Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Playlist from: Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Remembering MLK

Wednesday MidDay Medley celebrated the life of human rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Born Jan. 15, 1929. MLK led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination thru civil disobedience and non-violent means.

By the time of his death in 1968, Dr. King had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 198I.

As Pete Seeger wrote: “Songs gave them the courage to believe they would not fail.”

1. Soweto Gospel Choir – “Pride (In The Name of Love)”
from: In the Name of Love – Africa Celebrates U2 / Shout! Factory Records / 2008

2. Labelle – “Something in The Air / The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
from: Something Silver / Warner Archives / 1997
[originally released on: “Pressure Cookin'” from 1973. The 3rd album from the funk/soul trio of: Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash who each shared a rap on “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. It was the B-side to Scott-Heron’s first single, “Home Is Where the Hatred Is”, from his album Pieces of a Man (1971). “Something in the Air” is a song orig. recorded by Thunderclap Newman, a band created by Pete Townshend for The Who’s former roadie John ‘Speedy’ Keen who wrote and sang the song. It was a UK #1 single for three weeks in July 1969.]

10:15 – Soul Brother…

3. Curtis Mayfield – “Beautiful Brother of Mine”
from: Roots / Curtom-Buddah / 1971

4. Maceo & The Macks – “Soul Power ’74”
from: James Brown’s Funky People, Pt. 2 / People Records / 1988
[a showcase for the tightest horn section in history, over an instrumental version of “Soul Power”. Not only is this particular record sampled continually by hip-hop artists, it contains samples itself in the form of tape overlays of civil rights rallies, a Dr. King speech, and an announcement of King’s assassination. Maceo Parker has played saxophone with James Brown, Parliment, Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell and Prince.]

5. Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Lamar Campbell, & Spirit of Praise
– “Ella’s Song”
from: Soundtrack to Boycott / HBO / 2001
[Boycott is the critically acclaimed 2001 HBO film staring Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Terrence Howard as Ralph Abernathy, and CCH Pounder as Jo Ann Robinson.]

10:30 – King’s Life, Death, and Spirit…

6. Darwin Hobbs & Karen Clark-Sheard – “King”
from: Soundtrack to Boycott / HBO / 2001

7. Mahalia Jackson – “Take My Hand Precious Lord”
from: Something to Believe In / Hear / 2002
[She sang this song at MLK Funeral]

8. Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter & Chorus-“Rocka My Soul”
from: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre “Revelations” / V2 / 1998

10:45 – Freedom…

9. Nina Simone -“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”
from: Silk and Soul / RCA / 1967

10. Solomon Burke – “None Of Us Are Free”
from: Don’t Give Up On Me / Fat Possum / 2002
[Back up singers: The Blind Boys of Alabama]

11. Nina Simone – “I Shall Be Released”
from: To Love Somebody / RCA / 1967

11:00 – The Staple Singers…

12. The Staple Singers – “When Will We Be Paid”
from: Single / Stax (Fantasy / Ace) / 1967

13. Mavis Staples – “Down in Mississippi”
from: Live – Hope At The Hideout / Anti / 2008
[Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mavis Staples, of The Staple Singers, is a celebrated equal rights activist. She’s performed at inaugural parties for Presidents Kennedy, Carter and Clinton, Recorded in June, 2008, in the run up to the Presidential election of Barrack Obama. Recorded live in the intimate bar The Hideout, in her hometown of Chicago. The record is filled with freedom songs. Mavis Staples, who marched and sang and protested alongside Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, saw her sense of hope validated on Nov. 4th, 2008 when Barrack Obama was elected President.]

14. Pops Staples – “You Gotta Serve Somebody”
from: e-town live volume 3 / e-town /
[orig. written by Bob Dylan. Rec. Sept. 16, 1994, Live in Boulder] [Roebuck “Pops” Staples was born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi, on December 28, 1914, the youngest of 14 children. When growing up he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton, who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation, Robert Johnson, and Son House. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, and sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935. A “pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s,” and an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. Patriarch of The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha.]

11:15 – Gospel & Folk Music Carried the Message…

15. Thelonius Monk Septet – “Abide With Me”
from: Monk’s Music / Riverside / 1957
[written by William Henry Monk, an organist, church musician, and music editor, born March 16, 1823 and died March 18, 1889. He composed a fair number of popular hymns, including one of the most famous from nineteenth century England, “Eventide,” used for the hymn “Abide with Me.” He also wrote a number of anthems.]

16. Pete Seeger – “We Shall Overcome”
from: The Essential Pete Seeger / Columbia – Legacy / 2004
[derived from a gospel song by Reverend Charles Tindley called “We Will Overcome” written in 1901. Adapted and made famous by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and others the song became central to the civil rights movement of the 1950 and 1960s and eventually used all around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made use of “we shall overcome” in the final Sunday March 31, 1968 speech before his assassination.]

17. Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion – “Dr. King”
from: exploration / New West / 2005 [written by Pete Seeger]

18. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – “This Land is Your Land”
from: Naturally / Daptone / 2005
[written by Woody Guthrie, Sarah Lee’s Grandfather.]

11:30 – Singer Songwriters…

19. Kris Kristofferson – “They Killed Him”
from: Kris Kristofferson: “Singer / Songwriter” / Sony / 1991

20. Robert Coleman Trussell – “Days of Jubilee”
from: Juice and Jive / Goodnight-Loving / 2008

21. Laura Love – “Hard Times”
from: You Ain’t Got No Easter Clothes / Koch / 2004

11:45 – Brothers…

22. Isley Brothers – “Brother, Brother, Brother”
from: Brotherhood / Hear Music / 2006

23. The Holmes Brothers – “Promised Land”
from: Promised Land / Rounder / 1997

24. The Chambers Brothers – “People Get Ready”
from: The Time Has Come / Columbia / 1967
[written by Curtis Mayfield]

11:59:30

25. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
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http://www.kkfi.org

Show #456
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Quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

A lie cannot live.

A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.

The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

We have guided missiles and misguided men.

When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.

Sources for Notes: Artist’s websites noted above and wikipedia.org