Let's Get Together (Chet Powers song)

"Let's Get Together"
Song
B-side	"All My Dreams Blue" (original) "Beautiful" (re-issue)

"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.

Recording history

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 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when it peaked at #31. It would be their last hit record.

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 #62 and reaching #37 on the US adult contemporary chart. 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.

In 1968, The Sunshine Company released a version of the song titled "Let's Get Together" as a single that reached #112 on the Billboard chart.

In 1970, Gwen & Jerry Collins released a version of the song as a single that reached #34 on the US country chart.

In March 1970, The Dave Clark Five reached #8 on the UK Singles Chart with their version retitled "Everybody Get Together."

In 1995, Big Mountain released a version of the song titled as a single that reached #28 on the US adult contemporary chart and #44 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Other cover 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: Hamilton Camp on his album Paths of Victory
• 1964: David Crosby (unreleased until 2002; Crosby and Dino Valenti were housemates in the early 1960s)
• 1965: Chad Mitchell Trio on their album That's the Way It's Gonna Be
• 1966: 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.
• In 1966 Judy Collins performed the song live at the 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.
• The 1960s band H.P. Lovecraft also made a cover of the song.
• 1968: Stone Poneys on their album Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
• 1968: The Staple Singers on their album What the World Needs Now Is Love
• 1969: The Cryan' Shames on their album Synthesis
• 1969: The Carpenters' version of "Get Together" featured on their first album Offering in 1969.The album was later repackaged as Ticket to Ride in 1970.
• 1969: Andy Williams on his album, Get Together with Andy Williams
• 1970: Ray Stevens covered the song on his Everything Is Beautiful album keeping the same arrangement as The Youngbloods.
• 1970: Louis Armstrong covered the song on his final studio album, Louis 'Country & Western' Armstrong.
• 1971: Buzzy Linhart covered the song on his album titled, The Time to Live Is Now as Let's Get Together.
• 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 on his album The Wild Frontier, produced by Dave Perkins
• 1988: Kate Wolf on An Evening in Austin
• 1989: Indigo Girls on the Epic Records release of their album Strange Fire. The song also appears on the soundtrack for The Wonder Years.
• 1989: The Wonder Stuff on the B side of the single "Golden Green"
• 1991: Nirvana's bass player, Krist Novoselic, yells out the chorus of "Get Together" at the beginning of "Territorial Pissings," from their album, Nevermind.
• 1996: Jesse Colin Young of The Youngbloods on the album On the Mountain 2 which was a fund raiser compiled by the Seattle radio station KMTT.
• 1999: Garth Brooks, singing under the pseudonym Chris Gaines, incorporated the chorus into his 1999 song "Right Now" and it was heard in the film I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (the songwriting credit went to Powers and folk singer Cheryl Wheeler).
• 2003: Lizz Wright on her album Dreaming Wide Awake
• 2004: Wilson Phillips on their album California
• 2007: Ann Wilson with Nancy Wilson, Deana Carter & Wynonna Judd on Ann Wilson's solo album Hope & Glory

Controversy

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 1,200 radio stations in the United States.

In popular culture

The Youngbloods version of the song has been featured in several films, including Purple Haze, Forrest Gump, The Dish, Stephen King's Riding the Bullet, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and most recently Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.

In The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror II", Lisa wishes for world peace and her wish comes true. All people on Earth start singing "Get Together" and dance in a large peace sign.

The South Park episode "Smug Alert" contains a parody of the song which repeats the line "come on people now" several times.

A snippet of the Youngbloods version of the song was used in a 2014 commercial for KFC.

A snippet of the Youngbloods version of the song was played in the beginning of Bart's dream in The Simpsons episode "Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?"

External links

• Get Together at Songfacts.com