Monday Meditation #30: MLK
MLK is the final track on U2′s 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. The song is a sort of eulogy for a great man (think “sleep” referring to his death and “may your dreams be realized” referring to the famous I Have A Dream speech).
MLK
Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down him
So let it be
So let it beSleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on him
I am no expert, but did you know that the Hebrew letters מלך (mlk) can stand for melek (king)? Traditional Hebrew texts do not have imbedded vowels. I find this to be a remarkable coincidence, especially considering that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s grandfather, James Albert King, “was never a religious man.” You have to be careful not to draw out the connection too far, since mlk was also the name of a pagan god whose worship included fiery sacrifices of children.
However, with the second track, Pride (In the Name of Love), also being about King, I wonder if Bono had some kind of a double-entendre in mind when he titled the album, The Unforgettable Fire? The story goes that the record’s title came from a series of paintings that the band had viewed, which were done by survivors of the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There happened to also be a concurrent exhibition at the museum on Martin Luther King, Jr., a man that continues to inspire our nation nearly thirty-nine years after his death—truly he was an unforgettable fire.
I am getting off track (it is easy to do that when you are a U2 fan), which originally was to ask if you think that Dr. King’s dream is being realized today?
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!— M.L.K., “I Have a Dream” Address delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963
Ahh i love discussions about U2 lyrics.
Hold Me. Thrill me. Kiss me. Kill me.
On the video there is a reference to “The Screwtape Letters” by C. S. Lewis…that is as far as i got on that one.. The song definatley seems to discribe the struggle of Bono and his celebrity status.
Rattle and Hum, God Part II
Many refernces to Lenon, and the way Lenon viewed Love as a central inspiration for every action in a human.
Interesting., just prior to the section of the speech quoted, he makes references to various places with the plea: “let freedom ring”. One of those mentioned was “From Lookout Mountain of Tennessee, let freedom ring”. I have often wondered what he thought of Lookout Mtn – he perhaps had in mind its wealth and power.
@Rob: Interesting. I bet that Bono has quite a different view of what “Love” means (or where it comes from) than Lennon did, don’t you think?
@DAM: I’m sure he did have that in mind. Have you read “Old South, New Money” yet?