Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Abraham, Martin and John

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Released
  
August 1968

Genre
  
Folk rock

Format
  
7-inch

Length
  
3:15

B-side
  
"Daddy Rollin' (In Your Arms)"

Recorded
  
Allegro Sound Studios; Engineer Bruce Staple

"Abraham, Martin and John" is a 1968 song written by Dick Holler and first recorded by Dion. It is a tribute to the memory of four assassinated Americans, all icons of social change, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. It was written in response to the assassination of King and that of Robert Kennedy in April and June 1968, respectively.

Contents

Lyrics

Each of the first three verses features one of the men named in the song's title, for example:

Anybody here, seen my old friend Abraham — Can you tell me where he's gone? He freed a lot of people, but it seems the good die young But I just looked around and he's gone.

After a bridge, the fourth and final verse mentions Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, and ends with a description of him walking over a hill with the other three men.

Dion recording

The original version, recorded by Dion, featured a gentle folk rock production from Phil Gernhard and arrangement from John Abbott. The feeling of the song is set with a gentle oboe and violin opening then featuring harp flourishes at multiple points, including the instrumental conclusion. The song also features a flugelhorn, an electric organ, bass, and drums. Dion felt during post production that the song needed more depth and added a track featuring him playing classical guitar notably at the bridge, lead ins and the close.

Although it was quite unlike the rock sound that Dion had become famous for in the early 1960s, and even more unlike Holler and Gernhard's previous collaboration in the 1966 novelty smash "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron", "Abraham, Martin and John" nonetheless was a major American hit single in late 1968. It reached #4 on the U.S. pop singles chart and was awarded an RIAA gold record for selling a million copies. In Canada, it topped the charts, reaching #1 in the RPM 100 on November 25, 1968. In 2001 this recording would be ranked number 248 on the RIAA's Songs of the Century list. The record was also popular with adult listeners, reaching #8 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey. The personnel on the original recording included Vinnie Bell and Ralph Casale on guitar, Nick DeCaro on organ and David Robinson on drums.

Later recordings and performances

  • Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, whose cover also became an American Top 40 single in 1969, reaching #33 while reaching #16 on the US R&B charts
  • Marvin Gaye, whose cover became a top-ten hit (#9) in the United Kingdom in 1970 (Gaye's version was never released in the U.S. as a single but was featured on his 1970 album, That's the Way Love Is, and was one of his first experiments with social messages in his music which would culminate in his 1971 album, What's Going On.)
  • Comedian Moms Mabley performed a version that hit the U.S. Top 40, reaching #35 in 1969 and #18 on the R&B charts and earning her the distinction of being the oldest living person to appear on a Hot 100 top 40 hit, a record that still stands. This version was featured on the soundtrack of Brazilian soap opera Beto Rockfeller (1968–1969).
  • Bluesman Seasick Steve released a single version of the song in 2016.

    • As part of medleys

    The song is also featured on Tom Clay's 1971 "What the World Needs Now Is Love/Abraham, Martin, and John", a medley combining Dion's recording with Jackie DeShannon's recording of Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now Is Love", along with vocals by The Blackberries. Clay's recording features narration (an adult asking a child to define several words associated with social unrest), sound bites from speeches given by President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., along with sound bites from the live press coverage of Robert Kennedy's assassination, and his eulogy by his brother Edward M. Kennedy. It reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 14, 1971 and #32 on the R&B charts. In 1997, Whitney Houston sang a rendition of "Abraham, Martin and John" that aired on VH1 and HBO: Whitney Houston: Live Washington DC.

    References

    Abraham, Martin and John Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA