One look at the lyrics for this song, and you might be inclined to give it the thumbs-down. One listen to Dion's folk rendition of it, however, and I bet it'll really move you--if you can put aside its success on the charts, anyway. The three men in the title are, as you probably already know, Abraham Lincoln, Martin L. King and John F. Kennedy. The song was written by Dick Holler in the midst of the frustration following the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Given the events on Christmas, 2000, I think we can all empathize.

Dion DiMucci is interesting in this context in his own right, too. He grew up in the tough part of the Bronx, ran with a gang and was generally supposed to be a pretty tough character. His early hits with the Belmonts fit right in with this urban-swagger image but this track is, I think, an indication that he wasn't quite as jagged as this. Indeed, the inspiration he was most vocal about was not Frank Sinatra, but Hank Williams. From my limited perspective on my dad's life, this story sounds familiar. Pat was raised to know every street in the city of Denver, but his heart always seemed to rest within the country.

Interesting tidbit: DiMucci passed up on a chartered plane trip early in 1959 that track 12's singer would later write about.