"Abraham Martin and John" by Dion

Song 7:

"Abraham Martin and John” by Dion

Peak: 4

Year: 1968

Year end position: NA

Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/10

Chronological Songs by Artist: 10/10

Video?: No

Wikipedia?:  Yes:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham,_Martin_and_John

Spotify?:  Yes

Lyrics:   http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dionband/abrahammartinandjohn.html

We made it a full week into this blog, and we've come across our second Hall of Fame act.  Today, that honor goes to Dion.  For some reason, I only counted his solo work, and not his work with the Belmonts.  I'm not sure why I did that, since I didn't do that for Tom Petty (and the Heartbreakers).  I'm guessing it's some kind of Belmonts bias.  It just so happens that as I have him in my Hall of Fame, he is also in the actual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so I am 2/2 predicting that.

This also marks the second song we've come across that features a person's name, but unlike the first one (Abigail Beecher), these three are actual people, and as is typical, only features their first names.

This marks the last song chronologically for Dion.  If you remember from yesterday, I mentioned a few acts that had a brief productive period, followed by a hiatus, and then another hit before dropping off the Top 20 cliff entirely.  Dion falls into that pattern as well.  His first nine solo hits were scattered from 1960-1963 and this song came out in 1968.  That cutoff date is not a strange occurrence, as we have already seen.  The British invasion (starting in 1964), really did a good job wiping out acts.  I'm sure he won't be the last act we will run into that had the productive years come to an abrupt halt around 1964.  Unfortunately for Dion, part of that hiatus was probably self-imposed as he was struggling with heroin addiction around those times as well.  This song marks the time around when he got himself clean.

The song itself is pretty basic, but I think that gives it most of its power.  In case you haven't heard it, or for some reason don't know anything about it, the song is a bit of a lament on the early deaths of Abraham Lincoln, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., John Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy.  This song came out in 1968, shortly after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.  Each of the first three verses are exactly the same, with different names thrown in.  Dion is asking if anyone has seen his old friend X.  It's only the last verse where he deviates while singing about Bobby (Kennedy).  I think that Bobby gets a little screwed over by this song.  First, he's not even mentioned in the title despite closing the song.  Also, the other three people get credit for having "Freed a lot of people", but Bobby is just "walking over the hill".  I understand that it's probably a good way to finish the song, and 4 virtually identical verses wouldn't be all that compelling.

There are also some really good musical things about this song.  For the most its played with an acoustic guitar, but it opens with an oboe solo, which I can't ever recall hearing in any other song, followed by a little touch of French horn.  The real kicker for this song is at the very end.  There is what might be the best harp solo riff in rock history.  As strange as that sounds, it is really effective in this song.  The listener has just spent almost 3 minutes contemplating the early death's of 4 iconic personalities in American history, and the harp plays them off into heaven.  It's kind of a nice touch.

My relationship with this song is that I was probably aware that it existed in some form or another, but never gave it much deep consideration.  Songs like this one are part of the reason I love pop music.  In my mind, the best songs remind you of a place and time.  This song probably wouldn't work at any other time other than late 1968.  Any other time, and I don't think the country would be in the mood to hear it, much less drive the song all the way to #4 on the charts.  It's also a political song in some respects.  All of the people mentioned were involved in the struggle for civil rights in some capacity.  I don't know how many songs get released these days that have much of a political message.  You can find some, but they are few and far between.

This song also works across time, and is eminently cover-able.  For example, if there is ever another tragic death, this song could be broken out, changed the names in it, and you have a fitting tribute.  I think that's part of the reason I was familiar with it.  It goes well with any tragic event.  It's a somber, dignified tribute song - with a wicked harp solo.