IRON BUTTERFLY - IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA (or In The Garden Of Eden?)

"Wait a minute, this sounds like rock and/or roll," says Reverend Lovejoy on the episode of The Simpsons where Bart switches out the hymnals with copies of "In the Garden of Eden" by I. Ron Butterfly. Of course, the joke on the churchgoers (and the poor organist who passes out at the end of the 17-minute hippie anthem) is that it's actually the sheet music to the 1968 bad trip of a hit song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly.

But the biblical reference is actually on the mark. Public Radio International spoke with WNYC radio host John Schaefer about how the song became a hit completely by accident. He said that lead singer Doug Ingle "was drunk or high or both, and slurred the words 'in the garden of Eden,'" just like Bart's joke.

The epic song that Ultimate Guitar posits as a contender for the first heavy metal song ever was written as a love song from Adam to Eve, but in this version it seems Adam was the one who dipped a bit too much into the forbidden fruit. The mystery behind the slurred lyrics gave the song the right kind of controversy it needed to stand out in the world of 1960's psychedelic rock.

Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal music.Wikipedia
Origin:
San Diego, California, U.S.
Genres:
Acid rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock
Years active:
1966–1971, 1974–1985, 1987–2012, 2015–present