I’m guessing because of the recent current events, Gil Scott Heron and his music, especially the great song The Revolution Will Not be Televised, has been featured on a few of the blogs I read along with a piece last night on NPR’s The World about protest songs. While I think he is a important artist and his words/music can be powerful right now, I will let better writers comment on that.
What I want this blog post to focus on is his other famous song, Johannesburg (That link is a great one from his appearance on SNL with Richard Pryor). The NPR piece brought up the interesting fact that because the South African apartheid regime banned the song, when Heron first performed the song in Johannesburg, people didn’t know the chorus and somewhat threw the band off when they didn’t yell it back. It also mentioned that part of the genius of the song was that the chorus was a parody of the jingle for Thunderbird wine, that was popular in poor, black communities.
So, of course, I went to the internet to hear the original jingle, but was unable to find it. I did find that it has a convoluted connection (but probably not) with the Trashmen’s Surfin’ Bird. Also, that there are a bunch of versions of the song, one of them done by this amazing saxaphonist Red Prysock. If you like the video below, check out the song Hand Clappin’ (you’re going to like it, Austin):
Also check out a version by Slim Gaillard that is pretty funny.
These are no relation to my other favorite odes to the drink (that I have never actually tasted before), Seasick Steve’s Thunderbird and Townes Van Zant’s Thunderbird.
