Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011): "I'm New Here"

"I'm New Here"

I did not become someone different

I did not want to be

But I'm new here

Will you show me around?

No matter how far wrong you've gone

You can always turn around

Met a woman in a bar

I 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

Well, I'm new here and I forget

Does that mean big or small?

No matter how far wrong you've gone

You can always turn around

And I'm shedding plates like a snake

And it may be crazy

But I'm the closest thing I have

To a voice of reason

Turn around, turn around, turn around

And you may come full circle

And be new here again

"I'm New Here," with lyrics by Austin songwriter Bill Callahan of the group Smog, is the title track from Gil Scott-Heron's final album, released February 2010. The album was his first release in sixteen years.