Versinhos bacanas (26) – On Coming From a Broken Home (GIL SCOTT-HERON)

“I want to make this a special tribute
To a family that contradicts the concepts
Heard the rules but wouldn'€™t accept
And women-folk raised me
And I was full grown before I knew
I came from a broken home

Sent to live with my grandma down south
When my uncles was leaving
And my grandfather had just left for heaven
They said and as every-ologist would certainly note
I had no strong male figure right?
But lily Scott was absolutely not your mail order
Room service type cast black grandmother
I was moved in with her; temporarily, just until things were patched,
Til this was patched and til that was patched
Until I became at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10
The patch that held lily Scott who held me and like them 4
I become one more and I loved her
From the absolute marrow of my bones
And we was holdin on,
I come from a broken home
She had more then the 5 senses
She knew more then books could teach
And raised everyone she touched just a little bit higher
And all around her there was a natural sense
As though she sensed what the stars say what the birds say
What the wind and the clouds say
A sensual soul and self that African sense
And she raised me like she raised 4 of her own
And I was hurt and scared and shocked
When lily Scott left suddenly one night
And they sent a limousine from heaven to take her to god,
If there is one.
So I knew she had gone; and
I came from a broken home”

(Uma das canções de teor autobiográfico do reflexivo ‘I’m New Here’, excelente disco que põe fim a um hiato de mais de 15 anos na carreira do grande Gil Scott-Heron, ‘On Coming From a Broken Home’ relata uma das passagens mais marcantes de sua vida: a mudança para a casa da avó, Lillie, após o divórcio dos pais. Além de ser um dos inventores do canto falado na música negra americana e um dos primeiros artistas black engajados – as duas facetas podem ser conferidas na canção ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’, de 1970 –, Gil também é escritor: seu romance ‘Abutre’, retrato contundente da vida no gueto, saiu no Brasil anos atrás, publicado pela Ed. Conrad.)