GIL SCOTT-HERON - "ME AND THE DEVIL" (2010)

From I'm New Here, one of the albums of 2010, Monkey Picks salutes the late, great, Gil Scott-Heron. He left on a high.

GIL SCOTT-HERON - WHERE DID THE NIGHT GO?

I have a ticket to see Gil Scott-Heron tonight at the Royal Festival Hall only some poxy volcano has put pay to that. It's cancelled with little chance of a rearranged date. Watch this from his latest waxing I'm New Here and feel my crushing disappointment.

FEBRUARY PLAYLIST

This month we’ll let the artists speak for themselves. Some do it better than others.

1. Blind Willie Johnson – “You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond” (1930)
“Now its way after midnight, when death come a-creepin' in your room / You're gonna need somebody on your bond.”

2. Baron Lee and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band – “Reefer Man” (1932)
“Oh, have you ever met that funny reefer man? / Have you ever met that funny reefer man?/ If he trades you dimes for nickels / And calls watermelons pickles / Then you know you’re talking to that reefer man.”

3. Sonny Clark – “Cool Struttin’” (1958)
Pop goes the weasel.

4. Bob Dylan – “Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues” (1962)
“Six thousand people tryin' t' kill each other / Dogs a-barkin', cats a-meowin' / Women screamin', fists a-flyin', babies cryin', / Cops a-comin', me a-runnin'. / Maybe we just better call off the picnic.”

5. Funkadelic – “Mommy, What’s A Funkadelic?” (1970)
“If you will suck my soul / I will lick your funky emotions.”

6. Swamp Dogg – “Sam Stone” (1972)
“There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm, where all the money goes.”

7. Johnny Thunders – “Subway Train” (1978)
“I can’t ever understand / Why my life’s been cursed, poisoned, condemned.”

8. The Cure – “Inbetween Days” (1985)
“Yesterday I got so old, I felt like I could die / Yesterday I got so old, it made me want to cry.”

9. The Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder – “She Looks Good In The Sun” (2009)
“Fifteen sides of orange paper, covered in red ink / It looks good but, it sure is hard to read”.

10. Gil Scott-Heron – “I’m New Here” (2010)
“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.”