him and coaltrain and bob marley. mandatory to listen to marvin gaye's "what he's going on" morning, noon and night, that's what barack obama needs to hear right now. bring the boys home from vietnam. worry is not -- war is not the answer. legalize marijuana. give all that money to teachers and schools. you know, there's so much of marvin gaye's music from beginning to an end just in that c.d. alone, that it helps us reach an insight into how we can go into the future with more clarity. instead of disruptive fear, with more clarity. because every time i listen to his music -- and i do it all the time. he knew that there was a better way for us as human beings, you know? and so there's no secret that barry gordy tried to block it or he was trying to tell him, hey, man, this is too deep or whatever. it's a career suicide. i've been accused of doing career suicides many times. [laughter] >> but it's like carter said to people. you know, ronald reagan is telling you what you want to hear. i'm telling you what you need to

of unexpected premanure end of such brilliance, think janis joplin, jimi hendrix, jim morrison, bob marley but their deaths usually represent something bigger, the end of an innocence or an era. in the case of singer buddy holly who died in a plane crash in 1959 ♪ something touched me deep inside ♪ >> reporter: we were surprisingly grief stricken at the loss of princess diana. a handwring note said mummy, her sons' pain shared by the world. some losses, of course, are of a different caliber altogether. the death of our most inspirational civil rights leader and our young charismatic president produced seismic public torrents of emotion. >> we have to distinguish tween even the most famous entertainers and leaders like a kennedy or a martin luther king who is murdered and really throws the whole earth off of its axis. >> reporter: but it's notable that so often these vast communal outpourings are for musicians. it speaks to music's transformative power. its unique ability to get inside our souls and remain embedded there somehow. decades later a familiar refrain can pull out surprisingly po

i'll read now from one section of his poems which reminds me somewhat of bob marley.ne has to live. one must live. the next piece he comes to new york. the heart of the renaissance. he talks about his experience there. all read the first section. life and death. the intricately woven connection. helen read from my book on page 32. weber argued that death and life are intricately woven together. but he said if death is a part of life why is then at death we shrink and shiver? is joins us to eternity. the answer echoes similar sentiment. he says for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face-to-face. now i know in part. then shall i know even as i am known. weber, however, puts it. he uses it about another writer. this is what weber says in his book of poems. he wrote about economics. he says time still tell me. you may not. i must shred the hidden way. knowing all and yet the pad. struggling, fighting, still in bracing. another poem, an examination of death. and this poem he sits and ponders on the mystery of life and death. teach me than to tear not death. to we