Ticket 2 Ride

The heavy rock song that every junior high school kid listened to at a party in the basement, while trying to make out. Parents were probably afraid their daughters would get pregnant just listening to it.

I remember those times. A song that took up one entire album side! The radio edit didn’t do the song justice. “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was quite an anthem.

Sadly, Doug Ingle, writer of that song and most of Iron Butterfly’s songs, passed away on May 24 of this year. Ingle was the last surviving member of the band who played on that album. He was age 78.

The song was originally going to be called “In the Garden of Eden” but the title was garbled as it was written down by the drummer, because Ingle was too drunk to do it himself.

Supposedly, the song was being played as a jam in the studio and was recorded by the audio engineer without telling the band. He was excited by what he heard and told the band they should come listen to it. That recording became the master recording track for the 17 minute song.

The album, also called In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968), is reported to have sold more than eight million copies in its first year of release and an estimated 30 million copies to date. To say that it was a successful album is an understatement.

Musically, the album isn’t bad, though the quality of the songs are uneven, and none have a riff center like “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”. Ingle has a Ray Manzarek/Doors organ sound, which was popular as a heavy, mood-generating device in its day.

I honestly cannot recall the name of another Iron Butterfly song, even though they recorded a number of albums. That one song, however, will forever defined that era.

A few other one hit wonders:

“Eve of Destruction” – Barry McGuire

“Spirit in the Sky” – Norman Greenbaum

“Incense and Peppermints” – Strawberry Alarm Clock

“Venus” – Shocking Blue

“San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)” – Scott McKenzie

“Time Has Come Today” The Chamber Brothers

“Fire” The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

“MacArthur Park” Richard Harris