Abraham, Martin & John

"Abraham, Martin & John" was a 1968 ode written by Richard Holler to the memories of icons of social change from Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and President John F. Kennedy. It was written as a response to the assassinations of King and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

Each of the first three verses features one of the men named in the song's title. After a bridge, the fourth and final verse mentions RFK, and ends with a verbal image of him walking over a hill with the other three men.

The original version, recorded by Dion DiMucci, was an American Top 40 single in 1968. Other famous versions were recorded by Motown's Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (whose cover also became an American Top 40 single in 1968) and Marvin Gaye (whose cover became a hit in England in 1969).

Gaye's version was never released in the U.S. as a single but was featured on his 1970 album, That's the Way Love Is, and which was one of his first experiments with social messages in his music which would catapult in his legendary 1971 album, What's Going On.