If you haven't heard Martin Luther King, Jr.'s April 1968 speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," in Memphis, autotuned by the Gregory Brothers, then you probably still think autotune is good for nothing.After that, listen to an edited excerpt from his speech, "The Drum Major Instinct". The sermon was delivered on February 4, 1968 at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, two months before King's assassination in Memphis."You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant…If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. (Yes) And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. (Yes)I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. (Yes)I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. (Yes)Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.Update: The video was removed from the Gregory Brothers YouTube channel (perhaps over fear of copyright infringement? I replaced the missing video with a copy.
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