Song of the Day: Otis Spann “Blues For Martin Luther King”

The importance of Martin Luther King Jr. as a moral, economic and social justice thinker cannot be understated. In many ways, King (along with many of the other leaders and organizers of the Civil Rights movement) is the moral conscience of America. Much of what he had to say continues to have incredible and important resonance to this day. King‘s murder in 1968 by a racist thug is one of the darkest moments in American history.

The great blues piano man, Otis Spann, captures the horror and desolation of the loss of King in his deep and moving song “Blues for Martin Luther King”. While Spann (who is probably best known as a sideman to Chicago blues legend Muddy Waters) was not known as a singer, this song was so personally important to him that he opted to sing it himself. As an African American who grew up in the Jim Crow South before moving to Chicago, one can only imagine what King‘s actions (and the wider Civil Rights Movement) meant to Spann and how personally he must have felt the loss.

MLK Day not only commemorates King, but the vision of the more just society that he stood for. While it is nice to have the day off work, I think it is also important to take some time today to think about what King really stood for and to consider how you can and are making positive change in your own life.

Everyone at DJ D-Mac & Associates would like to wish you a happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!