Two Songs for Dr. King

If I Can Help Somebody

If I can help somebody as I pass along
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song
If I can show somebody they're traveling wrong
Then my living shall not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a Christian ought
If I can bring back beauty to a world up wrought
If I can spread love's message that the Master taught
Then my living shall not be in vain.

Then my living shall not be in vain
Then my living shall not be in vain
If I can help somebody as I pass along
Then my living shall not be in vain.

--a favorite song of Dr. King's, famously recorded by Mahalia Jackson.

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Tell Him Not to Talk Too Long

If you're around when I meet my day
Don't want a long funeral
And if somebody delivers the eulogy
Tell him not to talk too long.

Just say I tried to feed the hungry
Tried to love somebody
If you're around when I meet my day
Tell him not to talk too long.

Put my casket on an old wagon
Drawn by two fine mule
Bury me in my hometown, Atlanta Georgia
Tell him not to talk too long.

Tell him not to talk too long.

--Mary Lou Williams' 1969 interpretation of a famous speech of Dr. King's. You can hear it on Mary Lou's Mass.

More here on Dr. King and the arts.

image credit: ucr.edu

Happy King Day, friends.