we want to do a tune written for today for this hour for dr martin luther king we ve stated before that the whole program is dedicated to his memory but this tune is written about him and for him and so we had yesterday to learn it and so we ll see once upon this planet earth lived a man of humble birth preaching love and freedom for his fellow man he was dreaming of a day peace would come to earth to stay and he spread this message all across the land turn the other cheek hed plead love thy neighbor was his creed pain humiliation death he did not dread with his bible at his side from his foes he did not hide its hard to think that this great man is dead will the murders never cease are thy men or are they beasts what do they ever hope ever hope to gain will my country fall stand or fall is it too late for us all and did martin luther king just die in vain cos hed seen the mountain top and he knew he could not stop always living with the threat of death ahead folks youd better stop and think cos were heading for the brink what will happen now that he is dead  he was for equality for all people you and me full of love and good will hate was not his way he was not a violent man bigotry had sealed his fate we can all shed tears but it won t change a thing teach your people will they ever learn must you always kill with burn and burn with guns and kill with guns and burn don t you know how we gotta react don t you know what it will bring well see hed seen the mountaintop and he knew he could not stop always living with the threat of death ahead folks youd better stop and think cause everybody knows were on the brink whats will happen now that the king of love is dead cause see hed seen the mountaintop and he knew he could not stop always living with the threat of death ahead folks youd better stop and thinkand feel again for were headed for the brink 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 is if you have to die it s all right cause you know what life is you know what freedom is for one moment of your life what s gonna happen now that the king is dead i heard that um well we ve heard all kinds of stories but i heard that this was his favorite song near the end of his life last year or a year ago maybe a little longer than that now lorraine hansberry left us and she was a dear friend she had her favorite song that langston hughes left us coltrane left us otis redding left us who can go on do you realize how many we have lost then it really gets down to reality doesn t it not a performance not microphones and all that crap but really something else we ve lost a lot of them in the last two years but we have remaining monk miles audience nina ms simone i love you too and of course for those we have left we are thankful but we can t afford any more losses oh no oh my god they re shooting us down one by one don t forget that because they are killing us one by one well all i have to say is that those of us who know how to protect those of us that we love stand by them and stay close to them and i say that if there d been a couple of more a little closer to dr king he wouldn t have got it just a little closer to him stay there stay there we can t afford any more losses he had seen the mountain top and he knew he could not stop always living with the threat of death ahead folks you d better stop and think for we re almost to the brink what will happen now that the king is dead 2
['jazz blues', 'soul', 'soul jazz', 'torch song', 'vocal jazz']