MLK (song)

"MLK"
"MLK"
Song by U2
from the album The Unforgettable Fire
Released	1 October 1984
Genre	Ambient
Length	2:32
Label	Island
Composer(s)	U2
Lyricist(s)	Bono
Producer(s)	Brian Eno; Daniel Lanois;

"MLK" is a song by Irish rock band U2, and is the tenth and final track on their 1984 album, The Unforgettable Fire. An elegy to Martin Luther King Jr., it is a short, pensive piece with simple lyrics ("Sleep/Sleep tonight/And may your dreams/Be realized/If the thundercloud/Passes rain/So let it rain/Rain down on me"). It was because of this song and "Pride (In the Name of Love)", another tribute to King, that lead vocalist Bono received the highest honor of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, an organization founded by Coretta Scott King.

Writing and recording

"MLK" originated from a melody and set of lyrics composed by lead vocalist Bono while listening to the pitched hum of his vacuum cleaner. According to guitarist the Edge, the band "failed miserably" to find a musical arrangement that suited the melody and that the results "always sounded far too traditional". When the group decided to revisit the song, they started with just the vocal melody and a drone note to see which musical direction it would take them. The resulting arrangement sounded complete to them, convincing them not to refine it any further.^[1]

Live performances

Its live debut was on 18 October 1984, as an intro to "The Unforgettable Fire", and the two songs were performed together at almost all Unforgettable Fire Tour shows and most Joshua Tree Tour shows. However, by the end of the Joshua Tree Tour, the band started to use "MLK" to precede other songs, especially "One Tree Hill", and it continued in this capacity on the Lovetown Tour. It failed to appear on the Zoo TV Tour but returned to the set list on the PopMart Tour, especially after the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Michael Hutchence. It went into another hiatus after PopMart, missing the entire Elevation Tour, but was notably performed as the intro to "Where the Streets Have No Name" at U2's appearance during the Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show in 2002. After the death of Rosa Parks, it made five Vertigo Tour appearances; in all five instances, it was sung after "One" to conclude the main set. "MLK" was a part of the main set list for the U2 360° Tour, as the prelude to "Walk On". The song was dropped midway through the tour and was replaced with "Scarlet". It was not played live again until The Joshua Tree Tours 2017 and 2019, during which it was played on opening night before being replaced by "Bad" the following night.^[2]

In popular culture

"MLK" was director Richard Kelly's original choice for the soundtrack to the final sequence of the 2001 film Donnie Darko. After difficulties licensing the song, it was decided to use Gary Jules' rendition of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World" instead.^[3]

In Stephen Chbosky's 1999 novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, "MLK" is mentioned as one of Charlie's favorite songs, along with "Blackbird".^[4]

Arrangements

Bob Chilcott has arranged the song for SATB choir, and this has been recorded by groups including The King's Singers.^[5]^[6]

References

^ Morse, Steve (29 November 1984). "U2 Charts New Sound". The Boston Globe. sec. Calendar, p. 10.
^ "U2 MLK – U2 on Tour". U2gigs.com. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
^ "Out of the realm of imagination", Geoff Edgers, The Boston Globe, March 21, 2004.
^ Chboksy, Stephen (1999). The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket Books. p. 37. ISBN 0-671-02734-4.
^ "MLK". Hal Leonard Online. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
^ "MLK (U2/Chilcott)". www.hyperion-records.co.uk. Hyperion Records. Retrieved 22 July 2024.

[1] Morse, Steve (29 November 1984). "U2 Charts New Sound". The Boston Globe. sec. Calendar, p. 10.

[2] "U2 MLK – U2 on Tour". U2gigs.com. Retrieved 13 March 2021.

[3] "Out of the realm of imagination", Geoff Edgers, The Boston Globe, March 21, 2004.

[4] Chboksy, Stephen (1999). The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: Pocket Books. p. 37. ISBN 0-671-02734-4.

[5] "MLK". Hal Leonard Online. Retrieved 22 July 2024.

[6] "MLK (U2/Chilcott)". www.hyperion-records.co.uk. Hyperion Records. Retrieved 22 July 2024.

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v t e Rattle and Hum track listing
Album	"Helter Skelter" "Van Diemen's Land" "Desire" "Hawkmoon 269" "All Along the Watchtower" "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" "Freedom for My People" "Silver and Gold" "Pride (In the Name of Love)" "Angel of Harlem" "Love Rescue Me" "When Love Comes to Town" "Heartland" "God Part II" "The Star Spangled Banner" "Bullet the Blue Sky" "All I Want Is You"
Film	"Helter Skelter" "Van Diemen's Land" "Desire" "Exit" "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" "Freedom for My People" "Silver and Gold" "Angel of Harlem" "All Along the Watchtower" "In God's Country" "When Love Comes to Town" "Heartland" "Bad" "Where the Streets Have No Name" "MLK" "With or Without You" "The Star-Spangled Banner" "Bullet the Blue Sky" "Running to Stand Still" "Sunday Bloody Sunday" "Pride (In the Name of Love)" "All I Want Is You"
The Joshua Tree Achtung Baby

v t e U2 songs
Discography Covers
1970s	"Out of Control"
1980s	"Another Day" "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" "A Day Without Me" "I Will Follow" "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart" "The Electric Co." "Fire" "Gloria" "October" "A Celebration" "New Year's Day" "Two Hearts Beat as One" "Sunday Bloody Sunday" "Seconds" "Red Light" "Pride (In the Name of Love)" "The Unforgettable Fire" "A Sort of Homecoming" "4th of July" "Bad" "Elvis Presley and America" "MLK" "With or Without You" "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" "Where the Streets Have No Name" "In God's Country" "One Tree Hill" "Bullet the Blue Sky" "Running to Stand Still" "Red Hill Mining Town" "Trip Through Your Wires" "Exit" "Mothers of the Disappeared" "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" "Desire" "Angel of Harlem" "When Love Comes to Town" "All I Want Is You" "Hawkmoon 269" "Heartland" "God Part II"
1990s	"Night and Day" "The Fly" "Mysterious Ways" "One" "Even Better Than the Real Thing" "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" "Zoo Station" "Until the End of the World" "So Cruel" "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" "Acrobat" "Love Is Blindness" "Numb" "Lemon" "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" "Zooropa" "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" "Dirty Day" "The Wanderer" "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" "Miss Sarajevo" "Slug" "Your Blue Room" "Discothèque" "Staring at the Sun" "Last Night on Earth" "Please" "If God Will Send His Angels" "Mofo" "Gone" "Sweetest Thing"
2000s	"The Ground Beneath Her Feet" "Beautiful Day" "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" "Elevation" "Walk On" "Kite" "In a Little While" "Wild Honey" "Peace on Earth" "When I Look at the World" "New York" "Electrical Storm" "The Hands That Built America" "Take Me to the Clouds Above" "Vertigo" "All Because of You" "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" "City of Blinding Lights" "Miracle Drug" "A Man and a Woman" "One Step Closer" "Original of the Species" "Yahweh" "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" "The Saints Are Coming" "Window in the Skies" "The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" "Get On Your Boots" "Magnificent" "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" "No Line on the Horizon" "Moment of Surrender" "Unknown Caller" "Stand Up Comedy" "Fez – Being Born" "White as Snow" "Breathe" "Cedars of Lebanon" "Winter"
2010s	"Ordinary Love" "Invisible" "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" "Every Breaking Wave" "Song for Someone" "You're the Best Thing About Me" "Get Out of Your Own Way" "Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way" "XXX"
2020s	"Your Song Saved My Life" "Atomic City"
Category

"MLK"
Song by U2
from the album The Unforgettable Fire
Released	1 October 1984
Genre	Ambient
Length	2:32
Label	Island
Composer(s)	U2
Lyricist(s)	Bono
Producer(s)	Brian Eno Daniel Lanois

v t e The Unforgettable Fire track listing
"A Sort of Homecoming" "Pride (In the Name of Love)" "Wire" "The Unforgettable Fire" "Promenade" "4th of July" "Bad" "Indian Summer Sky" "Elvis Presley and America" "MLK"
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