Songs for the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King

Protest Songs

Mr. Fingers - Can U Feel It (a special version)
John Coltrane - Alabamba

what i was planning on putting up on the old blog Monday..

MARTIN LUTHER KING: In a sense, songs are the soul of a movement. Consider, in World War Two, Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition, and in World War One, Over There and Tipperary, and during the Civil War, Battle Hymn of the Republic and John Brown's Body. A Negro song anthology would include sorrow songs, shouts for joy, battle hymns, anthems. Since slavery, the Negro has sung throughout his struggle in America. Steal Away and Go Down, Moses were the songs of faith and inspiration which were sung on the plantations. For the same reasons the slaves sang, Negroes today sing freedom songs, for we, too, are in bondage. We sing out our determination that "We shall overcome, black and white together, we shall overcome someday." I should also mention a song parody that I enjoyed very much which the Negroes sang during our campaign in Albany, Georgia. It goes: "I'm comin', I'm comin' / And my head ain't bendin' low / I'm walkin' tall, I'm talkin' strong / I'm America's New Black Joe."

http://www.playboy.com/features/features/mlk/

"Take My Hand, Precious Lord."

I didn't know until I read exceprts of the new Taylor Branch book that King's last words were:

"Ben, make sure you play 'Precious Lord, Take My Hand' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2006/01/play_it_real_pr.asp

The Clash, "The Magnificent Seven"

Bob Dylan, "The Ballad of Emmett Till"

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/26/1350225

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE67B1EDD4AA87020D4813C4CC6B867F71AFE40F39A07304B52D9A67F4B82006ADB7AC28B97D3BF09F87BB0FE28BB580FD3CCA252F6DD6E373E8DFEC61D&sql=50:o1rc2f3y058a~T

http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2006/02/coretta_scott_k.asp

Rev. Charlie Jackson RIP

"Something about that song haunts you"
http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2006/06/something_about.asp

With which I would add:
The Maytals, "We Shall Overcome"
Marion Williams, "We Shall Overcome."

Some I hadn't even heard of:

http://blogs.citypages.com/ctg/2008/01/five_songs_abou_4.php

I see that one of my favourite song ever isn't mentioned: "People Get Ready" by The Impressions. One of the most beautiful tunes Curtis Mayfield ever wrote. The soul-jazz version by Wayne Henderson & The Freedom Sounds is pretty great too.

Anything new coming out of the Obama era?

Maybe nonviolence would be the wider net to cast here for more songs, particularly since there are so few people espousing it.

Fugazi, "The Argument"

Not really an argument against violence at all, but a beautiful description of the feeling of arguing with someone who basically thinks war is okay, described by somebody who basically think it's not.

There's a great track on this recent Roots of Hip-Hop: From the Church to Gangster collection: "Why I Like Roosevelt (Parts 1 and 2)" by the Soul Stirrers. It's from 1947, obviously pre-movement in the absolute sense, but a pretty good account of why FDR over Hoover. Pretty timely, actually.

Since you mentioned Ellington earlier in the thread, I'm gonna wholeheartedly recommend "Portrait of Mahalia Jackson" from New Orleans Suite even though it only fits the bill tangentially at best. It's the finest thing on a great album, though.

"Proud to Be Black" by Run-D.M.C. And maybe "Wake Up," too.

McG0n1g@l to thread.

"Star" by Primal Scream is probably the best example of this sort of thing.

Although God only knows how the Doctor would react to the "Proud to Be Black" line "And motherfucker, I could never be a slave, y'all."

Primal Scream "best" in what sense?

yeah that's a bit of o_0

That's a lot of o_0.

Uh, sarcasm bitchez.

..considering that, while I like most of that album just fine, that song makes me want to vomit a lung.

John Fahey "March! For Martn Luther King"

"Abraham, Martin & John" anyone?

x-post, wow, never heard the Dion song

Did I just hear U2 correct "early morning" to "early evening" for MLK's assassination in "Pride" at Obama's pre-inaugeration party concert? (I'm watching on HBO.)

Much more powerful moment of neck-chilling poignance/awkwardness (and this belongs on other threads too): Bono just said, "This is not just an American dream but an Irish dream... an African dream... an Israeli dream, and (long pause) a Palestinian dream."

Now Obama speaking...

(Oh, and U2 sang that "City of Blinding Lights" song, I think it's called, then Obama spoke.)

Then...

Pete Seeger, his son, Springsteen, and choir sing "This Land Is Your Land." Seeger's flannel shirt was untucked in back.

Then Beyonce singing "America the Beautiful" and celebrity chorus. Beyonce ends with saying "America we are one."

i saw a couple clips of that. stevie wonder playing, with the whole obama family dancing and clapping. obama speaking with lincoln looming behind him. totally got to me, stage-managed and all.

wow, they did the socialist verse of "this land."

(but you can't doubt the patriotism on display cuz that was followed immediately by "america the beautiful")

delayed reaction city but that "King's Holiday" video is amazing

The Frogs, "Holidays 4 King"

I just heard Nina Simone's "Go Limp" off the In Concert record for the first time in 20+ years, and ... wow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxM0izOy90Y

Some other freedom songs my sang to me when I was a kid:

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Set On Freedom
Which Side Are You On?
Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round
If You Miss Me At The Back Of The Bus

my *parents*, that is.

Stevie Wonder, "Happy Birthday"

Brad Paisley, "Welcome to the Future"

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Woke Up This Morning With My Mind Set On Freedom
Which Side Are You On?
Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round

my parents sang all these to me, too

i got to meet florence reece several times (the woman who wrote "which side are you on"), she used to live in knoxville

lotta photos of florence at the highlander center here - http://crdl.usg.edu/people/r/reece_florence_1900_1986/ (click "expand all")

You met Florence Reece? Wow. How old was she?

xpost The video to By the Time I Get to Arizona is a (very) potted history of the civil rights movement - interesting clash between the man being honoured and the violence of the lyric.

Nancy Dupree - Docta King (Spotify link, no Youtube)

Mostly late- and post-King era, but I've spent the last couple of months digging into anything I haven't already heard from this really excellent list (Right On! Classic Political Hard Soul-Funk Albums, Singles & LP-Tracks) because it's as sadly relevant today as it was when it was first released. Any additional recommendations along these lines are most welcome.

no Staple Singers on this thread wtf

"whole world is wondering/what's wrong with the United States"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wijlg4zM6g

I don't think Joe McPhee's Nation Time is on that list. But it should be. There's a lot of jazz from this era that captures this feeling while clearly not communicating an explicit message (e.g. Ornette Coleman's Skies of America, which feels like a grand apocalyptic statement re: the SOTU).

Here's my contribution!

alfred, link didn't work

My wife and I went to the MLK Shabbat Sabbath Visions of Freedom and Justice program at 6th & I synagogue in DC last night . It was inspiring. They had a Baptist church choir, Jewish 6th & I musicians and speakers from Baptist and Jewish congregations and elsewhere talking about lessons of Martin Luther King in light of the coming inauguration. Lots of references to historic and recent examples of suppression and of pain caused by that. Plus a discussion of how evil folks get the rest of us to fight against one another. “Skinfolk ain’t always kinfolk.” The rabbi also read a poem by a Los Angeles rabbi regarding the pain of those in Gaza and those who were hostages. One speaker referenced James Baldwin , history of Selma , Alabama , feminist scholar Audrey Lord. Plus a nice joke from a Shiloh Church Baptist minister who has been working in the Biden White House about how those attending the moved inauguration location indoors at the Capitol will already know where it is from their J6 visit to the capitol 4 years ago . It ended with all of us joining hands and singing "We Shall Overcome"