King’s Dream

©2005 Garrett Clevenger

A       Martin Luther King had a dream. (had a dream)
D       Out of the valley we came. (we came)
A       Standing together for justice. (for justice)
D       Holding one another's hands and singing,
E        "Rise up, my nation. Let freedom ring.
A       March with us and be peaceful scene."

A       His voice trembled with passion. (with passion)
D       All of us were humbled by his words. (by his words)
A       Even God heard him speak. (heard him speak)
D       Yes, the Lord was also made to weep. (made to weep)
E        ‘"We all our endowed by our Maker.
A       ‘We hold these truths to be self evident."’

Chorus:
D   A   Martin Luther King’s dream will always be
D   A   a part of our heart and reality.
D A     Though the road is long,
D A     we all know the song and our
E   A   voice paves the way for Love, we pray.

A       All people are created equal
D       and equality’s for all. (is for all)
A       ‘Judge not by the color of skin,
D       ‘but by content of character. (of character)
E        ‘With this faith we hue out of the mountain of despair
A       ‘the stone of hope to crack the hatred there.’

A       ‘Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate
D       ‘valley of hate to the
A        ‘sunlit path of racial justice. (justice)
D       ‘Now's the time to open the doors of opportunity to
E        ‘all of God's children. Now is the time to
A       ‘lift our nation from the quicksands.’

{chorus}

A       ‘This will be the day when all of God's children will
D       ‘sing with new meaning, (with new mean- ing)
A       ‘"My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty,
D       ‘of thee I sing. (of thee I sing)
E        ‘Land where our Fathers died, ‘land of the pilgrim's pride,
A       ‘from the mountainside, let freedom ring."’

A       "Free at last! Free at last!
D       Thank God Almighty, we are free! (we are free)
A       "Free at last! Free at last!
D       Thank God Almighty, we are free! (free at last) at
E        last we are free with dignity."
A       Thanks to Martin Luther King's dream.

{chorus}

last verse

E   A   Thanks to Martin Luther King's dream.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands
at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

MLK


A King dreams ‘that one day every
D ‘valley shall be exalted, (ex- al- ted)
A ‘every hill and mountain shall be made low, the
D ‘rough places will be made plain, (made plain)
E ‘and the crooked places will be made straight, and the
A ‘glory of the Lord shall be revealed.’

rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

have a dream that one day this nation will I have a dream today.

that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time -- the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.

If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

philosophy of nonviolent social protest.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.