Tomorrow marks the first time I’ve every had the day off for Martin Luther King day. It didn’t become an official holiday until after I got out of school and started my own business. Being self-employed I took work where I could find it and there were plenty of people to work for who didn’t take that day off. Now that I’m working for a school district I get the holiday off and I’m here to provide some appropriate music for the occasion.

Warrior King “What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye)
Marvin Gaye’s concept album is about a Viet Nam war vet who returns home to a country he doesn’t understand. The title track deals with the upheaval of the 60s in general, including the civil rights movement. And it sounds good as a reggae song.

Vanilla Fudge “People Get Ready” (The Impressions)
This song really captured the excitement and optimism of the civil rights movement. Here we have a bunch of white guys from Long Island giving it the baroque psychedelic treatment.

Bruce Springsteen “We Shall Overcome” (Pete Seeger)
Pete Seeger’s song was written for the labor movement back when striking workers were getting their heads cracked open by Pinkerton goons hired by the factory owners. But its idea that the rightness of the cause would result in an inevitable victory translated well to the civil rights era and it became an unofficial anthem of that movement as well. I’m not a big fan of Bruce Springsteen but he does a good job with this one.

Ted Lennon “The Times They Are A-Changin'” (Bob Dylan)
Another song dealing with the turmoil of the 60s. It’s one of those Classic Rock staples that has become musical wallpaper over the years, but Ted Lennon plays it in a way that’s hard to ignore.

Afro Blue “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Sam Cooke)
Sam Cooke was hopeful but also acknowledged the struggle and adversity that went along with the struggle for change. This tasty a capella version apparently comes from a TV program called The Sing-Off that I had never heard of before now. I might need to start watching that one.