A little story about this era.
When I was filming “Rockin’ the Wall,” I got the last filmed interview with the great producer (and #1 songwriter) George “Shadow” Morton. He couldn’t sing, couldn’t play an instrument, and couldn’t read music . . . but managed to write 2 #1 songs (”Remember . . . Walkin’ in the Sand” and “Leader of the Pack”).
He went on to be the producer of Janis Ian, Vanilla Fudge, and Iron Butterfly.
When he was recording the Butterfly, they absolutely could not get “Inna-gadda-da-vida” down. He tried everything-—booze, dope. Nothing could calm their nerves. So he pulled an old producer trick.
He said, “We have some bad wiring here in the board. You guys rehearse the song while we fix it.” But in fact he rolled tape. Butterfly was in a groove, and when they came to the drum solo, Morton was so moved by how well they were doing that he kept giving them the “keep going” sign, explaining the long drum solo that was never intended.
Vanilla Fudge played in 68 at this place in Schenectady NY called The Aerodrome. A friend gave Janis Joplin a ride while she was in town. I believe a member of Led Zepplin celebrated his birthday there. Funny how some of these small venues attracted such great bands in the day. I thought the rumor about “Inna-gadda-da-vida” was that that wasn’t what they were supposed to sing but were too drunk during the recording.
Aerodrome blog: http://fromheretome.blogspot.com/2010/01/aerodrome-schenectady.html