Get Together (Chet Powers song)
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"Get Together", also known as "Let's Get Together", is a song written in the early 1960s by American singer-songwriter Chet Powers (aka Dino Valenti).
The song is an appeal for peace and brotherhood, presenting the polarity of love versus fear, and the choice to be made between them. It is best remembered for the impassioned plea in the lines of its refrain, which is repeated several times in succession to bring the song to its conclusion.
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[edit] Recording history
| "Get Together" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by The Youngbloods | ||||
| from the album The Youngbloods | ||||
| B-side | "Beautiful" | |||
| Released | May 1969 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1966 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 4:37 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Writer(s) | Chet Powers | |||
| Producer | Felix Pappalardi | |||
| The Youngbloods singles chronology | ||||
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The song was originally recorded as "Let's Get Together" by The Kingston Trio and released on June 1, 1964, on their album Back in Town. While it was not released as a single, this version was the first to bring the song to the attention of the general public. The Kingston Trio often performed it live.
A version of the song first broke into the top forty in 1965, when We Five, produced by Kingston Trio manager Frank Werber, released "Let's Get Together" as the follow-up to their top ten hit "You Were on My Mind". While it did not achieve the same level of success as the other, "Let's Get Together" provided the group with a second top forty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when it peaked at number thirty-one. It would be their last.
Jefferson Airplane recorded a version which was released on August 15, 1966, on their debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. In 1966, Chet Powers, in an effort to raise money for his legal defense on drug charges, sold the rights to the song to Frank Werber.
Judy Collins performed the song live at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, and her version was included on a later album compiling highlights of various Newport Festivals.
From 1967-1969, "Get Together" was a staple in Joni Mitchell's shows, often playing the song as an encore.
Reclusive singer-songwriter Nick Drake recorded "Get Together" at his home in England in early 1967, before releasing his debut album. Though some of these home recordings have been released on various rarities box sets, his version of this song has not yet been released.
60s band HP LoveCraft also made a cover of the song.
In 1967, The Youngbloods released their version of the song under the title "Get Together". It became a minor Hot 100 hit for them, peaking at number sixty-two. However, renewed interest in the Youngbloods' version came when it was used in a radio public service announcement as a call for brotherhood by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The Youngbloods' version, the most-remembered today, was re-released in 1969, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and has been featured in several films, including Purple Haze, Forrest Gump, Stephen Kings Riding the Bullet; and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Nirvana's bass player, Krist Novoselic, yells out the chorus of "Get Together" at the beginning of "Territorial Pissings", from their 1991 album, Nevermind.
Garth Brooks, singing under the pseudonym Chris Gaines, incorporated the chorus into his 1999 song "Right Now" and it was heard in the films of I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer and The house of darkness 3: I saw you last summer. (The songwriting credit went to Powers and folk singer Cheryl Wheeler.)
Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the media conglomerate company, Clear Channel Communications, included The Youngbloods' version of the song on a list of "lyrically questionable" songs that was sent to its 1200 radio stations in the United States.
The song has been used as a background for a Luvs disposable diapers TV commercial that's been running on US television since 2008.
The song is played in the 2010 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore movie.
The song was sung by Julie Michels at the state funeral of Jack Layton, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, on August 27, 2011.
[edit] Selective list of recorded versions
- 1964: Chet Powers recording of January, 1964 first collected in 1996 on the album Someone to Love: Birth of the San Francisco Sound and later in Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970
- 1964: The Kingston Trio on their album Back in Town
- 1964: David Crosby
- 1965: We Five, US #31 single
- 1966: Judy Collins
- 1966: Jefferson Airplane on their album,[1] Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
- 1967: The Youngbloods, US #62 single, re-released in 1969 US #5 single
- 1967: H.P. Lovecraft
- 1968: Stone Poneys, on their album Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
- 1969: The Cryan' Shames on their album Synthesis
- 1969: The Carpenters' version of "Get Together" is featured on their first album Offering from 1969. The album was later repackaged as Ticket to Ride in 1970.
- The Association
- 1970: Ray Stevens covered the song on his Everything Is Beautiful album keeping the same arrangement as The Youngbloods.
- 1970: The Dave Clark Five reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1970 with their version retitled "Everybody Get Together".
- Anne Murray
- 1970: Lucifer - a Rochester-based band played version of "Get Together" featured on their only and very rare album "Lucifer" from 1971.
- 1979: Jesse Colin Young on the album No Nukes, as well as in the film No Nukes, of the Musicians United for Safe Energy concerts.
- 1986: Randy Stonehill, a Dave Perkins Production
- 1988: Kate Wolf on "An Evening in Austin"
- 1989: The Indigo Girls on the Epic Records release of their album Strange Fire. Also appears on the soundtrack for The Wonder Years
- 1989: The Wonder Stuff on the B side of the single "Golden Green"
- 1991: Nirvana referenced this song on their song "Territorial Pissings"
- 1994: Big Mountain
- Deana Carter
- Wynonna Judd
- 1996: Jesse Colin Young of The Youngbloods on the album On the Mountain 2, a fund raiser compiled by the Seattle radio station KMTT
- 1999: Chris Gaines (Garth Brooks) under the title "Right Now" (verses removed, replaced by new rap breaks)
- 2003: Lizz Wright on her album Dreaming Wide Awake
- 2004: Wilson Phillips on their album California
- 2007: Ann Wilson on her album Hope & Glory
- David and the Giants
[edit] References
- ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 41 - The Acid Test: Psychedelics and a sub-culture emerge in San Francisco." (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19800/m1/. Retrieved 2011-04-29.
[edit] External links
- Get Together at Songfacts.com
