Music and MLK
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let's take a look at how the minister and activist was tied to some music history.
Stevie Wonder's 'Happy Birthday' is about him
Wonder was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. become a national holiday, and created this song to promote the cause.
Mahalia Jackson played at his funeral
A fan of jazz and gospel, King's last song request before his death was 'Precious Lord, Take My Hand' and Mahalia Jackson sang it at his funeral.
King opened the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival
"'Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties'" can be found at the beginning of his essay for the inauguration of the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1964. It might be one of Dr. King’s lesser known speeches, but today remains one of the most profound essays about jazz and its role in civil rights."
Nina Simone's musical tribute
“We want to do a tune written for today, for this hour, for Dr. Martin Luther King. This tune is written about him and for him,” said Nina Simone as she introduced 'Why (The King Of Love Is Dead),' to the audience at The Westbury Music Fair, just three days after King was assasinated.
Abraham, Martin And John (1968)
Written by Dick Holler about the assassinations of Lincoln, Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, 'Abraham, Martin, and John' was first recorded by Dion then covered by dozens of artists, including Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Emmylou Harris, and most famously, Marvin Gaye’s 1970 single. Gaye's version became a Top 10 hit in the UK.
How Motown preserved the Civil Rights Movement
Founder of Motown Records, Berry Gordy initially stayed away from activist causes saying “I never wanted Motown to be a mouthpiece for civil rights." However, he was intrigued by King's non-violent credo and had reached out to him in 1962 about recording his speeches: “I saw Motown much like the world he was fighting for—people of all races and religions, working together harmoniously for a common goal."
King was skeptical. He did not approve of the secularized brand of church music that was the label’s specialty."The profound sacred and spiritual meaning of the great music of the church must never be mixed with the transitory quality of rock and roll music," King wrote in an advice column in Ebony magazine in 1958. But as soul music became institutionalized, he would change his tune seeing how "School integration is much easier now that they share a common music, a common language and enjoy the same tunes," he said to black DJs at a convention. The first speech recorded by Gordy was in 1963.
Later, King filed a lawsuit against three recording companies, including Motown, to stop the spread of the "I Have a Dream" speech and demand proceeds from any earlier sales in order to protect its legacy and more closely manage the use of his already famous words.
(Source: https://time.com/5783939/mlk-jr-dream-speech-motown/; TIME recently released "The March", a virtual reality experience that takes participants back to that day in August 1963.)
Read more here at Time:
Neil Diamond's Musical Tribute
Neil Diamond and Robbie Robertson of The Band wrote 'Dry Your Eyes' for the album "Beautiful Noise" and were inspired by “how many people felt after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.”
Read about more musical tributes here:
Thank you for marking the day. Xo