Lyrics to
We Almost Lost Detroit

This version of We Almost Lost Detroit was released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1977.

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

It stands out on a highway
like a Creature from another time.
It inspires the babies’ questions,
“What’s that?”
For their mothers as they ride.
But no one stopped to think about the babies
or how they would survive,
and we almost lost Detroit
this time.
How would we ever get over
losing our minds?
Just thirty miles from Detroit
stands a giant power station.
It ticks each night as the city sleeps
seconds from anniahlation.
But no one stopped to think about the people
or how they would survive,
and we almost lost Detroit
this time.
How would we ever get over
over losing our minds?
The sherrif of Monroe county had,
sure enough disasters on his mind,
and what would karen Silkwood say
if she was still alive?

That when it comes to people’s safety
money wins out every time.
and we almost lost Detroit
this time, this time.
How would we ever get over
over losing our minds?
You see, we almost lost Detroit
that time.
Almost lost Detroit
that time.
And how would we ever get over…
Cause odds are,
we gonna lose somewhere, one time.
Odds are
we gonna lose somewhere sometime.
And how would we ever get over
losing our minds?
And how would we ever get over
losing our minds?
Didn’t they, didn’t they decide?
Almost lost Detroit
that time.
Damn near totally destroyed,
one time.
Didn’t all of the world know?
Say didn’t you know?
Didn’t all of the world know?
Say didn’t you know?
We almost lost detroit…

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Gil Scott-Heron has released many songs over the years besides We Almost Lost Detroit. 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 lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and We Almost Lost Detroit by Gil Scott-Heron

When you decide to study the lyrics to We Almost Lost Detroit, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1977 song by Gil Scott-Heron. Some of the lyrics to We Almost Lost Detroit 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 We Almost Lost Detroit 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 We Almost Lost Detroit" means the words set to the music of We Almost Lost Detroit, 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 We Almost Lost Detroit and the lyrics to We Almost Lost Detroit 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 We Almost Lost Detroit, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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