Lyrics to
Evolution (And Flashback)

This version of Evolution (And Flashback) was released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1970.

Visit the Gil Scott-Heron Lyrics profile at Decade Lyrics - it has the Evolution (And Flashback) lyrics as well as the rest of the songs by Gil Scott-Heron.

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In 1600 I was a darkie
Until 1865, a slave
In 1900 I was a nigger
Or at least, that was my name

In 1960 I was a negro
And then brother Malcom came along
And then some nigger shot Malcom down
But the bitter truth lives on

Martin is dead
With Martin as our leader
We prayed, and marched
And marched, and prayed
Things were changing
Things were getting better
But things were not together

With Malcom as our leader,
We learned
And thought
And thought we had learned
Things were better
Things were changing
But things were not together

And now it is your turn,
We are tired of praying, and marching, and thinking, and learning
Brothers wanna start cutting, and shooting, and stealing, and burning
You are three hundred years ahead in equality
But next summer may be too late
To look back

In 1600 I was a darkie
And until 1865 a slave
In 1900 I was a nigger
Or at least that was my name

In 1960 I was a negro
And then Malcom came along
Yes, but some nigger shot Malcom down
Though the bitter truth lives on

Well now I am a black man
And though I still go second class
Where as once I wanted the white man’s love
Now he can kiss my ass

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Want more lyrics and songs by Gil Scott-Heron?

Gil Scott-Heron has released many songs over the years besides Evolution (And Flashback). Gil Scott-Heron released songs from 1970 to 2005 spanning across albums like Small Talk At 125th And Lenox, Pieces Of A Man, Free Will, Winter In America, The First Minute Of A New Day, It's Your World, From South Africa To South Carolina, Bridges, Secrets, The Mind Of Gil Scott-Heron, 1980, Real Eyes, Reflections, Moving Target, Spirits, and Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Messages (Anthology). Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Gil Scott-Heron.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1970 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Evolution (And Flashback) by Gil Scott-Heron

When you decide to study the lyrics to Evolution (And Flashback), you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1970 song by Gil Scott-Heron. Some of the lyrics to Evolution (And Flashback) have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Gil Scott-Heron and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Evolution (And Flashback) if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Evolution (And Flashback)" means the words set to the music of Evolution (And Flashback), or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Gil Scott-Heron. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Evolution (And Flashback) and the lyrics to Evolution (And Flashback) are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Gil Scott-Heron who came here looking just for the lyrics to Evolution (And Flashback), but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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