When the Revolution Comes
The Last Poets| English Version by Jimmy Andrex | |
| WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES When the revolution comes When the revolution comes When the revolution comes some of us will probably catch it on TV, with chicken hanging from our mouths You'll know it's revolution cause there won't be no commercials When the revolution comes When the revolution comes Preacher pimps are gonna split the scene with the communion wine stuck in their back pockets Faggots won’t think it’s so funny then and all the junkies will quit their nodding and wake up When the revolution comes When the revolution comes Transit cops will be crushed by the trains after losing their guns and blood will run through the streets of Harlem drowning anything without substance When the revolution comes When the revolution comes When the revolution comes I hope pearly white teeth fall out of the mouths that speak of revolution without reverence The cost of revolution is 360 degrees Understand the cycle that never ends Understand the beginning to be the end and nothing is in between but space and time that I make or you make to relate or not to relate to the world outside my mind your mind. Speak not of revolution until you are willing to eat rats to survive When the revolution comes When the revolution comes When the revolution comes Guns and rifles will be taking the place of poems and essays Black cultural centers will be forts supplying the revolutionaries with food and arms when the revolution comes When the revolution comes White death will froth the walls of museums and churches breaking the lies that enslaved our mothers when the revolution comes When the revolution comes Jesus Christ is gonna be standing on the corner of Lennox Ave and 125th St trying to catch the first gypsy cab out of Harlem, when the revolution comes When the revolution comes Jew merchants will give away matzoh balls and gifilte fish to anyone they see with afros. Frank Schiffman will give away the Apollo to the first person he sees wearing a blue dashiki When the revolution comes When the revolution comes afros gone be trying to straighten their heads and straightened heads gone be trying to wear afros When the revolution comes When the revolution comes When the revolution comes But until then you know and I know niggers will party and bullshit and party and bullshit and party and bullshit and party and bullshit and party... | WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES It won’t be live & exclusive on Sky because we no longer believe in better unless we elect a left-wing leader then it’ll all be fully funded and HD ready like Allende in Chile with embedded celebs following our brave lads bombing so-called terrorists union leaders anti-frackers stand behind ‘em or stand in front of ‘em says the sticker in The Sun ‘cos they’re the only choices when the revolution comes. Van drivers will round up all the ageing hipsters and Facebook warriors who’ve banged on for too long about how great punk was even though they’re too young like their dads did about the war and what was it for now the balding men sneer at their sons’ CD’s not threatening enough like their dads did about queers not nearly as edgy as their current re-inventions which shrivel and die when the revolution comes. Gangs of feral teens will smash windows in peace getting trainers for free because the chief of police will say they’re not coming out if the numbers don’t stack up but the empty boxes do and Sports Direct will be easy and free as internet porn and council houses with lawns will be a dewy myth and who wants that anyway when we’ve got all this and unlimited talk when the revolution comes. Performance poets will post comments about the march of rhyme and reason which are going out of season like Boxing Day sprouts driven right out of town by torchlit crowds making gut-level decisions based on clickbait hate from Facebook mates who don’t believe in Nothing but will believe anything so long as they already agree and anything they dislike is the product of elites, so long expertise when the revolution comes. The Daily Mail’s owner will be cornered by angry liberals who’ve finally snapped got their act in gear knitted their beards into artisan crosses despite deep agnostic agonies and when they nail him up he gets another shock ‘cos he’s not the martyr in the middle of the piece he’s the common thief who couldn’t see a kingdom come nailed to a tree and then to rub it in he looks to his right and the Messiah’s a Palestinian refugee when the revolution comes. When the revolution comes we’ll all have to be cruel to be kind because it won’t happen in the streets till it’s happened in the mind and no-one walks anywhere anyhow any more in an online village where everyone listens to Public Magicians’ superstitions and common sense spells and life’s too short so being English we’ll repress it and carry on just like before and we’ll certainly bore our Facebook friends to death With poetry & bullshit and poetry & bullshit and poetry & bullshit and poetry & bullshit before any revolution comes. |
