In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
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"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is a seventeen-minute, five-second psychedelic rock song by Iron Butterfly, released on their 1968 album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, occupying the entire second side of the album. The lyrics are simple, and heard only at the beginning and the end. The track was recorded on Monday, May 27, 1968 at Ultrasonic Studios in Hempstead, Long Island, New York. The recording that is heard on the album was actually meant to be a sound check for engineer Don Casale while the band waited for the arrival of producer Jim Hilton. However, Casale had rolled a recording tape, and when the rehearsal was completed it was agreed that the performance was of sufficient quality that another take wasn't needed. Hilton later remixed the recording at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles.
In later years, band members claimed that the track was actually produced by legendary Long Island producer George "Shadow" Morton. Morton subsequently stated in several interviews that he had agreed to do so at the behest of Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun, but he also allowed that he was struggling with alcoholism at the time and that his actual oversight of the recording was minimal. Neither Casale or Morton receive credit on the album.
Overview
The song is considered significant in rock history because, together with music by Blue Cheer, Jimi Hendrix and Steppenwolf, it marks the point when psychedelic music produced heavy metal. To wit, Blue Cheer's treatment of "Summertime Blues", Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", and Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" - whose lyrics contain the phrase "heavy-metal thunder" - have in common insistently driving rhythms that typify music of the heavy metal style. In 2009 it was named the 24th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[2]
A commonly related story says that the song's title was originally "In The Garden Of Eden" but at one point in the course of rehearsing and recording, singer Doug Ingle got intoxicated and slurred the words, creating the mondegreen that stuck as the title. However, the liner notes on 'the best of' CD compilation state that drummer Ron Bushy was listening to the track through headphones, and couldn't clearly distinguish what Doug Ingle answered when Ron asked him for the title of the song (which was originally "In-The-Garden-Of-Eden"). An alternate explanation, as given in the liner notes of the 1995 re-release of the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album, is that Ingle was drunk and/or high when he first told Bushy the title, and Bushy wrote it down. Bushy then showed Ingle what he had written, and the slurred title stuck. It has been covered many times, such as the version by Boney M.
Musical composition
The song features a memorable, "endless, droning minor-key riff,"[3] guitar and bass ostinato, which is repeated throughout nearly the entire length of the song. It is also used as the basis for extended organ and guitar solos, which are interrupted in the middle by an extended drum solo, one of the first such solos on a rock record and one of the most famous in rock. What made this particular drum solo unique was its surreal tribal sound. Bushy removed the bottom heads from his tom-toms to give them a more resonant tone, and during the recording process, the drum tracks were subjected to a process known as phasing, producing a slow, swirling sound with a quite mesmerizing effect. It's then followed by Doug Ingle's ethereal polyphonic organ solo (which resembles variations on "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen") to the accompaniment of drums (beginning around 6:20 into the piece). There are then interludes in cut time and a reprise of the original theme and vocals.
Live version
A live version reaching over 17 minutes long was released as part of their 1969 live album. This version, however, has evidence of heavy editing from the actual live recording. The guitar solo, for example, seems to have been recorded in a studio or somewhere else where there was no audience in attendance. The live version also lengthens the drums solo by roughly four minutes and the organ solo by about one minute. The version also omits the bass and drum solo jam (heard from 13:04-15:19 on the studio recording). The version that was edited and released as a single omits the instrumental solos and leaves roughly three minutes of music.
When Doug Ingle originally wrote the song, he had not intended for it to run seventeen minutes long. However, Ingle said that he "knew there would be slots for solos." As it turned out, during live renditions of the song, Erik Brann's (guitar) and Ron Bushy's (drum) solos varied from performance to performance, while Ingle's organ solo remained the same.
Boney M. version
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"Children of Paradise" / "Gadda-Da-Vida" is a 1980 single by German band Boney M. Intended to be the first single off the group's fifth album Boonoonoonoos (scheduled for a November 1980 release), the single was ultimately never included because the album release was delayed for one year. "Children of Paradise" peaked at #11 in the German charts whereas it became the group's lowest placing in the UK at #66 only. Boney M. would use the double A-side format in this period, typically with the A1 being the song intended for radio and A2 being more squarely aimed at discos. The sides would usually be switched on the accompanying 12" single. Although no-one knew at the time it was recorded, "Gadda-Da-Vida" became a controversial Boney M. record since it turned out none of the original members sang on it. Due to a fall-out between producer Frank Farian and the group, he had session singers La Mama (Cathy Bartney, Patricia Shockley and Madeleine Davis) sing the female vocals while he did the deep male vocals as usual. The group only promoted it once on TV. Two different single edits were done of the full 9 minutes version that appeared on the 12" single. "Gadda-Da-Vida" was the A-side in Japan. Only the French release correctly stated the song title as "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".
Releases
7" Singles
- "Children of Paradise" (Farian, Reyam, Jay) - 4:40 / "Gadda-Da-Vida" (Ingle) - 5:18 (Hansa 102 400-100, Germany)
- "Children of Paradise" (Final mix) - 4:28 / "Gadda-Da-Vida" (Final mix) - 5:05 (Hansa 102 400-100, Germany)
12" Single
- "Gadda-Da-Vida" (Long Version) - 8:56 / "Children of Paradise" (12" mix) - 5:18 (Hansa 600 280-100, Germany)
Covers
- By Mongo Santamaría on the album "Feelin' Alright"(1970)
- By the Incredible Bongo Band on the album "Bongo Rock" (1973)
- 1985 saw a guitar instrumental 12" single released of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" on Sutra Records. Guitarist Les Fradkin recorded this as a duo with synthesist Rob Hegel. The act was called Maddog.
- Thrash metal band Slayer cover the song on the Less Than Zero (1987) soundtrack album.
- Jag Panzer covered it on the "Chain Of Command" album (2004)
- Hard rock band Electric Earth covered this song on their debut album, Organic Songs - Volume One (2005).
- Symphonic speed metal band Blind Guardian covered this song their single Fly (2006).
- Drum and bass producer High Contrast covered this song on his 2007 album, Tough Guys Don't Dance (High Contrast album).
- A version entitled "In-A-Gadda-Stravinsky" can be found on the Frank Zappa album Guitar. The main riff can be distinctly heard during the beginning of the song.
In popular culture
- In the "Flying Saucers" episode of Home Improvement, Tim Taylor used the song to scare his kids.
- The song was used in the climax of the movie Manhunter (directed by Michael Mann), the filmed version of Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon.
- The song appears in Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail! during a drug-induced dream sequence.
- The song was used in the TV series Supernatural in episode 6 of season 1, titled "Skin".
- The song was used in the Television series House M.D., Season 3, Episode 23 after a patient ingests magic mushrooms as part of a treatment for cluster headaches.
- The song was used in the Television series Criminal Minds, season 1, episode 16, titled "The Tribe" in the opening scene.
- The song was used in The Simpsons episode "Bart Sells His Soul", where Bart switches a hymn out for "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" with an adapted chorus: "In the Garden of Eden," the song's original title. Reverend Timothy Lovejoy believed I. Ron Butterfly to be the one who penned the song, in lieu of the band: Iron Butterfly. Homer tells Marge he remembers making out to "this hymn."
- The song was used in Resident Evil: Extinction when the convoy is driving down the long road.
- The opening riff of the cover by the Incredible Bongo Band was sampled in the song Hip Hop is Dead and Thief's Theme by Nas.
- The album appears in the film High Fidelity in the first scenes of the record store. It is not featured prominently, but it is very noticeable.
- The song was used in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, in the house when Spencer sits in the living room "watching" TV.
- The song was used in the film "The Pirates of Silicon Valley"
- It was heard in a Castrol TV commercial that aired during NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XLIII.
- It was played in the denoument of the film Ocean's Twelve.
- In the video gamePOSTAL after repeatedly shooting the shotgun, the Postal Dude says 'In-a-gadda-da-vida baby'.
Sources
- ^ Huey, Steve (2008). "Iron Butterfly biography", AllMusic.
- ^ "spreadit.org music". Retrieved February 7, 2009.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2008). "'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' review", AllMusic.