Dr. Martin Luther King
Valberst TM 4739 · Chicago, Illinois
- Artist
- Swan Mellarks
- Title
- Dr. Martin Luther King
- Release
- Dr. Martin Luther King / Hard Times (Are Here Again)
- Label
- Valberst # TM 4739
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Genre
- Blues · Blues
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Swan Mellarks, blues group based in Chicago, Illinois, released a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., following the assassination - thus from 1968, but there is no date on the record. In the song "Dr. Martin Luther King" (Valberst Records # TM 4739) the narrator noted the "interest he had in mankind" and that he had a "great dream...for America". Of particular note is the reference to the Vietnam War, calling on people "to live together", because "in the war they died together... in Vietnam they were dying".Note: on 4 April 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of his most controversial speeches, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" at Riverside Church in New York, in which he took a strong position against the war, opposing the policies of Lyndon B. Johnson. He shortly followed this up with the speech "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam", delivered at Ebenezar Baptist Church Atlanta, Georgia, on 16 April 1967, featured on the 1970 record Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam. Released on Black Forum Records (# BF-451) - a spoken-word sub-label of Motown Records. In 1971 this posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. King's opposition to the Vietnam War can be…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Blues songs
Swan Mellarks, blues group based in Chicago, Illinois, released a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., following the assassination - thus from 1968, but there is no date on the record. In the song "Dr. Martin Luther King" (Valberst Records # TM 4739) the narrator noted the "interest he had in mankind" and that he had a "great dream...for America". Of particular note is the reference to the Vietnam War, calling on people "to live together", because "in the war they died together... in Vietnam they were dying". Note: on 4 April 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of his most controversial speeches, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" at Riverside Church in New York, in which he took a strong position against the war, opposing the policies of Lyndon B. Johnson. He shortly followed this up with the speech "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam", delivered at Ebenezar Baptist Church Atlanta, Georgia, on 16 April 1967, featured on the 1970 record Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam. Released on Black Forum Records (# BF-451) - a spoken-word sub-label of Motown Records. In 1971 this posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. King's opposition to the Vietnam War can be…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
blues group based in Chicago, Illinois
Themes
Anti-War · Civil Rights · MLK · Demonstration