Lyrics to
Under The Hammer

This version of Under The Hammer was released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1977.

Our About Gil Scott-Heron page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Under The Hammer from 1977 as well as all of the other lyrics from Gil Scott-Heron that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Gil Scott-Heron or about the 1970s in general.

Good advice is sure enough hard to come by
Bad advice surrounds you constantly
Good advice you just can’t put no price on
Bad advice is easy cus it’s free

But Through it all somehow we’re different
We think theres nothing to it so we plunge faithfully through it
No matter how hard it rains if we don’t profit from the change
We’re under the hammer totally

(talkin’ bout) Under the hammer from the day yous born
Under the hammer and out there on your own
Good advice don’t make it if theres no one there to take it
You’re just under the hammer totally

Now I meant to tell you something about the drinkin’
Yeah But you don’t want to hear a word I say
Naw and You don’t care what I’ve been thinking
Because you control things your own way

And since you’ve got things under control
There ain’t nothing to it ain’t no reason you should do it
No matter how hard it rains if we don’t profit from the change
You’re back under the hammer totally

Under the hammer from the day yous born
Under the hammer and out there on your own
Good advice don’t make it if theres no one there to take it
You’re just under the hammer totally

Good advice is sure enough hard to come by
When bad advice surrounds you constantly
Good advice you just can’t put no price on
And bad advice is easy cus its free

And through it all somehow we’re different
We think theres nothing to it so we plunge faithfully through it
And No matter how hard it rains if we don’t profit from the change
We’re under the hammer totally

You’re under the hammer from the day you was born
Under the hammer and out there on your own
Good advice don’t make it if there’s no one there to take it
You’re just under the hammer totally

Under the hammer from the day you was born
Ain’t no surprising you now you’re full grown
Under the hammer from the day yous born
Ain’t no surprising you now that you’re full grown
Good advice don’t make it if there’s no one there to take it
You’re just under the hammer totally

Location baby
Under the hammer

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Gil Scott-Heron has released many songs over the years besides Under The Hammer. 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 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Under The Hammer by Gil Scott-Heron

The lyrics to Under The Hammer are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Gil Scott-Heron used when the song was created in 1977. The lyrics to Under The Hammer have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Gil Scott-Heron and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Under The Hammer by Gil Scott-Heron. 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 Under The Hammer" means the words set to the music of Under The Hammer, 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 Under The Hammer and the lyrics to Under The Hammer 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 Under The Hammer, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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