Freedom, freedom, freedom, over me. . . 

Was the darkest of many desperate days in nineteen sixty-eight 
Before a nation lost her soul in a hail of bullets at Kent State 
Like our best friend, in your prime, they had to go and take you down 
And I wonder how things would be today if you were still around? 

Would mainstream radio still be just as one-sided? 
And would a nation called “united” be so divided? 
Would there be a nightmare every day somewhere in Iraq? 
And would soldiers have their own nightmare who somehow made it back? 
Would backlash from a clueless Congress still be barely startin' 
If you were here with us today, brother Martin? 

Would children still be so afraid to go outside and play? 
As their future is discarded, would we still look the other way? 
Would a president still say, “if you're not with us, you're against us”? 
As veterans sittin' in wheelchairs are called “traitors” when they protest? 
Would World War Three be just a stone's throw away from startin' 
If you were here with us today, brother Martin? 

Now though we were born with a different shade of skin 
Freedom rings within my soul, just like we're next of kin 
And before I'll be their slave, I'll be buried in my grave 
And gone on to our home. . . free at last