Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at age 39, in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968 by James Earl Ray. He had been in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers, which was part of his planned “Poor Peoples” campaign. (Hakim, p. 364.) Ray’s motivation for the killing has never been determined. The killing resulted in spontaneous uprisings in 130 cities around the country. There was burning, looting and shooting. It took 65,000 federal troops to stop the riots. Thirty-nine persons were killed, mostly blacks, and many more wounded. (Hakim, p. 367.) The killing motivated congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Reader’s Digest, p. 352.) The Civil Rights Movement was never the same after King’s assassination. Although efforts to redress racial issues continued, the movement never regained the momentum it had during the 1960s.
“Why? (The King of Love is Dead),” written and sung by Nina Simone on April 7, 1968, three days after MLK was shot, expresses Ms. Simone ‘s reaction to King’s assassination. (https://youtu.be/Wh6R0BRzjW4) (The You Tube version is a full live version and contains additional lyrics.)
What’s gonna happen now? In all of our cities?
My people are rising; they’re living in lies.
Even if they have to die
Even if they have to die at the moment they know what life is
Even at that one moment that ya know what life isIf you have to die, it’s all right
Cause you know what life is
You know what freedom is for one moment of your lifeBut he had seen the mountaintop
And he knew he could not stop
Always living with the threat of death ahead
Folks you’d better stop and think
Everybody knows we’re on the brink
What will happen, now that the King is dead?We can all shed tears; it won’t change a thing
Teach your people: Will they ever learn?
Must you always kill with burn and burn with gunsAnd kill with guns and burn – don’t you know how we gotta react?
But he had seen the mountaintop
And he knew he could not stop
Always living with the threat of death ahead
Folks you’d better stop and think
Everybody knows we’re on the brink
What will happen, now that the King of love is dead?
“Abraham, Martin and John,” written by Dick Holler (1968) and sung by Dion Dimuci a/k/a Dion (https://youtu.be/a5hFMy4pTrs), was a wistful folk-rock song about slain political heroes Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and brothers John and Robert Kennedy. This song is a tribute to those involved in the battle for civil rights. It peaked at number four on the pop charts eight months after King’s death and six months after Robert Kennedy was killed. The song was covered by Marvin Gaye, a black singer who wrote and recorded many a song relating to the black experience. (There is a list of more than 150 songs relating to the JFK assassination found at http://turnmeondeadman.com/jfk-assassination-songs/; see also, “The Day John Kennedy Died,” Lou Reed; “Sad Day in Texas,” Otis Spann (http://www.songwriting.net/blog/bid/148619/Top-10-Songs-Remembering-John-F-Kennedy )
Anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
You know I just looked around and he’s goneAnybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he’s gone[Brief instrumental interlude-organ]
Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he’s goneDidn’t you love the things that they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Someday soon, it’s gonna be one dayAnybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill
With Abraham, Martin, and John
“The Ballad of Martin Luther King,” written and sung by Pete Seeger and Rev. Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick (aka “Brother Kirk”) (1974), is a biographical homage to the great civil rights leader. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umsu2ybYPa0&feature=youtu.be)
Come gather round me, people
I got a song to sing
About the life and legends of a man
Called Martin Luther KingMartin Luther King was born
To a sharecropper’s son
And all the bigots hated him
He never owned a gunChorus: And I’ve been to the mountaintop
Today I have a dream
Don’t you ever forget
The words of Martin Luther KingAt a bus line in Montgomery
Had some folks sittin’ in the back
Wasn’t no coincidence
That all these people were blackMartin Luther King
Put a boycott on that town
He marched with our people
He closed that bus line downChorus (twice)
He preached to live non-violence
Until his very end
On a hotel balcony in Memphis
Mankind lost its best friendHe fought for human rights
As he rode from town to town
That’s what he’s done in Memphis
Some sick man shot him downChorus (twice)
Now, it’s time for you to take a look
At that mirror on that wall
Did you pull that trigger?
Were you there at all?And there’s a sickness in this nation
And it seems to be obviously clear
Gonna kill a man with hate
Because he would not die from fearCHORUS (TWICE)
“Motel in Memphis,” was written by Ketch Secor and performed by Old Crow Medicine Show (2008). (https://youtu.be/MOQzFhsoZ0w)
Were you there when the man
From Atlanta was murdered in Memphis?
Did you see him layin’ at the Lorraine motel?
Did you hear them say that the CIA is witness
To the murder of a man at a motel in Memphis?Motel in Memphis, Motel in Memphis
Run and tell somebody there is blood on the riverside
Old muddy water rollin’ through Memphis
If you were there you’d swear it was more than a man who diedDid you see Coretta?
She was sobbin’ in the corner in a black veil
Did you see Mr. Crump in a white coat grin?
Did you walk down river where the cotton woods are swingin’
With ghostly bodies of man?Motel in Memphis, motel in Memphis
Run and tell somebody there’s blood on the riverside
Old muddy water rollin’ through Memphis
If you were there you’d swear it was more than a man who diedWere you there with Mahalya wailin’ at the funeral?
Did you watch them lower his casket in?
Did you tremble when you thought about the future
And cry out for a modern man?Motel in Memphis, motel in Memphis
Run and tell somebody there’s blood on the riverside
Old muddy water rollin’ through Memphis
If you were there you’d swear it was more than a man who died
“Pride (in The Name of Love),” sung by U2, written by Adam Clayton, Paul Hewson, Laurence Mullen, and David Evans (1984). (https://youtu.be/LHcP4MWABGY)
One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrowIn the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of loveOne man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kissIn the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
(nobody like you…)Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your prideIn the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love…