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Song Parodies -> "The Ballad of Martin King"
Original Song Title:
"The Ballad of Rodger Young"
Original Performer:
Frank Loesser
Parody Song Title:
"The Ballad of Martin King"
Parody Written by:
Barry J. Mitchel
The Lyrics
The year was 1968. The month was April. The final scene was in Memphis TN. I began to write this tribute on MLK Day a week ago, using TOS about an infantry private* who sacrificed his life so that his comrades could escape an ambush in WW II, meriting a posthumous Medal of Honor. MLK preached against violence but did not hide from it.
Oh, they’ve got a time for lore in black community.
Oh, they’ve got excuse for praises proud to sing,
Yet in ev'ry oldster’s heart, each opportunity
Shines the flame, binds the fame of Martin King.
Shines the name—Martin King!
Fought and died for the men who marched that Spring.
To the everlasting glory of their unity
Lives the story of Martin Luther King.
Haughty Jim Crow law was ancestry of stifled men—
Lustful raids by masked unseen ones in the gloom—
Caught in bondage till this son of splendid Bible men
Volunteered, though some feared he'd meet his doom.
Volunteered, Doctor King!
Brought new pride for the men who marched that Spring.
In the everlasting annals of black slavery
Glow the last deeds alive of Martin King.
It was he who drew the ire of white bigotry
That his generation then might live in light;
And deploring dread desire of hegemony—
Hooded Klan—stood the man who scaled new height.
Stood the man, Martin King;
Walked as guide for the men who marched that Spring.
By his clever tactics, morals and agility,
Breathed new spirit as striving marchers sing.
By the roads and bridge from Selma to Montgomery,
Stand some simple markers 'bossed on stone to tell
That beneath the silent florals marking memory,
Sleeps that man revered and remembered well.
Sleeps that man, Martin King,
Long denied mortal honors March could bring.
In the everlasting spirit of equality
Breathed the spirit of marching leader King.
He lay shot one time outdoors on motel balcony;
Oh, they'd plotted ruse for raised assassin's gun,
But it never dulled his parting call for victory.
Shines the name fine of Martin Senior's son.
Fell the slain Martin King;
Turned the tide for the men who marched that Spring.
From his everlasting core he taught civility;
Give the glory to martyred leader King.
Oh, they’ve got excuse for praises proud to sing,
Yet in ev'ry oldster’s heart, each opportunity
Shines the flame, binds the fame of Martin King.
Shines the name—Martin King!
Fought and died for the men who marched that Spring.
To the everlasting glory of their unity
Lives the story of Martin Luther King.
Haughty Jim Crow law was ancestry of stifled men—
Lustful raids by masked unseen ones in the gloom—
Caught in bondage till this son of splendid Bible men
Volunteered, though some feared he'd meet his doom.
Volunteered, Doctor King!
Brought new pride for the men who marched that Spring.
In the everlasting annals of black slavery
Glow the last deeds alive of Martin King.
It was he who drew the ire of white bigotry
That his generation then might live in light;
And deploring dread desire of hegemony—
Hooded Klan—stood the man who scaled new height.
Stood the man, Martin King;
Walked as guide for the men who marched that Spring.
By his clever tactics, morals and agility,
Breathed new spirit as striving marchers sing.
By the roads and bridge from Selma to Montgomery,
Stand some simple markers 'bossed on stone to tell
That beneath the silent florals marking memory,
Sleeps that man revered and remembered well.
Sleeps that man, Martin King,
Long denied mortal honors March could bring.
In the everlasting spirit of equality
Breathed the spirit of marching leader King.
He lay shot one time outdoors on motel balcony;
Oh, they'd plotted ruse for raised assassin's gun,
But it never dulled his parting call for victory.
Shines the name fine of Martin Senior's son.
Fell the slain Martin King;
Turned the tide for the men who marched that Spring.
From his everlasting core he taught civility;
Give the glory to martyred leader King.
*Rodger Wilton Young was a 7-year enlistee who asked to be demoted from sergeant rank; a boyhood fall had left him with failing hearing and eyesight that compromised his leadership.
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User Comments
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RWY enlisted in 1938 and was killed in 1943; that's 5 not 7 years. TOS was written in 1945.
From the corals of New Georgia in the Solomons
To the balcony in Memphis Tennessee
Lie the everlasting glory of the bravery
That allows us the priv'lege to be free.
To the balcony in Memphis Tennessee
Lie the everlasting glory of the bravery
That allows us the priv'lege to be free.
@D.S.: That's a good summary stanza, and I know that you must have followed my link to TOS. Thanks.
There are men ....and then.... there are the men of men, who will give there all for their fellow man..This should be hanging on the walls in public government buildings and everywhere ....so that all can see the good deeds of man
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