first edition
1963 · Detroit
by King, Martin Luther, Jr.; Carmen Murphy [Producer]; Richard Simpson [Recording Director]
Detroit: HOB Recording Co, 1963. Original pressing. The rarest album by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a live recording of an early version of his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963. Its scarcity and workmanlike design suggest it was probably a promotional recording given to radio stations, not for sale. The album cover was clearly designed for a different recording on the HOB Records label, Gerald Spraggins's album His Eye Is On The Sparrow; a simple label pasted onto the front cover announces its actual title. The album itself erroneously lists the title as "I Had a Dream" on both sides. VG+ album with minor wear, tiny light scratch to beginning of Side 2; in Good sleeve, heavily foxed and a bit rubbed with some light chipping along seams. Appears to be original unprinted inner sleeve.
The HOB label name was an acronym for The House of Beauty, a hair salon founded by Carmen Murphy in 1948, which specialized in gospel music. King's speech in Detroit, and thus this album, ended with these words, similar to the later version on August 28th the same year that would be immortalized: "I have a dream this afternoon that the brotherhood of man will become a reality in this day.
And with this faith I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope through the mountain of despair.
With this faith, I will go out with you and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. With
this faith, we will be able to achieve this new day when all of God's children, black men and
white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing with
the Negroes in the spiritual of old:
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!". (Inventory #: 140948112)
The HOB label name was an acronym for The House of Beauty, a hair salon founded by Carmen Murphy in 1948, which specialized in gospel music. King's speech in Detroit, and thus this album, ended with these words, similar to the later version on August 28th the same year that would be immortalized: "I have a dream this afternoon that the brotherhood of man will become a reality in this day.
And with this faith I will go out and carve a tunnel of hope through the mountain of despair.
With this faith, I will go out with you and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. With
this faith, we will be able to achieve this new day when all of God's children, black men and
white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing with
the Negroes in the spiritual of old:
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!". (Inventory #: 140948112)
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