EP 14: Winter In America—Gil Scott Heron, The Singing Poet Who Confronted Power With Music and Poetry

In the 1960s and 70s thanks to the explosion in new FM radio stations and the popularity of records, political songs that might have been too controversial for Top 40 radio became part of the soundtrack for a generation. But sometimes what are seen as political songs, and even so called protest songs, really weren’t meant to be political to begin with. Some songs that were meant to be political were not seen as such when they were popular. And songs like Yankee Doodle, Dixie, or This Land Is Your Land that once were very political as time passes become—just songs instead.

So what is a political song anyway? Gil Scott-Heron wrote songs and poetry in response to current events, not just in Black America, but all of America. Are they about politics or are they about culture? Or are they not one in the same now? Why does his work still seem to resonate today?