New MLK Song, “Martin Can You Hear Us?”, Launches for MLK Holiday | By Elaine Gibbs
Song Designed to Reconnect Americans to the Importance of King’s Legacy and Teachings
Martin Luther King has a holiday and a memorial, but now added to this tribute is a song that its creators hope will grow into a perennial anthem. Martin Can You Hear Us? was written by Bob Dockery, Jr. and Vinx to help crystallize MLK’s legacy and perpetuate his spirit that that too many Americans have lost touch with in the passing of time.
The song performed by Elaine Gibbs (recent quarter-finalist on The X Factor) brings forward in its lyrics why the need for Dr. King’s vision and leadership is timeless and more relevant today than ever. “Where is the love and respect that you gave us all? … Wipe away the tears that blind the world/Pray for us tomorrow/So we can see/The dreams you gave to us will be… We need your spirit/Martin we need you/Can you hear us?”
The song and music video will launch on radio stations, iTunes, Amazon.com, YouTube, and other music outlets to mark the King Holiday and Black History Month. It will also be featured prominently on commemorative MLK syndicated radio programming produced by Bob Dockery and others, for over three decades that airs annually on hundreds of African American radio stations.
“It has been a little more than thirty years since Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday helped raise the consciousness about the importance of a national holiday,” stated Bob Dockery. “Today, we are crying as a nation in so many ways, especially in the areas of education and economic opportunity. Those issues, along with civil rights, were the vital cornerstones of Martin’s work. Today, the disastrous rate of high school drops outs, the fact that more African American males are in prison than were enslaved in 1850 plus many other declining quality of life issues are a call to action to rekindle what Martin taught us. That was the major impetus to bring this song out now.”
Dockery and Vinx originally wrote the song for a television special entitled,
MLK—A Dream Deferred that aired on TV One on the fortieth anniversary of King’s death in 2008. For more information and to listen to Martin Can You Hear Us? and view the music video, visit www.mlksong.com, YouTube, iTunes, or Amazon.com.