The Last Holiday: a memoir

Knowing that this has been a pet project of Canongate’s for many years makes this release all the more sad. Knowing the circumstances surrounding Gil Scott-Heron’s death makes this release all the more sad. Being a writer whose lyrical themes were altered forever the moment he heard ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ makes this release all the more sad.

Gil Scott-Heron’s memoir is a brilliant affair. Like Miles Davis, he has the nature cadence of a poet when describing his addictions and demons that make this a compelling read. You never feel sorry for Gil and you never judge him. Instead you’re there, with him, in Jackson, with his grandma, all the way through the 41-date tour of America with Stevie Wonder trying to get a national holiday declared for Martin Luther King, that forms the backbone of the book, right up until the end.

This book is a history of the latter half of the 20th Century, it’s a story about the birth of rap, about the power of poetry and music to move emotions and start revolutions. And it’s the story of one remarkable articulate and haunted man, who’s legacy is still being explored today. Beautifully packaged and lovingly put-together, this is a truly unmissable memoir about one of poetry and music’s true souls.