down with the ship

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    Many years ago, my friend Billy Crockett and I read an article about a ship captain who, with his crew, abandoned ship when it began to sink, leaving the passengers on board. The story led us to the song title, “Down With the Ship,” which ended up being a song about Martin Luther King. Now that I have begun to learn how to use iMovie, I have been able to put pictures to the song. So I offer both lyrics and images as my way of giving thanks for Martin’s life and legacy.

    down with the ship

    martin was ahead of his time
    and time was so far behind
    he had no eye for an eye
    in his point of view
    but what he could see
    it was a beautiful dream
    the trouble with dreaming things
    is seeing them come true

    when you set out on the high sea
    when you set out on a hope trip
    sometimes you get to your bright tomorrow
    sometimes you’ve got to go down with the ship
    sometimes you’ve got to go down with the ship

    martin had the fight of his life
    stared right into the enemies’ eyes
    tried to wake them from their comfortable lie
    that’s how ships go down
    he wasn’t ready for a long white robe
    he prayed for brave hearts and hands to hold
    and people right here to sing and know
    that we shall overcome

    when you set out on the high sea
    when you set out on a hope trip
    sometimes you get to your bright tomorrow
    sometimes you’ve got to go down with the ship
    sometimes you’ve got to go down with the ship

    the truth won’t die just because your heroes fall
    someday all flesh will stand to see it all
    see the mountains laid low
    and the rough made plain . . .

    and we’ll go sailing on the high sea
    oh we’ll set out on a hope trip
    set our eyes on a new horizon
    and don’t look back
    and we’ll go sailing on the high sea
    believing love has got a firm grip
    set our eyes on a new tomorrow
    set our hearts to go down with the ship
    set our hearts to go down with the ship
    set our hearts to go down with the ship
    sometimes you’ve got to go down with the ship

    Peace,
    Milton

    1 COMMENT

    1. One of my favorite quotes:
      ‎”A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of inje…cting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
      Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
      April 4, 1967

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