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WHY? (THE KING OF LOVE IS DEAD)
By Gene Taylor and/or Hugh MacKay (various sources are contradictory)

Once upon this planet earth
Lived a man of humble birth,
Preaching love and freedom for his fellow man.
He was dreaming of a day
Peace would come to earth to stay,
And he spread this message all across the land.

"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?

'Cause 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 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.
Tell me, folks, if you can,
Just why, why was he shot down the other day?

Well, 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 heading for the brink.
What's gonna happen now that the king of love is dead?

[Recorded by Nina Simone on her album "'Nuff Said," 1967, and on several later albums.]