(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
The 5th Dimension - "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"
Hit Number 1: April 12, 1969
Stay at Number 1: 6 Weeks
In 1967, the play Hair took the Broadway stage. The play, just like many songs did at this time period, dealt with the political issues going on in America. The plot of the play follows a long-haired group who call themselves a "tribe", and it's all about them fighting the beliefs of their own parents, and the rest of conservative America. Needless to say, it sounds like a very strange play, and of course that means it would have strange music tied to it. Two of the songs in the play would have a complicated run to the top of the U.S. charts, with one of them being the introduction to the play.
The story goes that in 1967, the 5th Dimension member, Billy Davis Jr., left his wallet in a New York City cab. The very next guy who got in the cab noticed it, and saw that it was Davis'. That guy just so happened to be involved in the production of Hair, and he was familiar with the 5th Dimension, and who Billy Davis Jr. was. He called him up to not only inform him that he forgot his wallet, but also to invite him and the rest of the group to see the play. (I'd just like to point out here that if you left your wallet in a cab these days, your identity and your money will be stolen. In 1967, you score seats to a play by a guy who happens to be involved in the production of it. Ah, the good old days.) Music producer Bones Howe, who had been working with the 5th Dimension as well as groups like the Association, received a call from members of the group. They were ecstatic over the play's intro song, "Aquarius", and wanted to record it. Howe wasn't sold on it though, and believed that the song would never make it as a hit, as it was only a play's introduction song. Howe decided to check out the whole play himself, and came up with the idea to combine "Aquarius" with another song in the play "The Flesh Failures". He only used the bars in it that repeated the lines "let the sunshine in". He describes how he put "Aquarius" and "Let the Sunshine In" together as jamming them together "like two trains".
Even the recording story behind the song is weird. Part of what we hear on the track was recorded in Las Vegas, and the other part in Los Angeles. The instrumental track was recorded in Los Angeles, while the members of the 5th Dimension recorded their tape with their vocals in Las Vegas. Songwriter Jimmy Webb, who was responsible for some of Glen Campbell's earliest material, happened to walk into the studio and heard the group performing "Let the Sunshine In". He remarked "My God, that's a number one record". Well, I guess he was right.
The lyrics of the "Aquarius" part are probably the strangest part about all of this. The general belief in it is that when the world passed through the "age of Aquarius", it would be a period of love and peace, unlike the current "age of Pisces". The line "When the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars", further explains the change. Astrologers like to get all nit-picky about the lyrics, with guys like Neil Spencer explaining that the song's lyrics is just a bunch of "astrological gibberish", and that everything the song describes is inaccurate. (Dude, it's a song) So that part is just a continuation of an all-too familiar topic in late 1960's songs. The "Let the Sunshine In" part is just the group repeating that line over and over, with Davis Jr. improvising lyrics.
All things told, the song is all over the place for a good amount of it. For the first half we're listening to a soulful orchestrated tune, backed by a, let's be honest here, pretty impressive vocal performance by Marilyn McCoo. (She would later marry Billy Davis Jr. in 1969. They're still married today) Despite that, the "Aquarius" part doesn't stick with me at all. It's alright I guess, but while people in the Spring of 1969 were clearly excited by it, I just don't feel the same way about it. Then the song suddenly switches over to the "Let the Sunshine In" part, which is comprised of a more funky delivery. That part, unfortunately, doesn't intrigue me that much either. Despite Davis Jr.'s improvised lyrics in an attempt to keep it interesting, it just isn't, well, interesting. It's way too repetitive, and at that point the song is over for me. You do still get some good quality instrumentation, with grand horns, a gently weaving bass line, and in "Aquarius" a pretty lovely flute part. I'm also a believer that McCoo is one of the more underrated vocalists in music's history. But this wasn't the moment that the 5th Dimension found themselves, in my opinion. They'll appear in this blog again.
GRADE: 5/10
JUST MISSED:
Blood, Sweat, & Tears' pretty good "You've Made Me So Very Happy" peaked at #2 behind "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In". It's a 7.
ANOTHER JUST MISSED:
Speaking of repetitive, the Isley Brothers' funky, but all-too-repetitive "It's Your Thing" also peaked at #2 behind "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In". It's also a 5.
YET ANOTHER JUST MISSED:
The Cowsills also had a song from the musical Hair called, well, "Hair". It also peaked at #2 behind "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In". It's a really, really, weird song. Maybe I just don't get it. Anyway, it's a 3.
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