you missin'

♪ But down some dead end street

♪ There ain't no turnin' back

♪ You never get away

♪ Don't dust

♪ Say, somebody tell my brother about dust

♪ And I ain't tryin' to run your life

♪ Believe me, the dust

♪ Good Lord, it'll sure enough do you wrong

♪ Down some dead end street

♪ There ain't no turnin' back to back to back

♪ Run away from dust

♪ Somebody needs to tell my sister about dust

♪ Don't mean nobody no good, nowhere

♪ Say, and dust

♪ Mess with it long, it'll sure enough do you wrong

♪ Down some dead end street

♪ Ain't no turning back

Yeah you dig, thank you very much.

When you're on a tour of Washington,

let me tell you, those tours are always the same.

They bring you around to places like this,

they might even tell you

who the jackass is on the horse,

or the guy up on top of the building,

but they never show you the real Washington.

Should've been around maybe the 15th of January.

That's when Stevie Wonder was holdin' this rally.

It was about 50 000 people gathered there,

they were tryin' to demonstrate and make

Dr. King's birthday a national holiday.

But it's always the same.

The Capitol, the Hoover Building, maybe sometimes

they would even show you the Washington Monument,

but that's not a look at the real Washington.

The one I'd like to show you is something special.

You wanna see what's happening in the nation's capital?

Come with me.

See most of the things that happen in the nation's capital

happen in neighborhoods just like this,

and unfortunately these are the neighborhoods

that the people from Omaha and the people from Kansas

and the people from out in Indiana and Ohio

never get a chance to see.

So when there are protests and demonstrations

and expressions of concern about members

of communities like this, people in the midwest

and other places who've been to

the nation's capital, they say,

why, those people in D.C., they're living so good,

they have it so great, what could they possibly

be demonstrating about?

It's because the tour mobile takes you to Joycetown.

The tour mobile takes you to the Gold Coast.

The tour mobile never comes down

10th and V, 10th and W.

Tour mobile never gets over here

into the heart of the city, and therefore

never has any real contact with the people

who are the lifeblood of this city.

♪ Seem to me, still in light time

♪ People knifed up on 14th street

♪ Makes me feel always the right time

♪ 'Cause them people should not be lovin' me

♪ Did make the one seem kind of numb

♪ It's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital

♪ It's Washinton, D.C.

- We wrote a song for the new album

that has raised a certain number of questions,

particularly about the former mayor of Philadelphia

who's name was Frank Rizzo.

The song that we wrote was called "Gun."

And it had a lot to do with Mayor Rizzo, rest in pieces.

I say that 'cause we just so glad

he ain't the mayor no more.

Frank Rizzo got on TV one time and said

that he was gonna collect all the handguns.

Personally, damn near.

And what he was gonna do is he was gonna put up

these cardboard boxes at the fire stations

and when you was in the neighborhood and had a minute,

you supposed to come by and drop your piece off

in the box.

So in the course of about six weeks

he had one gun that he had collected,

and it was in bad need of repair.

So they went down and South Philadelphia

and they asked the brothers down there

exactly what the situation was,

had they heard what they mayor said,

and they said, yeah, they heard.

And that as soon as the police turned their guns in

they should come back and ask them about it again.

So we would like to do a song for you

about the American streets, the song is called "Gun."

♪ Brother man nowadays livin' in the ghetto

♪ Where the dangers sure enough are real

♪ Well if he's out late at night

♪ If he's got his head on right

♪ I lay you nine to five he's walkin' with steel

♪ Brother man say he's 'fraid of gangsters

♪ Messing with people just for fun

♪ Yeah sayin', he don't want to be next

♪ He's got a family to protect

♪ Just last week he bought himself a gun

♪ And everybody got a pistol

♪ Everybody got a .45

♪ And the philosophy seem to be

♪ At least as near as I could see

♪ When the other folks give up theirs

♪ I'll give up mine

♪ This is the violent civilization

♪ If civilization's where I am

♪ Every channel that I stop on

♪ Got a different kind of cop on

♪ And killin' them by the million for Uncle Sam

♪ But Saturday night just ain't that special

♪ Yeah, I got the constitution on the run

♪ 'Cause even though we've got the right

♪ To defend our home, defend our life

♪ Got to understand, to get it in their head

♪ About the guns

♪ 'Cause everybody got a pistol

♪ Everybody got a .45

♪ Yeah, philosophy seems to be

♪ At least as near as I can see

♪ When the other folks give up, give up

♪ Give up, if I give up, if I give up, say

♪ Saturday night just ain't that special

♪ Freedom to be afraid is all you want

♪ You sayin', you don't want to be next right now

♪ You've got a family to protect

♪ Nine of 10 you need a friend, you got a gun

♪ And everybody got a pistol

♪ Everybody got a .45

♪ .38, .22, warnin' you

♪ Philosophy seems to be

♪ At least as near as I can see

♪ When the other folks give up theirs

♪ I'll give up mine

♪ And everybody's got a pistol

♪ This mostly be the NRA

♪ Yeah, 'cause when it's time to sign up

♪ You know damn well they're gonna line up

♪ Everybody, everybody, say it

♪ Listen what we talkin' about

♪ Yeah, the philosophy seem to be

♪ As least as near as I can see

♪ When the other folks give up theirs

♪ I'll give up mine

There's some ghosts in America's past, naturally.

People who have been building blocks

to the history of this country,

and we haven't seen very much of them

so far on our tour, but believe you, me,

as soon as we take a turn around

another one or two of these corners,

I'm gonna take you to a place

where all of them are still,

well I couldn't say alive and well,

'cause eve when they were alive

a lot of 'em weren't doing that well.

But at the very least I can say

that we can show you some of the symbols

that we consider when we talk about

the history of this particular nation.

Come on, let's go.

Wow.

Yeah, they told me this would be quite a surprise.

'Cause things have changed here

over the last two centuries, it seems as though

things have gone even a little bit further then

from Plymouth Rock to acid rock.

There are lots of pieces of American history here,

got Betsy Ross, I suppose, dealin' with the flag.

I once heard a suite one time

that was written by a guy who's idea was called,

"How much nicer it might have been

"if Plymouth Rock had landed on the pilgrims."

Well I don't know if I agree with all that,

but there are certain indications of

a long past America here.

A clock to photographs, to the ships,

but what I really wanted to talk about

was something of a new nature,

at least in terms of our perspectives of ourselves.

Take, for example, this guy

standing over here in the corner.

A lot of us will recognize him.

Did a poem one time called

"The Watergate Blues."

And in "The Watergate Blues," straighten it up over here.

And in the "The Watergate Blues" one of the big lines

that we delivered was that Nixon knew Agnew.

The question was, who was around where

hell bogs died, what was the cause of LBJ's

untimely demise?

And what really happened to J. Edgar Hoover,

the king is proud of Patrick Grey

while America's faith is drowning

beneath a cesspool called the Watergate.

The candle was passed on from Nixon

to Oatmeal Man, you see.

As a matter of fact, when Oatmeal Man

inherited the presidency some few years ago,

well a matter of fact he looks a little bit more

on the job now then he did while he was president.

Spent a brief time in the White House

and then passed it on to Skippy, who was the victim,

or at least the guy who came in second

in the last election, collecting

21% of the registered votes.

♪ It's a mass of irony for all the world to see

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C.

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C.

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C. ♪

♪ From the Indians who welcomed the pilgrims

♪ And to the buffalo

♪ That once ruled the plains

♪ Like the vultures circling beneath the dark clouds

♪ Lookin' for the rain

♪ Yes, they been lookin' for the rain

♪ Just like the cities

♪ Staggered on the coastline

♪ Living in a nation that just can't change 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

♪ It seems like winter in America

♪ It's a time when all of the healers

♪ Done been killed

♪ And been betrayed

♪ Yeah, people know it's something wrong

♪ But everybody oughta know winter

♪ It seems like winter in America

♪ The truth is there ain't nobody fighting

♪ 'Cause nobody knows what to save

♪ Brother save your soul

♪ Winter in America

♪ The constitution was

♪ A noble piece of paper

♪ And with free society, well

♪ Struggled but it died in vain

♪ And now democracy is ragtime on the corner

♪ Unemployed

♪ And hopin' that it rains

♪ Yes, been hopin' for some rain

♪ But it just don't look like rain

♪ I've seen the robin

♪ Perched in barren treetops

♪ Watchin' the last-ditch racists

♪ Marchin' across the floor

♪ And like peace signs that melted in our dreams

♪ And never had a chance to grow

♪ Well, it never had a chance to grow

♪ Somebody wanna know, tell them

♪ It's winter

♪ Nothin' goes in it

♪ Winter in America

♪ It's a time when all of the healers

♪ Done been killed

♪ Or they been betrayed

♪ Say, people know it's something wrong, hey

♪ I feel like winter

♪ It seems like winter in America

♪ Yes, well the truth is this

♪ Nobody fightin' because

♪ Well nobody knows what to save

♪ Sisters save the babies

♪ Winter in America

♪ And now it's winter

♪ It's cold, it's winter in America

♪ Yes, it's a time when all of the healers

♪ Brothers sing to him what's done, they killed

♪ They put 'em in jail

♪ Hey, people know there's something

♪ But everybody oughta know winter

♪ It seems like winter in America

♪ Yes, well, the truth is there ain't

♪ Nobody fighting because

♪ Nobody knows what to save

♪ Yes, well, the truth is

♪ Nobody fighting because

♪ Nobody knows what to

♪ What to do, what to do

♪ The truth is there ain't nobody fighting

♪ Because nobody knows what to save ♪

A lot of people may well see this particular gentleman

as someone who makes an appearance,

either in a supporting or non-supporting role

in many of the poems that I do.

The truth is that the politics that we discuss

are not partisan politics in terms

of democrat or republican,

I am a member of the common sense party.

And for the longest kind of a time,

I have felt as though people who said

that they did not care anything about politics

or were not interested in it were making

a political statement in and of itself.

The new poetry that evolved in our society

concerned the fact that folks wanted to use

both words that people could understand

as well as talk about ideas that people could understand.

One such poem, at least an early poem of ours

that went in that direction, concerned the fact

that millions and millions of dollars

are continually sent into outerspace

while we continue to face the same problems here

on the ground.

Poems said, A rat done bit my sister, Nell

with Whitey on the moon.

Her face and arms began to swell

and Whitey's on the moon.

I can't pay no doctor bills,

but Whitey's on the moon,

10 years from now I'll be payin' still,

while Whitey's on the moon.

You know, the man just upped my rent last night

'cause Whitey's on the moon?

No hot water, no toilets and no lights,

but Whitey's on the moon.

I wonder why he's uppin' me.

'Cause Whitey's on the moon?

I was already givin' him 50 a week,

and now Whitey's on the moon.

Taxes takin' my whole damn check,

the junkies make me a nervous wreck,

the price of food is goin' up,

and as if all that crap wasn't enough,

a rat done bit my sister, Nell

with Whitey on the moon.

Her face and arms began to swell

and Whitey's on the moon.

Was all that money I made last year

for Whitey on the moon?

How come I ain't got not money here?

Hm, Whitey's on the moon.

You know I just about had my fill

of Whitey on the moon.

I think I'll send these doctor bills

airmail special to Whitey on the moon.

We have done a number of songs, we hope,

that have strengthened our connection

with the third world.

Because it seems as though oftentimes

there are attempts to split us up,

divide and conquer, keep us at odds with one another

so that we never define the things

that we have in common, but we have more things

in common than we do that separate us.

The song that we wrote is about people

who are sometimes referred to as "aliens."

Or worse still, "illegal aliens."

And we have insisted that this is to

differentiate them from folks who have come here

from Mars, legally.

And these are folks who, in our song,

come across near Tijuana or the Rio Grande.

They're brought into this country by coyotes,

people smugglers.

They're forced to pay mordida, the bribes,

to keep from being turned into immigration.

And when they do that they're called pollos,

chickens, ripe for the plucking.

Sometimes these folks come into this country

with only their dreams of doin' better

and the clothes they got on their back.

And this is what we have in common with them.

The reason we get up every day and decide

to try again is because we have dreams

of doing better.

This song is about holding on to your dreams,

we call the song "Alien."

We got someone to help us out with the sounds this evening.

♪ Midnight near the border tryin' to cross the Rio Grande

♪ Runnin' with coyotes to where streets are paved with gold

♪ You're diving underwater when you hear the helicoptors

♪ Knowin' it's all be less than worthless

♪ if you run into patrols

♪ Hiding in the shadows, so scared that you want to scream

♪ But you dare not make a sound

♪ If you want to hold on to your dreams

♪ Hold on

♪ It may not be a lot, but you got to

♪ Hold on

♪ 'Cause you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences or the fear

♪ That grips your senses

♪ You have to hold on to your dreams ♪

Goin' into L.A.

♪ The City of the Angels with its bright light fascination

♪ Only adds to the confusion that your mind must now endure

♪ The gringos take advantage

♪ When they know that you're illegal

♪ But you avoid la policia like a plague that can't be cured

♪ Paying la mordida you find out just what pollo means

♪ But you dare not file complaints

♪ If you want to hold on to your dreams

♪ Hold on

♪ It may not be a lot, but you hold on

♪ 'Cause you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences

♪ Or the fear that grips your senses

♪ You have got to hold on to your dreams

♪ Down in the Western Union sending cash

♪ Back to your family

♪ Or drinking down cerveza where the lights are very low

♪ Your mind may start to wander

♪ When you think about your village

♪ or the woman that you love so much

♪ Who's still in Mexico

♪ At just two bucks an hour

♪ There is little to redeem this life

♪ Except that in your mind you're trying to

♪ Hold on to your dreams

♪ Hold on

♪ Everybody, it may not be a lot

♪ But just hold on

♪ 'Cause you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences

♪ Or the fear that grips your senses

♪ You have got to hold on to your dreams ♪

Everybody sing with us.

♪ Hold on

♪ It may not be a lot but just hold on

♪ 'Cause you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences

♪ Or the fear that grips your senses

♪ You have got to hold on to your dreams

♪ Hold on

♪ It may not be a lot

♪ But you hold on

♪ It's all you got

♪ 'Cause you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences

♪ Or the fear that grips your senses

♪ You have got to hold on to your dreams ♪

Come on, help us out, y'all.

♪ Hold on

♪ May not be a lot

♪ May not be a lot

♪ But you hold on

♪ 'Cause you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences

♪ Or the fear that grips your senses

♪ Well, you have got to hold on to your dreams ♪

A little bit louder, y'all.

♪ Hold on

♪ May not be a lot, but you hold on

♪ Because you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences

♪ Or the fear that grips your senses

♪ You have got to hold on to your dreams ♪

I need y'all, go up there.

♪ Hold on

♪ May not be a lot, but you hold on

♪ 'Cause you know it's all you got

♪ No matter the consequences

♪ Or the fear grips your senses

♪ You have got to hold on to your dreams ♪

I was wondering about our yesterdays

and digging through the rubble.

And to say the least, somebody

went to a hell of a lot of trouble

to make sure that when we look things up

we wouldn't fair too well,

and we would come up with totally

unreliable pictures of ourselves.

But I've compiled what few facts I could,

I mean, such as they are,

to see if we could find out a little bit of something.

And this is what I've got so far.

First, white folks discovered Africa.

They claimed it fair and square.

Since the roads couldn't have been robbin' nobody,

'cause hell, there wasn't nobody there.

And white folks brought all the civilization,

because there wasn't none around.

How could the folks be civilized

when there wasn't nobody writing nothin' down?

Just to prove all of their suspicions, well,

didn't take too long.

They found out that there were whole tribes of people

in plain sight, runnin' around with no clothes on.

That's right.

The men, the women, the young and the old,

righteous folks covered their eyes.

And new time was spent considering their environment.

Hell, no, this just wasn't civilized.

And another piece of information they had

or at least this is what we were taught,

is that unlike the civilized people of Europe,

these tribal units actually fought.

And, yes, there was some crude implements,

and, yes, there was primitive art,

and, yes, they were masters of hunting and fishing

and courtesy came from the heart.

And, yes, there was love and medicine

and religion, inter-tribal communication by drum,

but no paper, no pencil and no other utensils

and hell, these folks never even heard of a gun.

And this is why the colonies came,

to stabilize the land.

Because the dark continent had copper and gold

and the discoverers had themselves a plan.

They would discover all the places with promise,

you didn't need no titles and deeds,

then they would appoint people to make everything legal

to sanction the trickery and greed.

And back in the jungle when the natives got restless

they would call the guerrilla attack,

and they would never describe it

'til folks finally got wise and decided

that they would fight back.

And still we are victims of word games.

Semantics is always a bitch.

Places once referred to as "underdeveloped"

are now called "mineral rich."

And the game goes on, eternally,

unity kept just beyond reach,

Egypt and Libya used to be in Africa,

they've now been moved to the Middle East.

There are examples galore, I assure you,

but if interpreting were left up to me,

I'd be sure every time folks knew this verse

wasn't mine, which is why it is called his-story.

One of the first songs that I wrote when I moved here

was a song that concerned,

really it concerned the five nations

in southern Africa that were looking

for liberation at the time.

They were Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe,

Namibia and Azania, and of course,

since we have done those songs,

three of those nations have claimed independence,

and we feel as though the other two

are on the edge, on the verge of it.

There are folks who are settling

in Namibia and southwest Africa,

and constant reports that would encourage

people who are supporters of the southern Africans

are suppressed, to make us feel

as though there's nothin' goin' on.

But as long as people want to have freedom

and want to have liberation, there will be things

going on, and we need to keep the faith

and keep the candle burning.

When we say "what's the word"

we would like to have everybody join us

and say "Johannesburg."

Can we get everybody?

We don't wanna have it sneak up on y'all,

so when we say "what's the word"

we gonna look, everybody say "Johannesburg."

Can we get it on?

One, two.

And you know what to do!

♪ Tell me what's the word?

♪ Johannesburg

♪ Don't know, but have you heard

♪ From Johannesburg?

♪ Somebody tell me what the word?

♪ Johannesburg

♪ Tell me, woman, have you heard

♪ About Johannesburg?

♪ They tell me that our brothers over there

♪ Are defyin' the man

♪ And we don't know for sure because the news we get

♪ Is unreliable, man

♪ Was a country

♪ Well I hate it when the blood starts flowin'

♪ But I'm glad to see resistance growin'

♪ Somebody tell me what's the word?

♪ Johannesburg

♪ Tell me brother, have you heard

♪ From Johannesburg

♪ Somebody tell me what's the word?

♪ Johannesburg

♪ Tell me woman, have you heard

♪ About Johannesburg?

♪ They tell me that our brothers over there

♪ Refuse to work in the mines sometimes

♪ They may not get to know them

♪ But they need to know we're on their side

♪ All the time

♪ Yeah, now, sometimes distance brings misunderstanding

♪ But deep in my heart I'm demanding

♪ Somebody tell me what's the word?

♪ Johannesburg

♪ Tell me brother have you heard

♪ About Johannesburg?

♪ A lot people talking and sayin' what I wanna hear

♪ What's the word?

♪ Johannesburg

♪ Tell me woman, have you heard

♪ About Johannesburg?

♪ Say I know that they're strugglin' over there

♪ That ain't gonna free me

♪ Not in child hands

♪ Yeah, but we fought hard

♪ Got to be strugglin'

♪ Say if we wanna be free

♪ I just wanna be free, free, free, free

♪ Keep me free, now

♪ Just around the corner, yeah

See my office used to be right down here.

On the corner of ninth and W.

And when I would tell people I was at ninth at W

they would say, man ain't that a rough neighborhood,

I say, yeah, it is pretty rough,

but it ain't as rough as 11th and W,

and it's ain't even as rough as 16th and Pennsylvania.

I figure, 'cause people got to live over there

they really in trouble.

Everybody gets to look at the White House

when they come to Washington, D.C.,

but this is a part of what goes on

out in front of the White House,

that very few people ever get a chance

to take a look at.

Across the street they're demonstrating

for world peace, over here

you have different signs that have been

sentenced to the star of our B-movie,

asking them about justice, and freedom, and equality.

You know they protested a launch in this country,

but not launch necessarily against the government,

they're launched in terms of the fact that

this country has rarely lived up to its advanced publicity.

This is supposed to be the land

of justice, liberty and equality,

and that's what everybody over here

is lookin' for.

♪ Mornin' come and bring the tourists

♪ Strainin' rubber necks

♪ To catch a glimpse of the cowboy

♪ Makin' the world a nervous wreck ♪

You know the question is not actually

who the baddest hombre is in these parts,

'cause I think I'm the one.

But it has a lot to do with the difference

between the old west and the new west,

and the way it is perceived.

'Cause you see, there are a lot of folks in America

who are refusing to recognize the fact

that today is actually today.

Times have changed, but very few folks in America have.

We would like to do a tune for you.

Actually, the tune was put together

a little over a year ago,

and the problem, well there were several.

But the main problem was what we were going

to call the tune.

And after we had put the tune together and looked at it

we decided we was gonna call it

"Real to Reel."

This was gonna be R-E-A-L to R-E-E-L.

And that was certainly gonna be the max.

And then we said no, might be some people

that don't get it.

So we decided we was gonna call the tune

"From Real to Reel to Surreal,"

and we was gonna draw a lot of lines under "Surreal"

so everybody would know that that was the main one.

Then we said no, they may not get it.

Then we decided that we was gonna call this particular idea

"From Shogun to Reagan."

That covered everything that we wanted to talk about.

'Cause see the news was loose about the mandate.

A mandate would be indicating a majority,

an overwhelming majority, as a matter of fact,

a landslide.

A majority of such force that it entitled

the holder of this mandate to change everybody's life

180 degrees.

So we went down in the community,

down on seventh street,

told some of the brothers there had been a mandate

for Reagan.

And they said, oh yeah?

What was the final score?

I said, well, 25% of the registered voters

voted for Reagan, and they said they would have

been more impressed if it had been 26%

of the American people.

And then we say, well Skippy come in second

with 21% of the registered voters.

And then among all the other people who was

runnin' also at the same time,

they gathered about 2% all together.

First thing that the brothers noticed

was that 51% of the registered voters

had voted for nobody.

And as far as they were concerned,

that indicated that nobody should be the president.

The 74% of the registered voters

had not voted for Reagan,

which indicated a mandate in the other direction.

And after a few months of dealing with Reagan

and his administration, they have come back to me

and said, yeah, it's true.

Nobody is the president.

See, a lot of folks believe that this is the first time

that we have ever done anything on Reagan,

but that's not true.

We have done several things.

We did a poem one time called "The Bicentennial Blues."

And we referred to Reagan as "Holly-weird".

Acted like a actor,

acted like a democrat,

acted like a liberal.

What he was acting like the head

of the Screen Actor's Guild, this is a position

currently held down by a man named Ed Asner.

During the late '40s, Ronald the Ray-gun

was the head of the Screen Actor's Guild,

and it was his job to defend people like Dalton Trumbo

or David Susskind from the rages of McCarthyism.

That was when they were lookin' for reds

under the corners of ever carpet.

Decided he was gonna act like a republican.

Acted like General Franco when he acted like

governor of California.

Heard the conservatives was on the way in,

and acted like one of them.

Showed up in 1976 acting like

somebody was gonna vote for him for president.

And showed up in 1980 acting like

26% of the registered voters was actually a mandate.

Got all of us acting in this one, actually.

The truth is that at least 26% of the registered voters

don't wanna deal with tomorrow.

They are holding on to some image of America's past,

but America has changed in the last 20 years

from a producer to a consumer.

And all consumers know that when the producer

names the tune then the consumer has got to dance.

That's the way it is.

You don't believe it, you go downtown tomorrow

and pick up a four-dollar piece of meat,

give the man two dollars, and we'll see you

in about 30 days.

'Cause whatever happening, the producer

names the tune and the consumer has got to dance.

Seems all right when America was the producer,

hey, they was dealin' with it, it was my way

or the highway.

But now that America is a consumer

they want everybody to deal with the same things

they deal with.

They don't know if they want to be

Bob Dylan or Matt Dillon.

They don't know if they want to be diplomats

or continue to threaten everyone

with the nuclear nightmare.

John Foster Dulles ain't nothing

but the name of an airport now.

See, this used to be a country

where everybody looked forward to tomorrow.

And all of a sudden it became the way we were

and December of '42 and them good ol' days,

them good ol' boys, them good ol' days,

them good ol' boys.

And all that proved is that America

was not ready to deal with today.

They were looking for one of their

cinema heroes from the '30s or the '40s

to run up and save everything at the last minute.

'Cause somebody always came to save America

At the last minute, bottom of the ninth,

two outs, two strikes, nobody on base,

down by 10, don't worry, somebody will come to save America.

Especially in B-movies.

You see, when I used to go to a movie as a young man,

there was always two of 'em.

There was the one you was payin' your money to see,

and then there was the second one,

which was like, a B-movie.

This was the one that Reagan was usually in.

And it would either be an older burner

or one of them tremendously patriotic flicks,

or something with a monkey.

Hey, the monkey was all right.

The monkey was cool.

But what happened is that America

looked back for someone from the '30s or '40s,

they were actually lookin' for someone like John Wayne.

But John Wayne was no longer available,

and so they had to settle for Ronald the Ray-gun.

And it has given us all the feeling

that we are somehow been cast as supporting

or non-supporting characters in a B-movie.

That be all.

Come with us back to those inglorious days

before heroes were zeroes,

before fair was square,

when the cavalry came straight away

and all American men were like Hemingway,

the days of the wondrous B-movie.

The producer, underwritten by all the millionaires necessary

will be Casper "The Defensive" Weinberger.

No more animated choice available.

The director will be Atilla the Haig,

frantically running around declaring himself

in charge and in control, the ultimate realization

of the inmates taking over at the asylum.

The screenplay will be from a book called "Voodoo Economics"

by George "Papa Doc" Bush.

A special introduction

by Ingrid "The Trojan Horse" Stockman.

The theme song will be the very military "Macho, Macho Man"

♪ Macho, macho man

Two, three four,

♪ Your left, your left, your left, right, left, right ♪

A little mood music for saber-rallying and selling

wars door-to-door.

Remember, we're looking

for the closest thing we can get

to John Wayne.

Cliches abound like kangaroos, courtesy

of some spaced-out Marlin Perkins.

You remember Marlin Perkins?

The old guy that used to come on Wild Kingdom

and say things like, There's my assistant, Jim,

wrestling with that alligator, ooh look out, Jim!

Cliches are bound like kangaroos,

courtesy of some spaced-out Marlin Perkins,

a Reagan contemporary.

Cliches like "tall in the saddle."

Cliches like "itchy trigger finger."

Cliches like "riding on or off into the sunset."

Cliches like "get off of my planet by sundown,"

more so than cliches like

"he died with his boots on."

The man is John Wayne tough, the man is marine tough.

The man is Bogart tough, the man is Cagney tough.

The man is cheap steak tough, and Bonzo's substantial.

Never fooled us for a minute.

We're looking around feeling as though

it went from Hollywood to hillbilly,

from liberal to libelous, from Bonzo to Birch idol,

born again.

Civil rights, women's rights, gay rights,

it's all wrong.

Callin' the cavalry, disrupt this perception

of freedom gone wild.

God damn it, first one wants freedom

and then they all want freedom.

Give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile.

Nostalgia, that's what America wants.

The good ol' days, when we gave 'em hell.

When the buck stopped somewhere

and you could still buy something with it.

To a time when movies were in black and white

and so was everything else.

Lon Chaney, our man of a thousand faces,

got nothin' on Ron.

Doug Henning will do the makeup.

Special effects by Crazy Glue and Grecian Formula 16.

Transportation furnished by

the David Rockefeller of the Remote Control Corporation.

Their slogan is, Why wait 'til 1984? You can panic now

and avoid the rush.

So much for the good news.

As Wall Street goes, so goes the nation,

and here's a look at the closing stocks.

Racism is up, human rights are down.

Peace is shaky, war items are hot,

the house claims all ties.

Jobs are scarce, money is hard to come by,

and common sense is at an all-time low with heavy trading.

Movies were looking better than ever, and all of a sudden

no one is looking because we all feel

as though we're starring in a B-movie.

And we would have rather had John Wayne.

Damn world would've probably done better

if we'd a ended up with John Wayne.

Help me, y'all.

♪ You don't have to be in no hurry

♪ You don't ever really have to worry

♪ And you don't have to think about how you feel

♪ Just keep repeating that none of this is real

♪ And if you're thinkin' that something's wrong

♪ Well just remember that

♪ It won't be too long

♪ Before the director, remember him?

♪ Cuts the scene

Nobody is the president.

We go somebody over there

who's acting like one, but to this point here,

what we believe in is that nobody

actually is in charge.

Ready to go?

♪ Hey, this ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life,

♪ Ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ And everybody ought to know

♪ That this ain't really your life

♪ Wouldn't do you

♪ Life like that

♪ Say, this ain't really your life

♪ Ain't nothing but a reel

♪ And the reel say

♪ This ain't really, ain't really that

♪ Ain't really that, saying this

♪ With it that really ain't real

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Everybody ought to know

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ 'Cause this ain't how your life would go

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't nothin' but real to reel shit

♪ This ain't really that, really this

♪ With it this, with it this really ain't real

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really your life, ain't really

♪ Ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Don't worry about nothin', don't worry about nothin'

♪ Say, this ain't really your life,

♪ Ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ This ain't really, ain't really, ain't really

♪ Ain't really real

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really your life, ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie

♪ This ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really your life

♪ Ain't really, ain't nothin' but a movie ♪

And we would've rather had John Wayne.

Odds are, we probably would've been

better off with John Wayne.

Take care, big fella.

♪ It's the nations's capital, it's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital, it's Washington, D.C.

♪ It's the nation's capital, It's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital it's Washington, D.C.

♪ You know, It's the nation's capital,

♪ It's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

♪ It's the nation's capital, It's the nation's capital

♪ It's the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

♪ Say, uh-huh it's the capital

♪ Got you feeling capital

♪ The punishment is capital

♪ In Washington, D.C.

♪ It's the nation's capital, It's the nation's capital

♪ Punishment is capital

♪ In Washington, D.C.

♪ Say, uh-huh it's the capital

♪ Washington, D.C.

♪ Washington, D.C.

♪ Last time

♪ Is the capital

♪ Got me feelin' capital

♪ Punishment is capital

♪ Washington, D.C.