As a comedian, Moms Mabley seemed an unlikely candidate to sing this song first made famous by Dion in 1968. Written by Dick Holler in response to the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy that same year (the Abraham, of course, refers to Lincoln, the John to JFK) Marvin Gaye had a go at it as did Smokey Robinson & the Miracles but for my money, this is the definitive version.
Billed as 'the funniest woman in the world' Moms Mabley played the 'chitlin circuit' from the 1930s and ended up doing Carnegie Hall by the 1960s.
She used her stage persona to champion civil rights, so this single really isn't a stretch, see if you can listen without getting a little choked up. I only have the 45, but would like the album just to hear her version of The Isley Brothers' It's Your Thing! If you see one of her records, buy it! Moms died at the age of 81 in 1975. Read more on Moms Mabley here.
Moms Mabley - Abraham, Martin and John
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