Glory (From the Motion Picture Selma)

This motivational anthem was recorded by John Legend and Common for the American historical drama film Selma. The movie recounts the three 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches that lead to President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The ballad resonates with both the film and current social unrest. Common references in the first of his two verses Michael Brown's August 2014 shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri as a counterpart to the historical events the movie chronicles. One son died, his spirit is revisitin' us Truant livin' livin' in us, resistance is us That's why Rosa sat on the bus That's why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up "This is not only for paying honor to those who lived in these times during the '60s, but also really relevant to today," Common told Billboard magazine. "You can look at what's going on in Ferguson, and it's not a far comparison to what happened to Jimmy Lee Jackson during the time of the civil rights movement that is shown in the film. So I really was thinking about encouraging people that we've come a long way, but we've still got some fighting to do, and we are capable. We've got to carry this torch and take it to the next level."

It was Common's idea to bring Legend aboard for the song's hook. "One day I was sitting in my bedroom and I thought, 'Man, John Legend would be the perfect voice to combine with to tell this story.' He was in London when I reached out to him, and I told him everything about Selma in about a five-minute conversation, because he was preparing for a show," the rapper recalled. "He said he wouldn't be back in L.A. for a minute but said he could go in the studio on a day off and come up with some ideas." Legend sent him back a piano demo of the chorus, leaving Common to come up with the verses.