The year was '63
In protest we marched on Birmingham and DC
The words of Dr. King
Moving us to let freedom ring!
No choice but to succeed
He stood on those steps and gave a voice to our need
Redeem and integrate every single school, every state.
We yearned for suffrage, expression by a vote
And equity in the workplace
Our lives we could promote
One day to look past the color of our skin
To character and our content within, the way it should have been.
On this we could agree
Above other needs we wanted NOW to be free
We marched from far and wide
Under Dr. King, unified.
Languished in the corners
We felt
Exiled
In our land
So we had to make a stand!
(Although I wasn't around when this happened, I studied Dr. King's famous address to gain a fraction of understanding and an appreciation for the passion that moved these people to work together.)
I wrote these lyrics for the Horace Silver tune "Nica's Dream" to sing in my 2nd year recital at Jazz School (which was Massey University and is now the New Zealand School of Music).
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