Remembering DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. on his Official Celebration Day Monday, January 19, 2026
“I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead but it really doesn’t matter with me now
Because I have been to the mountaintop.
I don’t mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.
Longevity has its place.
But I’m not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God’s will
And he has allowed me to go up to the mountaintop
And I have looked over
And I have 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.
So I’m happy tonight.
I’m not worried about anything.
I’m not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have seen
The Glory
Of the coming of the Lord” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., April 3, 1968 at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, 24 hours before he was shot dead while standing outside on the second floor balcony of Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. He was just 39 years old.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – 39 years old when he was shot dead April 4, 1968
Malcolm X – 39 years old when he was shot dead February 21, 1965
Sam Cooke – 33 years old when he was shot dead December 11, 1964
John F. Kennedy – 46 years old when he was shot dead November 22, 1963
Robert F. Kennedy – 42 years old when he was shot dead June 6, 1968
Mahatma Gandhi – 78 years old when he was shot dead January 30, 1948
John Lennon – 40 years old when he was shot dead December 8, 1980
Abraham Lincoln – 56 when he was shot dead April 15, 1865
Charlie Kirk – 31 years old when he was shot dead September 10, 2025
Renee Good – 37 years old when she was shot dead January 7, 2026
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THE MUSIC:
A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke https://music.apple.com/ca/album/a-change-is-gonna-come/1440771554?i=1440773321 Written solely by Cooke himself with an arrangement by Cooke’s own personal arranger Rene Hall (“I wanted it to be the greatest thing in my life”) the side was recorded on January 30, 1964 at RCA Studio in Hollywood, California.
Cooke first performed ” A Change Is Gonna Come” on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson on February 7, 1964. Cooke initially objected to performing the song that evening on Carson when prompted to by his manager Allen Klein. Cooke noted that the album’s release was still one month away and that he had no time to pull together an arrangement within such a short time frame. Klein arranged for RCA to pay for a full string section and Cooke performed the song that Friday on The Tonight Show. Sadly the network did not save the the tape of the performance. Cooke’s appearance on Carson that night was overshadowed by The Beatles performance on The Ed Sullivan Show just two days later.
The song was issued March 1, 1964 as a track on what would be Cooke’s final studio album Ain’t That Good News. It would not be issued as a single for another nine months, following Cooke’s murder.
Cooke elected never to perform the song ever again following its one and only performance on The Tonight Show, both because of the complexity of the arrangement and also because of the ominous nature of the song.
On December 11, 1964, two weeks before the single was releases, Sam Cooke was fatally shot at the Hacienda Motel at 91st and South Figueroa streets, 9141 South Figueroa Street in South Central Los Angeles, California.
*Little Flame by Carsie Blanton https://music.apple.com/ca/album/the-little-flame-single/1854904398 released December 5, 2025. There is nothing out now more current and timely to our age than this. Known for delivering songs with an equal dose of moxie and mischief, Carsie Blanton’s music brings audiences together in joyful celebration of everything worth fighting for. Her other recent releases “Rich People” and “Ugly Nasty Commie Bitch” showcase her unique blend of politics and catchy melodies. Little Flame is, simply put, the Blowing In The Wind of our generation.
*Special thanks to perhaps the finest Canadian songwriter you may never have had the privilege of hearing, Canning, Nova Scotia based Kim Barlow https://music.apple.com/ca/album/gingerbread/1617914083 who was the first to direct us towards the hope and inspiration of Carsie Blanton and her spiritual Anthem For Our Times “Little Flame”