Welcome to the inaugural post down in the Valley of Wax. I've spent 25 years in the Valley, and I still don't want to leave.
So what's it all about? Well, it's another blog about vinyl culture. If you're still reading this then like me, you probably can't get enough of the stuff, and read these blogs with the avidity that you chase after elusive 45s. Although I'm a collector I've never been especially motivated by rarity, but I am on an endless quest for the novel, the unusual or the forgotten.
I picked this 45 up in Camden Market, and although a webcrawl reveals that it was a hit in 1970 there is surprisingly little information out there. This folky, funky melange of American Indian trippiness was written by one Jim Pepper, who supposedly learnt the chant from his Indian grandfather. Pepper performed the song with a group under the moniker 'Everything Is Everything', before re-recording it under his own name. I find it a seductive little single, with a lazy floating horn-line that lingers long after the record has finished. Add to that some of the most hippy-looking label artwork I've ever seen (on Vanguard Apostolic) and you have the perfect package. Not bad for 50 pence.
5 comments:
You're quite mad, you know.
That Witchi tai song is exccellent however.
I know this is a late comment, but I just stumbled upon your blog ( I subscribe to over 200 and now you're one more....all the more justified when I went through every post (dl 96% of them ) and ended up with this one. Witchi Tai To is one of my all time favorites. It is a Peyote chant that was/is sung in a sweat lodge. I know because I've sung it many times when I uysed a sweat lodge. The 'water spirits singing springing 'round my head' refers to the incredibly hot steam that permeates a sweat lodge. the ones I participated in usually had 30-50 men crowded in a sealed 5 foot high circular tent naked or near naked. Large ten pound rocks were heated in a fire and slid into the tent on a shovel. After five or so super heated rocks were placed in a shallow pit in the center of the tent, tobacco was sprinkledon the stones as an offering to the great spirit. Then a half gallon opf water was poured on the stones which produced instant staem. Soon the room temp would be 120+ degrees. 3-4 repetitions of new stones and water were done during the next 30-45 minutes. Anyone could leave after a round without shame. Upon completion we alll emerged VERY clear in the head with many of us in an altered state amny experiencing hallucinations but usuall feeling very purified. All in all a wonderful experience. Kind of like a rave, dontcha think?
Nice find & thanks for posting! Hadn't heard this version before but am very fond of the rousing Brewer & Shipley version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkVjd1fJMME
Great version Osmophore — I'd not heard it before. And Duncan, sorry for not replying to your post — my comment alerts have been going to spam. That really is fascinating! So did the sauna develop separately in America to Scandinavia then?
I'd love to find the album this song (Witchi Tai To) is on. I believe it is all, or most of one side and is amazing (mostly instrumental). I heard it one time on an album rock station in Seattle in the early 70s and having been looking for it ever since.
Nick
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