According to legend (which is sort of like rumor, only with a little more credibility), the title of the song, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, originally was supposed to be In a Garden of Eden, but, during the recording of the song, the group’s somewhat inebriated keyboardist and singer, Doug Ingle, mumbled his way through the lyrics so that they came out sounding to Bushy like “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” The band actually liked that name better, and so it stuck. Another version of the story suggests that it wasn’t Ingle, but Bushy who was intoxicated, and, unable to hear the lyrics correctly, named the song according to the words he thought he had heard. (Of course, I guess it’s just slightly possible that both men were intoxicated – although what would the likelihood of that be!) Either way, it’s makes for a pretty good story.
During my high school years I played drums in a local rock band, and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was one our favorite songs to play at school dances and coffee houses, giving me a chance to show off a little bit – something that drummers seldom do, being that we are such shy and modest people, avoiding the limelight at all costs. (Seriously, most drummers I know have egos the size of Texas, and love to draw attention to themselves, which is one of the reasons why we’re willing to drag all of that equipment around!)
Back in 1969 I was fortune enough to hear Iron Butterfly live in concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, about 30 minutes from where I grew up. I remember well Bushy’s drum solo, which was loud and impressive, and must have lasted a good half an hour! I also remember the smoke at that concert being so thick you couldn’t even see the other side of the arena. Remember those days? I guess it was cigarette smoke, but now that I think about it…
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