5 Songs For Martin Luther King Jr. Day

5. Like A King - Ben Harper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWYX8f9Qot4 This soulful and bluesy song from Harper's debut album Welcome To The Cruel World is not only about Martin Luther King, Jr. but it draws parallels to Rodney King, a victim of police brutality in the early 1990's. The rootsy tune disguises the bitter and angry lyrics as Harper scowls "A legal lynch mob like the days strung up from the tree. The L.A.P.D.". Parts of the song are subtle and biting, but this lyric is so direct. Harper chants Rodney King's name over and over before exclaiming "I wish you could help us Dr. King". Harper's lyrics are soulful and assured, his words full of anger but the music sounds like folk song from the 60's. It is such an aggressive and effective song as Harper claims that not much has changed from the 60's to the 90's as he says "When we will look to the past, look to the past to learn? I wish..." and it was certainly a feeling running through Los Angeles at the time when four police officers were acquitted of assaulting Rodney King, which would lead into the Los Angeles riots in 1992. Harper's scathing social attack came at a time when America was at its most vulnerable, but the song remains vulnerable as well as violent. Harper's balance of the past with modern America adds potency, asking and wishing for Dr. King's help all the while justly lamenting the brutality of the LAPD.