They Killed The King
They Killed The King
Mel Turner AKA Jimmy James Ross made a record about the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King: Bobbejaan Records, May 14, 1968, nearly one month after Martin Luther King was murdered April 4, 1968 and it was recorded in Holland where he lived, after doing his national service for the US Navy.
In 2014 Sam Moore (Sam & Dave) did his own version.
Civil Rights had of course strong connections with Soul music:
Songs like Sam Cooke’s A CHANGE IS GONNA COME and several from The Impressions and Curtis Mayfield e. g. Choice Of Colors.
At that time 1968 the Soul Mods in Manchester and London were all supportive of the Civil Rights struggle in the USA.
UK Soul appreciation and Civil Rights
CIVIL RIGHTS |
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Tommie Smith got the attention of the world with his peaceful ‘black power’ glove fisted salute at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 at the hight of the Civil Rights struggle in America. Simultaneously at the London and Manchester Mod Soul clubs, by coincidence the style of wearing driving gloves was a Mod style, but also many wore cycling gloves, often on just one hand, certainly at the Twisted Wheel club in Manchester. Cycling gloves are cut off at the fingers but importantly they have padded palms, absorbing handlebar vibrations and used on wheels to remove grit etc from the tires as they spin, and also good for energetic dancing when a floor support with one hand is required; so it became a symbol for Northern Soul dancing. The fact that it was associated also with the Black American struggle for Civil Rights and that those guys, the black Afro-American Soul singers were the music heroes of the English Mod movement was only minimally appreciated at that time. IT BECAME THE SYMBOL OF NORTHERN SOUL |
Bradley Wiggins a fan of Soul music and the MOD tradition gave this same salute winning the Tour de France.
