USA TODAY International Edition
How music carried the dream
In 12 songs, a soundtrack to the civil rights era
Martin Luther King Jr.’ s “I Have a Dream” speech was the heart and soul of the March on Washington, the historic gathering that drew 250,000 to the nation’s capital 50 years ago today.
Like most big social and political events before and after, it had a soundtrack. Musicians at the rally whipped up fervor for racial equality, perhaps none more crucially than Mahalia Jackson. She, along with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Odetta, Marian Anderson and Peter, Paul & Mary, sang tunes befitting the occasion, but the gospel singer also played a pivotal role in King’s performance.
After King wrapped up his prepared text, Jackson shouted, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” King set aside his notes and extemporaneously delivered the most famous speech of the 20th century.
A dozen songs with ties to the 1963 march:
Sister Rosa. The Neville Brothers tune focuses on Rosa Parks, the black seamstress who refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955 in Montgomery, Ala. Her defiant act was one of the sparks of the civil rights era and King’s activism, and it led to a 381- day boycott that ended bus segregation. Parks was in the crowd at the 1963 march.
Only a Pawn in Their Game. Dylan wrote this about the assassination of activist Medgar Evers — the catalyst for the 1963 march — and sang it at the march podium months before it was released on The Times They are a- Changin’. It stirred controversy for suggesting that Evers’ killer shared responsibility for the crime with the wealthy elite who pitted poor whites against blacks.
Mississippi Goddam. Evers’ slaying also inspired an angry response from Nina Simone in her song about naïve churches and a dawdling government. She wrote it the night Evers died, hours after hearing President Kennedy address the nation. The bitter song hurt the jazz singer’s career for several years.
We Shall Overcome. Adapted from Charles Tingley’s 1900 gospel song I’ll Overcome Some Day and popularized by Pete Seeger and Baez, this became a global civil rights anthem. Bruce Springsteen’s version, from 2006’ s Seeger Sessions, conveys the passion of King’s message.
All My Trials. Part folk song, part spiritual, All My Trials expressed both the weariness and optimism of the struggle for freedom in the ’ 50s and ’ 60s. In the adapted Bahamian lullaby, a dying mother comforts her children. Baez sang it at the march.
Oh Freedom. Odetta sang this at the march ( with its gutsy line “Before I’ll be a slave, I’ll be buried in my grave, and go home to my Lord and be free”), along with Come and Go With Me to That Land and I’m on My Way. The Alabama- born Odetta, whom King anointed “the queen of American folk music,” died in 2008. She was Parks’ favorite singer.
Eyes on the Prize. Its origins unknown, Prize was tooled for the civil rights movement in the 1950s by Alice Wine, who altered verses, and performed at the march by Dylan. Mavis Staples submits one of the era’s more potent versions.
I’ve Been Buked, and I’ve Been
Scorned. Jackson fired up the D. C. throng with this stinging spiritual. Ebony editor Lerone Bennett later wrote: “There is a nerve that lies beneath the smoothest of black exteriors, a nerve 400 years old and throbbing with hurt and indignation. ... The button- down men in front and the old women in the back came to their feet screaming and shouting. They had not known that this thing was in them and that they wanted it touched. From different places, in different ways, with different dreams, they had come and now, hearing this sung, they were one.”
How I Got Over. Jackson also sang this hymn, which was composed in 1951 by Clara Ward after she and others driving to Atlanta were stopped and taunted by white men who were furious that blacks were
riding in a Cadillac. They fled after Ward’s mother pretended to be possessed. The Blind Boys of Alabama recorded a stunning version on 2008’ s Down in New Orleans.
People Get Ready. King’s speech and the march moved Curtis Mayfield to write this hopeful, soulful tune for The Impressions, who scored a hit in 1965. King was a fan of the song, which became a staple at rallies and was covered by many, including Al Green, Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Sting, Prince and Glen Campbell.
Long Walk to D. C. Best known for gospel and soul, the Staple Singers sang many freedom songs, including 1968’ s rousing tribute to the march written by Homer Banks and produced by Steve Cropper. “It’s a long walk to D. C., but I got my walkin’ shoes on,” Mavis sings.
A Dream. Common raps about the continuing struggle for equality on a 2006 song from the Freedom Writers soundtrack. King’s speech is sampled on the track, featuring producer will. i. am, who contributes to the chorus, “My dream is to be free.”