Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In
Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In is a Fifth Dimension medley that became a million seller after its release in 1969 .
History of origin
The successful Fifth Dimension had seen the musical Hair , which started on Broadway for the first time on April 29, 1968, in the summer of 1968 and decided to record the song Aquarius from it . As her music producer Dayton Burr "Bones" Howe did not see Aquarius as a complete song, but rather as an intro , because it was used as the opening routine in the musical. At the end of the musical, however, he noticed a song called The Flesh Failures , the last three bars of which consisted of a repetitive "Let the Sunshine In". Howe now proposed a medley of both titles. The entire musical Hair was written by James Rado / Gerome Ragni (text) and Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (music), including both titles combined into a medley. The authors and their music publisher had to expressly agree to this planned summary.
Howe's idea to combine the medium tempo Aquarius with the gospel-like chorus from The Flesh Failures was a musical challenge. Because Aquarius , in order to be suitable for the singing of women, was in a key a fifth higher than Let the Sunshine In , which everyone should sing. Howes commissioned the arranger Bob Alcivar to compose a modulation . He bridged it with a brass break, which also delimited the transition to the rhythm change.
Recording sessions
The medley was intended for the Fifth Dimension LP The Age of Aquarius , which was recorded between September 4 and December 10, 1968 in Hollywood in the recording studios of Wally Heider (Studio 3). This is where the music track for the medley in October 1968 was created. Some of the hired studio musicians were part of the famous wrecking crew . Present were Tommy Tedesco / Dennis Budimir / Mike Deasy / Bill Fulton (guitar), Larry Knechtel / Jimmy Rowles / Pete Jolly (keyboards), Joe Osborn (bass), Hal Blaine (drums, percussion), Larry Bunker (congas, percussion) and Milt Holland (percussion). The violin and wind section provided The Bill Holman Strings & Brass. Heider's recording studio was equipped with 8-track technology, so that track 1 was intended for the guitars, track 2 was for the piano, track 5 was for the drums, track 7 was planned for the bass guitar, the violin and wind sections were on 6 and 8. Tracks 3 and 4 were reserved for the vocals of the Fifth Dimension.
The Fifth Dimension were in Las Vegas during that time , where they opened the stage show for Frank Sinatra at the Caesar's Palace Hotel. Producer Howe had to record her vocals at Bill Porter's small United Recording Studios in Las Vegas because of the group's tight schedule.
The vocal part was recorded as tracks 3 and 4 and overdubbed over the music track in Hollywood . The medley of two songs was cut in half and cut to 4:49 minutes to do justice to the airplay for the single. Alcivar's task was ultimately to merge and shorten both titles.
text
The lyrics of the song refer to the astrological belief that the world would soon enter the Age of Aquarius , an Age of Love, Light and Humanity, in contrast to the previous Age of Pisces, which dominated the last 2000 years. The exact conditions for the change would be "When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars." This change was to take place at the end of the 20th century; Astrologers do not agree on when exactly. Your ideas vary from 2062 to 2680.
Publication and Success
The single Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In / Don'tcha Hear Me Callin 'To Ya (Soul City 772) was released on March 8, 1969 and hit the US charts on the same day , where it was number one for six weeks has been. It was the first medley to become the number one hit in the US charts. The gold record was awarded on April 30, 1969. By mid-May 1969, two million copies had already been sold, a total of three million worldwide by the end of 1969. The title received Grammys as record of the year and best contemporary vocal recording by a group. Of Aquarius or the Medley there Coverinfo.de According to 79 covers. Spencer Davis , who had studied German, published a German version in 1968 under the title Aquarius - Der Wassermann .
Individual evidence
- ↑ MIX / Dan Daley, February 2004, The Fifth Dimension: Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 435 kB)
- ↑ Soundonsound, Classic Tracks: February 2006, The Fifth Dimension: Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 282
