Today’s classic song of the day is “Nature’s Way” from the band Spirit. It wasn’t a huge hit (only reached #111 on the Billboard chart) but it’s a terrific tune from a terrific album by a terrific band. You might remember it or you might not.
“Nature’s Way” was written by Spirit’s guitarist, Randy California, and featured on their 1970 album, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. If you haven’t heard that album, you need to give it a listen. It’s a trippy, psychedelic album, all about peace and love and the environment and groovy stuff like that. The tunes, including “Nature’s Way,” are great—great writing, great performances, and (especially) great production. You have to listen to this one with a good set of headphones, because this album uses the entire stereo sound field with pinpoint precision, ping-ponging guitars and other sounds between channels and right through your brain. It’s kind of sort of a concept album, a jazz-rock symphony, as it were, with one song seamlessly blending into another. (There’s lots of stuff between tracks, too, so you have to listen to it as an uninterrupted whole.)
As you might suspect, the song “Nature’s Way” is about the environment, which was a big deal back then. The lyrics are all about dying trees and nature telling you something’s wrong. Mr. California wrote it while the band was waiting to perform at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.
Spirit was formed in 1967 when Jay Ferguson (vocals), Randy California (guitars and vocals), John Locke (keyboards), Mark Andes (bass), and Ed Cassidy (drums) got together in Los Angeles; they signed their first record contract (with Ode Records) that same year. Their first and biggest hit was 1968’s “I Got a Line On You,” which reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Twelve Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus was their fourth album and the last with the original lineup. After a short tour supporting that album, Ferguson and Andes left the Spirit to found another group, Jo Jo Gunn, which had a top ten hit with “Run Run Run” in 1972. (Ferguson also had a solo hit in 1978 with “Thunder Island,” which went to #9 on the Hot 100.)
Randy California left and rejoined Spirit several times during the ’70s and ’80s, releasing solo albums between stints. He drowned in 1997 off the coast of Hawaii while (successfully) saving his son from a dangerous riptide. John Locke passed away in 2006 and Ed Cassidy died in 2012.
