The song has been variously described as "gospely" or "folkie spiritual". In writing about King, Griffin followed other songwriters, such as U2 with "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "MLK", James Taylor with "Shed a Little Light", and Stevie Wonder, whose song "Happy Birthday" about King provided a boost in bringing about the Martin Luther King Jr. Day national holiday. Griffin's take on King uses visual, naturalistic imagery to describe various states of mind expressed in the speech, but with a generality that could extend to other contexts as well: