Thursday, January 30, 2014

R.I.P. Mighty King Hannibal



The funk legend of Norton Records, James T. Shaw aka Mighty Hannibal aka King Hannibal has passed away at 74. He had a couple of particularly powerful songs that were important to me:

One was "The Truth Shall Make You Free", a song to drug addicts preaching that Jesus could help them get off smack. This is ridiculous but the song slays me every time I hear it. It is by far the best 45 in my entire record collection, and possibly the best gospel funk track of all.



Then there is "Hymn No. 5", a banned from the airwaves Vietnam protest song. I've included the long version so you can delve deep into the heaviness and despair of it all.



Sleep well, King.

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