The Desiderata

Stereo/Mono promo copy. According to Joel Whitburn of Record Research Inc., the spoken portion of the song was originally a piece of prose written by Max Ehrmann in 1906. However, the picture sleeve that comes with this promo 45 says: "Found in old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore; dated 1692." Regardless of its origins, I have to say I was quite moved by the wisdom printed on the sleeve and recited by Mr. Crane. Remember, this was a Top 10 hit in 1971-72, quite influential and probably regarded as "Hippy"ish by some. I find it to be profoundly spiritual at heart. Note: This beautiful promo 45 has Mint labels, and even without a deep cleaning, the audio sounded pristine to me.