Welcome to our “Psychedelic Lunch” series where we find out how deep the rabbit hole really goes and explore psychedelic tunes from the 60’s and 70’s. Enjoy the trip!
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida By the band Iron Butterfly is the second studio album by the American rock band Iron Butterfly, released in 1968. It is most known for the title track which occupies the whole of Side B.
This was written by Doug Ingle, Iron Butterfly’s vocalist and keyboard player. His father was a church organist.
The title was supposed to be “In The Garden Of Eden.” Someone had written “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” possibly while drunk, on a demo copy. A record company executive saw it and decided to use it as the title, since it sounded mystical and Eastern spirituality was big at the time, with The Beatles going to India and The Rolling Stones experimenting with Indian instruments.
Doug Ingle did not intend it this way when he wrote the song, but he album version is over 17 minutes long. The single was edited for radio.
Ron Bushy’s drum solo is not as long as people think; it only runs about 2 1/2 minutes, from 6.30 to a little past 9 minutes. Doug Ingle’s organ solo immediately follows.
The band’s original guitar player quit before this was recorded. He was replaced by Eric Braun, who had only played the guitar for 3 months.
The title loosely translates as “In The Garden Of Life.”
This was the first hit song that could be classified as “Heavy Metal.” The phrase was introduced that year in the Steppenwolf song “Born To Be Wild.”
Iron Butterfly would have performed this at Woodstock, but they didn’t make it because they were stuck at the airport.
VinylLair.com 
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