Glory, a powerful song

Hello dear bloggers ! Today, I'm posting an article about a protest song that is important for me and  represent a lot, as being a black person.

It's “Glory”. I'm sure that you already know it because  it's the soundtrack of the movie “Selma” and moreover “Glory” won “Best Original Song” at the 2015 ‪Golden Globe Awards and the 87th Academy awards.

Here  are the lyrics and the link of the video which shows some extracts of the recent movie “Selma”. 

[Chorus: John Legend]

One day when the glory comes

It will be ours, it will be ours

One day when the war is won

We will be sure, we will be sure

Oh glory(Glory, glory) Ohh (Glory, glory)
[Verse 1: Common]Hands to the Heavens, no man, no weapon

Formed against, yes glory is destined

Every day women and men become legend
sSins that go against our skin become blessing

The movement is a rhythm to us

Freedom is like religion to us

Justice is juxtapositionin' us

Justice for all just ain't specific enough

One son died, his spirit is revisitin' us
True and livin' livin' in us, resistance is us
That's why Rosa sat on the bus
That's why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up
When it goes down we woman and man up

They say, "Stay down", and we stand up

Shots, we on the ground, the camera panned up

King pointed to the mountain top and we ran up


[Bridge: John Legend]
Now the war is not over, victory isn't won
But we'll fight on to the finish, and when it's all done
We'll cry glory (glory), oh glory (glory), ohhh (glory, glory)
We'll cry glory, oh glory, ohhh (glory, glory)
[Verse 2: Common]
Selma is now for every man, woman and child
Even Jesus got his crown in front of a crowd
They marched with the torch, we gon' run with it now
Never look back, we done gone hundreds of miles
From dark roads he rose, to become a hero
Facin' the league of justice, his power was the people
Enemy is lethal, a king became regal
Saw the face of Jim Crow under a bald eagle
The biggest weapon is to stay peaceful
We sing, our music is the cuts that we bleed through
Somewhere in the dream we had an epiphany
Now we right the wrongs in history
No one can win the war individually
It takes the wisdom of the elders and young people's energy
Welcome to the story we call victory
The comin' of the Lord, my eyes have seen the glory
[Chorus]
[Outro: John Legend]
When the war is won, when it's all said and done
We'll cry glory, oh glory

[Chorus]

So, let's give you some informations about this protest song. "Glory" is a song performed by an American artist John Legend and a rapper Common. It was written by Legend and Common. The song was released on December 11th, in 2014 by Columbia Records as the theme song from the 2014 film Selma, which represent the Selma's marches in Montgomery in 1965. Common also co-starred this movie as 1960s Civil Rights Movement leader : James Bevel in Selma.

Here are some historical/ contextual elements around this song :

Selma's marches in Montgomery in 1965 were the 3 protest marches which were the most remarkable in the struggle for the Civil Rights in the USA. They were the highest point of the movement for the right to vote, started up by Amelia Boynton Robinson and her husband in

Selma, Alabama. The activists decided to walk the 87 km highway from Selma to Montgomery as showing the desire of African-American citizens to exercise their constitutional right to vote, against the segregationnist repression.

Meaning of the lyrics :

Inspired by the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Marches and the Civil Right Movement in general, this song is also linked to the recent protests in Ferguson, after Michael brown, an 18-year-old black man was shot and killed by a white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson.

Michael Brown, who was a student and had no criminal record, was unarmed, although local police accused him of robbing a store just before the shooting. Brown's killing and the following events in Ferguson have become a national controversy touching the  national issues of race, justice, and police violence.

 For John Legend and Common, the protest marches in Ferguson were linked to what happen during the Civil Rights Movement.

It's a song dedicated to all the people who stood up, marched and protested for what they believe in.

 They wanted the song to be inspirational and that it has the pain but also the hope that all the African-American feel for their struggle against the racism which still exists in the world.

“I wanted something that tied the spirit of Selma with was happening in the streets at the time we were writing, which was people protesting in Missouri and eventually New York about injustice and police brutality” Legend said about the song's theme.

The title “glory” designed the glory that the African-American and more generally black people will have when there will be no more racism in the world and when they won't suffer of injustice and equality because of the colour of their skin.

-This song support the people to gather and fight peacefully for their rights

In conlusion, I think it's a protest song because it associates a song with a movement for social change which is here the inequality of rights between white and black people.

Hope you enjoy this article which means a lot for me !

See you at the next article ! :)

Here is the trailer of "Selma" if some of you are interesting to see the movie. 

SIRANDOU DIA