With the impending holiday and the inauguration of Hope, I decided to queue up "MLK" by U2. I'm feeling really self-conscious giving any attention to a band who has had all too much, but this is a great song and an old song, so please withhold your judgement.
After one play through (a short 2:32) I played it again. And a third, and fourth time. Then I opened Wikipedia. The article had some important tidbits, including that it was the original selection for the closing sequence of Donnie Darko, but factoids can't begin to describe the feelings invoked by a song like this. So here's my attempt.
The long, quiet streets of Chicago are parabolically lit by yellow street lamps, a poor excuse for a sun long set. You can follow their path from north to south and ask yourself why there is such a contrasting divide in development, in income, in color. "It's an injustice!" I cry, when others listen, but I will never move south of 35th. I can sleep soundly because I have seen my dreams come true with little effort. I do not lie awake and ponder how my ancestors loosed the chains from the arms of a people but did not grasp their hands. I do not wonder why though my ancestors relented to share their drinking fountains, they are slow to fix the water mains of New Orleans. I do not ask these questions because I know the answers, and I know that I am just as selfish as the men I wish to condemn. May it be your children who sleep soundly, Dr. King. May their dreams be realized, even at my expense. Especially at my expense.
Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down on him
Mmm...mmm...mmm...
So let it be
Mmm...mmm...mmm...
So let it be
Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on him
