
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King in 1964 (Photo: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. Photo by Herman Hiller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
For the iconic civil rights advocate, music and social justice went hand in hand. In his 1964 book Why We Can’t Wait, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discussed the important role music played during Civil Rights rallies, calling songs “the soul of the movement.” That same year, he wrote an essay for the inauguration of the Berlin Jazz Festival that praised the unifying power of jazz and blues. Jazz musicians, he believed, were to be celebrated for speaking about racial identity long before scholars did, but also for representing joy and inspiring community.
“Jazz speaks for life,” wrote Dr. King, “they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.”
From his childhood, music played an important role in Dr. King’s life. His mother, Alberta King, was a singer, instrumentalist, and director of the church choir at Ebenezer Baptist church, where he learned his favorite hymns. Dr. King’s wife, Coretta, was also heavily involved in music. She was a soprano and instrumentalist (piano, trumpet, violin) who graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music. Together, the couple would organize “Freedom Concerts” for the Civil Rights movement, inspiring more and more artists to write songs of social justice.
1964 was a turning point for both Dr. King and the Civil Rights movement. King was appointed TIME Magazine’s Man of the Year, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was finally signed into law. With the battle for equality gaining more traction, music was more important than ever to keep momentum going.
But what were the tunes that directly inspired one of history’s greatest leaders? Here at WFMT, we’ve created a playlist of the tunes Dr. King could have been listening to in 1964 - from contemplative hymns, to tunes for dancing, and more of his favorite things.
Traditional: We Shall Overcome
Some of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite songs were traditional Baptist Methodist hymns, particularly ones sung during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. “We Shall Overcome” was one of the movement’s biggest hymns; its use as a protest song originated in the Highlander Folk School of the 1940s, during their battles against segregation in labor. The school would later host desegregation workshops that were attended by many of the most famous 1960s civil rights leaders, from Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King Jr.
Ella Fitzgerald & Chick Webb: I’m Just a Jitterbug
Did you know that Martin Luther King Jr. had a strong love of dancing? In fact, his younger brother A.D. King remarked that, in high school, Dr. King was “just about the best jitterbug in town."
This early tune by Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb was not named specifically by Dr. Martin Luther King, but the song was very popular in his youth.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: This Train
While “This Train” was already a fairly well-known American folk song, it was Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s interpretation that made the song take off. Her joyful interpretation and mischievous stage presence stole the hearts of Black and white audiences alike in a time when audiences were often segregated. Singers like Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson were among Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite artists.
The Staples Singers: Why? (Am I Treated So Bad?)
Dr. King met the Staples Singers in 1963, during a Civil Rights meeting in Montgomery, Alabama. The encounter prompted the family band to begin writing protest songs, ones that would often accompany various marches or be present at Freedom Concerts. According to Mavis Staples, “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?” was a particular favorite of Dr. King’s. “Any time we were together,” Staples recalled in an interview with WTTW, “[Dr. King] would say, ‘Stape, you gonna sing my song tonight, right?’ Pops said, ‘Yeah, we gonna sing it, Doctor, we gonna sing it.’”
Nina Simone and Langston Hughes: Backlash Blues
This powerful protest song from 1967 was co-written by musician Nina Simone and poet Langston Hughes. Dr. King was friends with Langston Hughes, often quoting the influential poet in his speeches and corresponding until Hughes' passing in 1967. Dr. King’s relationship with Nina Simone was not so close; they met at a Civil Rights rally in 1965, but didn’t agree on each other’s methodology. That being said, the two still had a respect for each other.
John Coltrane: Alabama
While Dr. King never mentioned John Coltrane by name in any of his speeches, he was keenly aware of the jazz scene and the power that jazz had in perpetuating civil rights messaging. “Alabama” by John Coltrane sent a particularly powerful message. Coltrane wrote the piece in dedication to the four girls murdered in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King decried the terrorist attack as “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.”
Traditional: There is a Balm in Gilead
This traditional church hymn is one that was close to Dr. King’s heart, particularly during times of trouble. His wife, classically trained singer and instrumentalist Coretta Scott King, said that Dr. King would quote this particular verse whenever he needed encouragement:
Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my work’s in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.
Various hymns of Easter
Easter was one of Dr. King’s favorite holidays, particularly due to the holiday’s message of rebirth. In a 1957 sermon, he specifically noted the power of such hymns as "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" and "In Christ There is No East or West" as well as words from the "Hallelujah Chorus" of Handel's Messiah.
We’ve included in our playlist John Fahey’s interpretation of “In Christ There is No East or West”, as well as a Chicago Sinfonietta performance of the Hallelujah chorus from Messiah. The Chicago Sinfonietta might not have existed in fact if it wasn’t for Dr. King! According to the founder of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Paul Freeman, the two met at an Atlanta airport while waiting for a flight. King asked what Freeman was doing in Atlanta; the later replied he was here to conduct the Atlanta Symphony. “Ah, the last bastion of elitism.” King is said to have jokingly replied. “Glory, Hallelujah!” With those words, Dr. King planted a seed in Freeman’s mind - a vision of an orchestra with members from every race and background. The dream came to fruition in 1987 when he founded the Chicago Sinfonietta.
Sam Cooke: A Change is Gonna Come
Sam Cooke’s quintessential Civil Rights song was released only a few months after Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and quickly grew in popularity. King and Cooke met only briefly after the song was released, but their mutual admiration was so great that Cooke organized a group of artists and release a record to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) working to promote equality. Unfortunately, Cooke was murdered two weeks before the song was released as a standalone single. Cooke would never get to see the full extent of its impact on the Civil Rights movement.
Clara Ward: How I Got Over
This gospel tune was sung by Mahalia Jackson at the 1963 March on Washington. By this point, Jackson and MLK were becoming fast friends; he would often invite her to perform prior to meetings. Jackson’s performance on the Lincoln Memorial steps — and her call to “tell then about the dream” — inspired Dr. King to go off script, resulting in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Alma Androzzo: If I Can Help Somebody
Though the tune is now most often associated with Mahalia Jackson, it was classically trained soprano, composer and pianist Alma Androzzo who first penned this gospel hit during the Great Depression. It’s a song that touched Dr. King deeply. He even used the lyrics to conclude his “Drum Major Instinct” sermon of February 4, 1968.
Duke Ellington: "Come Sunday" from Black, Brown, and Beige
Duke Ellington first composed “Come Sunday” to be used as the first movement of his extended jazz work called Black, Brown and Beige, which symbolically told the history of African-Americans in the United States. The piece debuted at Carnegie Hall in 1943. But “Come Sunday” quickly took on a life of its own. Ellington carried out numerous arrangements of the song, including one for Dr. King’s favorite singer, Mahalia Jackson.
Thomas A. Dorsey: Take My Hand, Precious Lord
If there’s any one hymn to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by, it is this one. “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” has been immortalized as one of the Civil Rights leader’s favorite songs. Moments before he was killed on a hotel balcony, King had asked his friend and saxophone player Ben Branch if he would play “Precious Lord” at the rally planned for that evening. It would be played that night, and as part of various memorial services in the days that followed Dr King’s death. Yet despite its somber nature, it seems as though King never saw it as a song of despair: rather, he viewed the tune calling out to God as a sign of hope, a way of gathering strength before carrying on to fight for what is right.
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