Iron Butterfly – "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (1968)

Oh, won’t you come with me

And take my hand

Silence of the Lambs was a huge hit with moviegoers and the critics alike.  It is only the third movie in history to win all of the five most significant Academy Awards – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.

The most memorable character in Silence of the Lambs – which was adapted from Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel of the same name – was Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who just happened to be a cannibalistic serial killer.  Anthony Hopkins clearly deserved the Oscar he won for his extremely disturbing portrayal of Dr. Lecter.

But Silence of the Lambs wasn’t the first Harris novel that featured Hannibal Lecter.  That honor goes to Red Dragon, which was published in 1981.

And Silence of the Lambs wasn’t the first movie that Lecter appeared in.  That honor goes to Manhunter, a 1986 movie based on Red Dragon, which was directed by Michael Mann (of Miami Vice fame) and featured Brian Cox as “Hannibal the Cannibal.”

I saw Manhunter the night before my twin daughters were born.  As good as Silence of the Lambs was, I think Manhunter was better – in large part because of Mann’s use of today’s featured song in that movie’s climactic scene.

Click here to watch that scene.

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The album version of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” – which means “In the Garden of Eden” – is just over 17 minutes long.  It takes up the entire second side of the Iron Butterfly album of the same name, which eventually sold over 30 million copies.  (I bought a copy of it in 1969.  I think it was on sale for $2.22 at my local Walmart.  I doubt that I played the first side of that album more than once.)

The lyrics to the song consist of a total of 31 different words – and that’s counting “In-a-gadda-da-vida” as five words.

Here’s what the liner notes to the reissue of the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album has to say about the origin of the song’s title:

Doug Ingle [Iron Butterfly’s keyboards player and lead vocalist] was in his apartment on top of Bido Lido’s nightclub in Hollywood, writing music in 1968. While he wrote a song around a “Garden of Eden” hook, he was working his way through a gallon bottle of Red Mountain wine.  By the time he committed the idea to tape, he was quite a bit drunk.  Later, when Ron Bushy [Iron Butterfly’s drummer] got home from working at the Galaxy Club, Ingle had consumed 2/3 of the bottle.  Bushy asks Ingle what the title of Iron Butterfly’s new song was, and Ingle slurs out “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” Bushy says, “I thought it was catchy so I wrote it down.”  The next morning, Bushy reminds a hungover Ingle how much he liked the title of their new song.  Ingle would hear nothing of it, but Bushy had written it down and it stuck.

That account doesn’t make a lot of sense, but you could say the same thing about much of the sixties.

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Iron Butterfly was suppose to appear at Woodstock, but they got hung up at LaGuardia Airport.  

From Wikipedia:

Their manager sent a telegram demanding that Iron Butterfly be flown in by helicopter, whereupon they would “immediately” take the stage. After their set, they would be paid and flown back to the airport.  According to drummer Bushy, “We went down to the Port Authority three times and waited for the helicopter, but it never showed up.”  Woodstock production coordinator John Morris claims he sent the manager a telegram reading: “For reasons I can't go into / Until you are here / Clarifying your situation / Knowing you are having problems / You will have to find / Other transportation / Unless you plan not to come.” 

Write down the first letters of each line of John Morris’s telegram.  What do they spell?

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One final note about Iron Butterfly.

Mike Pinera, who wrote and recorded “Ride Captain Ride” – another member of this year’s 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME class – left Blues Image and joined Iron Butterfly before “Ride Captain Ride” became a hit.  Years later, Pinera released a solo album titled In the Garden of Eden.

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The single version of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” clocks in at just under three minutes.  It peaked at #30 on the Billboard “Hot 100” in the fall of 1968, but it’s got to be the most famous #30 single in history.

And that’s why I’ve decided to include it in this year’s class of new inductees into the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME.

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Click here to listen to the single version of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.”

Click on the link below to buy that version of the song from Amazon: