Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead) - Unedited version from original live concert

We want to do a tune
 Written for today
 For this hour
 For Dr. Martin Luther King
 We've stated before that the whole program is dedicated to his memory
 But this tune is written about him, and for him and so
 We had yesterday to learn it and
 So we'll see
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 Once upon this planet Earth
 Lived a man of humble birth
 Preaching love and freedom for his fellow men
 He was dreaming of a day
 Peace would come to Earth to stay
 And he spread this message all across the land
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 Turn the other cheek, he'd plead
 Love thy neighbor was his creed
 Pain, humiliation, death, he did not dread
 
 With his Bible at his side
 From his foes he did not hide
 
 It's hard to think that this great man is dead
 (Oh yes)
 ♪
 Will the murders never cease?
 Are they men or are they beasts?
 What do they ever hope, ever hope to gain?
 Will my country fall, stand or fall?
 Is it too late for us all?
 ♪
 And did Martin Luther King just die in vain?
 ♪
 'Cuz he'd seen the mountaintop
 And he knew he could not stop
 Always living with the threat of death ahead
 Folks, you'd better stop and think
 'Cuz we're heading for the brink
 What will happen now that he is dead?
 ♪
 He was for equality
 For all people, you and me
 Full of love and good will, hate was not his way
 
 He was not a violent man
 Bigotry had sealed his fate
 We can all shed tears, but it won't change a thing
 ♪
 Teach your people, will they ever learn?
 Must you always kill with burn and burn with guns
 And kill with guns and burn?
 Don't you know how we gotta react?
 Don't you know what it will bring?
 But he'd seen the mountaintop
 ♪
 And he knew he could not stop
 ♪
 Always living with the threat of death ahead
 Folks, you'd better stop and think
 Cause everybody knows were on the brink
 What's will happen now that the king is dead?
 'Cause see, he'd seen the mountaintop
 ♪
 And he knew he could not stop
 Always living with the threat of death ahead
 Folks, you'd better stop and think and feel again
 For we're headed for the brink
 What's gonna happen now in all of our cities?
 My people are rising
 They're living in lies
 Even if they have to die
 Even if they have to die at the moment that they know what life is
 (Yeah)
 ♪
 Even at that one moment that ya know what life is
 If you have to die, it's all right
 'Cause you know what life is
 You know what freedom is
 For one moment of your life
 What's gonna happen now that the king of love is dead?
 Um, I heard
 That, um
 Well, we've heard all kinds of stories
 But I heard that
 This was his favorite song
 At least at the near the end of his life
 Last year, a year ago
 Maybe more, longer than that now
 Lorraine Hansberry left us, and she was a dear friend, and
 
 She had her favorite song
 Then Langston Hughes left us
 Coltrane left us
 Otis Redding left us
 Who can go on? Do you realize how many we have lost?
 ♪
 Then it really gets down to reality, doesn't it?
 Not a performance
 Not microphones and all that crap
 But really something else
 We've lost a lot of them
 In the last two years
 But we have remaining Monk, Miles
 (Nina!)
 I love you too
 And of course, for those that we have left we are thankful
 But we can't afford any more losses
 Oh no, oh my God
 They're shooting us down one by one
 Don't forget that
 Because they are
 Killing us one by one
 Well, all I have to say is that
 Those of us who know how to protect those of us that we love
 Stand by them and stay close to them
 And I say that if there'd been a couple of more a little closer to Dr. King he wouldn't have got it
 You know, really
 Just a little closer to him, stay there, stay there
 We can't afford any more losses
 ♪
 He had seen the mountaintop
 And he knew he could not stop
 Always living with the threat of death ahead
 C'mon, sound
 ♪
 Folks, you'd better stop and think
 For we're almost to the brink
 What will happen now that the king of love is dead?
 ♪
 Thank you