Fall of the Peacemakers

[Zomby Woof]

The January of 1983 thread reminded of my favorite song released that month (and one for all time, for that matter), which was written in dedication to both Martin Luther King and John Lennon. Notice the lyrical references to both - "A king without a sword" and "free at last" and "Imagine". This was written in sorrow for all of those felled by assassins, and fought for peace.

From Molly Hatchet (yep, southern rockers weren't freepers, Charlie Daniels notwithstanding), and written by band member Dave Hlubek, this one is a beautiful song, for MLK on his birthday:



A king without a sword, a land without a king
A truth without a voice, one song left to sing
One song to sing

A wise man told me there's something you should know
The way you judge a man is you look into his soul
And you'll soon see everything

A voice from the past cried give peace a chance
He paid our price, now he's free at last
And imagine, we called him a dreamer

How many times must good men die
How many tears will the children cry
'Til we suffer no more sadness
Stop the madness, oh, stop the madness

If ashes are ashes and dust is dust
At our journey's end, then return we must
To the sands of the shore

White doves in flight, peace to all
But tell me why the peacemakers fall?
Must we bury any more?

A hush stilled the crowd as the horse rode by
A black-laced veil hid the tears from our eyes
And we all wept in silence

How many times must good men die
How many times will the children cry
'Til we suffer no more sadness
Oh, stop the madness, oh, stop all the madness

[intheflow]

1. Great post, ZW. Here are two more MLK songs:

Beautiful Fool
Don Henry (Sung by Kathy Mattea)

Martin Luther who did you think that you were?
Appointed by some higher up
Merely mortal, your plans were unaffordable
No one wants to pay for love

Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin up stream, kickin' up waves
Dreams weren't meant to come true
That's why they call 'em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool

Walter Cronkite pre-empted Disney one night
And all us kids were so upset
We thought that you were a trouble instigator
Marchin' through our T.V. set

Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin up stream, kickin' up waves
Dreams weren't meant to come true
That's why they call 'em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool

To fight a fight without a fist all human instinct puzzles this
How dare you threaten our existence
Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, history repeats itself so nice
Consistently we are resistant to love
I saw you on the black and white
With Blacks and White's applauding you I saw you on another time
Without a sign of life in you

Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin up stream, kickin' up waves
Dreams weren't meant to come true
That's why they call 'em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool

Shed A Little Light
James Taylor

Let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

(chorus)
Shed a little light, oh lord
So that we can see
Just a little light, oh lord
Wanna stand it on up
Stand it on up, oh lord
Wanna walk it on down
Shed a little light, oh lord

Can’t get no light from the dollar bill
Don’t give me no light from a tv screen
When I open my eyes
I wanna drink my fill
From the well on the hill

(do you know what I mean? )
- chorus -

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood

[Zomby Woof]

2. Awesome!

I need to hear all of those!

Now we just need someone to post U2's "Pride In The Name Of Love", or any others we may have missed. :-)

[Zomby Woof]

3. .

[SOteric]

4. Abraham, Martin And John

by Dion



Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.

Didn'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
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

[Zomby Woof]

5. Ah yes

Haven't heard that in ages. Thank you!