Gil Scott Heron
gil scott heron, “I’m new here,”
from: I’m new here, 2010
“I did not become someone different
That I did not want to be
But I’m new here
Will you show me around
No matter how far wrong you’ve gone
You can always turn around
Met a woman in a bar
Told her I was hard to get to know
And near impossible to forget
She said I had an ego on me
The size of Texas
Well I’m new here and I forget
Does that mean big or small
No matter how far wrong you’ve gone
You can always turn around
And I’m shedding plates like a snake
And it may be crazy but I’m
The closest thing I have
To a voice of reason
Turn around, turn around, turn around
And you may come full circle
And be new here again”
As I became aware of Gil Scott Heron’s music I got the impression he knew something important that I would like to know more about. I wasn’t even sure what it was. It was just the way he carried himself with his voice. It was the 60’s after all and he was swallowed up in the gnashing teeth of race in angry cities. Without avoiding all this he seemed to confront and at the same time transcend these events perhaps propelled by what? What were his inner resources.? This brings us within the matter-of-factness inside “I’m New Here.” A song blazing in his vulnerability on the doorstep of his death.
