Ventura Highway
| "Ventura Highway" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Single by America | |
| from the album Homecoming | |
| B-side | "Saturn Nights" |
| Released | October, 1972 |
| Format | 7" single |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 3:32 |
| Label | Warner Bros. |
| Writer(s) | Dewey Bunnell |
| Producer | America |
"Ventura Highway" is a popular 1972 song by the rock 'n' roll band America from its album, Homecoming.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The vocalist and writer of the song Dewey Bunnell has said that the lyric "alligator lizards in the air" in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky. One day in 1963 his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California and they had a flat tire. While his father changed the tire, he and his brother stood by the side of the road and watched the clouds and saw a road sign for "Ventura".[1]
Bunnell also explained that the song is "about leaving". He was living in Omaha, Nebraska and he would walk through corn fields in the summer and freeze in the winter,[2] and he remembered back to when his father was stationed at Vandenberg AFB, and dreamed of the sun and the ocean. The song has a "Go West, young man" motif in the structure of a conversation between an old man named "Joe" and a young and hopeful kid. "Joe" was modeled after a "grumpy" old man he had met while his dad was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi (Keesler Air Force Base).[1]
In America's booklet for the boxed-set, Highway Highlight, that the song is and that, "It reminds me of the time I lived in Omaha as a kid and how we'd walk through cornfields and chew on pieces of grass. There were cold winters, and I had images of going to California. So I think in the song I'm talking to myself, frankly: 'How long you gonna stay here, Joe?' I really believe that 'Ventura Highway' has the most lasting power of all my songs. It's not just the words — the song and the track have a certain fresh, vibrant, optimistic quality that I can still respond to".[3]
"That's Gerry and Dan doing a harmony on two guitars on the intro. I remember us sitting in a hotel room, and I was playing the chords, and Gerry got that guitar line, and he and Dan worked out that harmony part. That's really the hook of the song".[3]
[edit] Reception
The song went to #8 on the Billboard Top 40 Pop Charts for America, spending nine weeks on the charts after debuting on November 4, 1972.[4]
[edit] Legacy
The song also contains the phrase "purple rain," later the title of a 1984 song, album, and film (and the tour that supported both the album and film), for the artist Prince. Although it is not known if there is actually any connection, both Mikel Toombs of the The San Diego Union and Bob Kostanczuk of the Post-Tribune, have written that Prince got the titles directly from "Ventura Highway".[5][6]
The song's opening guitar riff and musical hook throughout Janet Jackson's 2001 song "Someone to Call My Lover" was sampled in 2001 by the multi-Grammy Award winning production team of Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis (Flyte Tyme) who were influenced by America and "Ventura Highway" listening to KDWB 63 AM (Top 40) growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota (along with their close friend, musician Prince). Bunnell said the use of the sample from Ventura Highway and the production by Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Janet Jackson boosted sales for America.[7]
"Ventura Highway" won many fans, including the pro-wrestler-turned-politician, Jesse Ventura: "We went and played at Governor Jesse Ventura's inaugural out in Minneapolis. He asked us to — his wife is a horse lady, and she'd always loved "A Horse With No Name", and he had adopted this name, 'Ventura'. So when he put together his cast of characters for his big inaugural celebration, he wanted us to come and play two songs, which we did".[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Boucher, Geoff (October 1, 2006). "'Ventura Highway' America - 1972". Los Angeles Times. http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/suncal/cl-ca-socalsong01oct01,0,372883.htmlstory?coll=cl-suncal.
- ^ Roura, Phil (June 18, 2006). "THE VOICE OF AMERICA. The 'Horse With No Name' group brings old and new to the Boardwalk". New York Daily News.
- ^ a b c Bunnell, Dewey (2000). "Ventura Highway". Highway Highlight (Rhino Records).
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books. p. 26. ISBN 9780823074990.
- ^ Toombs, Mikel (June 1, 1985). "'America' still fares well through thick and thin". The San Diego Union.
- ^ Kostanczuk, Bob (June 22, 1990). "America Still Alive, Crazy After All These Years". Post-Tribune.
- ^ Farber, Jim (June 3, 2007). "Suddenly, after 30 years, respect for crooners America". New York Daily News (MCT Information Services).
|
||||||||||||||||||||
