John Coltrane wrote the song Alabama in response to the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where four little girls between 11 and 14 years of age were killed. The song is patterned on Martin Luther King's funeral speech, Coltrane's playing mimicking the cadences of Dr. King's speech. Towards the end of the song, Elvin Jones's drumming rises from a whisper to a pounding rage, mirroring the transformation of King's speech from mourning into a statement of renewed determination for the struggle against racism. He wanted this crescendo to signify the rising of the civil rights movement.
On this weekend when media pundits and crowds of angry, white protesters will attempt to defile Dr. King's legacy, I offer you "Alabama" as a Video Worth Watching.
1 comment:
This IS always a great song, thanks!
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