Obscure Musical Lyric for the week of January 19/09

Good Monday morning music fans. For our American friends today is the day that the life of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK Jr.) is celebrated with a holiday. With that in mind, I have chosen a song that was released the year that MLK Jr was assassinated. For those of you who don't know when that occurred it was April 4, 1968. Yes I know that it was a long time ago, however to honour such a great man who "had a dream" I had no choice but to do it.

I was living in Ireland in 1968, we arrived the next year. I don't recall much about the things that are now so famous, however, I do remember the death of MLK Jr. and the subsequent death of Bobby Kennedy. MLK Jr. in his now famous "I have a dream" speech said the following:

"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."

Here are some lyrics from this weeks song:

See that train over there

Now that's the train of freedom

It's about to arrive any minute now

you know, its been long, long overdue

The song was released as a a single in 1968. It was thought to have been written in response to the deaths of King and Kennedy, however the song was written before Kennedy's death. It was written as a plea for tolerance and freedom.  Apparently the song was written after an encounter between the band and some "rednecks" in Florida. The group was referred to as "the blackest white group of all" by John Lombardi in "Rolling Stone", in 1970. The song was the second best release by this group. reaching #14 on the billboard charts. The fifth dimension "covered" the song in 1970 as part of a compilation.

I would like to know:

The name of the song:

The name of the album it was released on in 1969:

The name of the group:

The name of the # 1 song by the group:

Have a great week, look for the "big reveal" to be released on Jan.23, at 8:30 a.m. here on the blog. It looks like it's going to warm up, that will be nice for all of us.