The Peanut Butter Conspiracy - Why Did I Get So High (1967)

John Merrill, Barbara “Sandi” Robison, Alan Brackett, Spencer Dryden, and Jim Cherniss first got together as a band in the mid-‘60s calling themselves The Young Swingers. Although they changed their name to The Ashes and released a few singles, the band was short-lived, disbanding when Dryden joined Jefferson Airplane and Robison took a leave of absence to give birth. In the meantime, Alan Brackett began playing with Lance Baker Fent and Jim Voigt, calling themselves The Crossing Guards. In mid-1966, Robison and Merill reunited with Brackett’s new outfit, and the new five-piece band called themselves The Peanut Butter Controversy. Drummer Jim Voigt had been the one to come up with the name, but according to Alan Brackett, the band “changed it to Conspiracy right away.”

The band’s first album, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy is Spreading, which this song appeared on, was recorded with Gary Usher at the forefront. With ties to The Beach Boys, it’s no wonder that Usher borrowed the talents of Glen Campbell (and James Burton) to improve the PBC’s album. The band, on the other hand, wasn’t pleased with the unwanted personnel additions, and would later disavow the album because of their contributions.

The song heard below, written by John Merrill and Alan Brackett*, appeared as the sixth track on the album. It never charted, but the album itself squeezed itself into the bottom of Billboard’s Top 200. It was never released as a single, most likely because the drug-related lyrics would have surely been banned instantaneously.

*[Update 05/21/2014: Alan Brackett was kind enough to stop by and clear up some of the details about this song. You can read them in the comments below. He also included a link to check out a new album of rare and unreleased material from The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Definitely check it out in the comments below!]

[Update 01/08/2015: A submission from Alan Brackett has been added to the end of this article.]

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A Special Edition post with Alan Brackett of The Peanut Butter Conspiracy!

These are exerpts from the new book I’m writing and cover a couple of songs I wrote that had drug overtones lyrically and, I guess musically, too.

“Why Did I Get So High” was inspired by The Fugs’ song “I Couldn’t Get High” that Frank Zappa played for us at our Frenchy’s gig in Hayward. I think they were very honest about what they said in their song, but they also didn’t seem to care about being commercial at all or getting airplay. We didn’t care that much, but we were signed to Columbia and I did know that they would not be ready for lyrics like that; so when I wrote “Why Did I Get So High,” I did it about love, with a double meaning. It was fun singing about getting high at gigs. And the audiences loved to sing along with that one; and I’m sure they knew the double meaning. It was all about having great- high- expectations and getting totally carried away, only to ultimately crash and burn. The very last word, “stoned,” instead of “high” is the give-away that the song is not just a cute little love song; and I thought we were lucky to get away with even saying that. Of course, the song didn’t get much airplay because the radio waves weren’t ready yet, either. Boy, have things changed. You can say pretty much anything these days it seems.

Musically, I based the song on classical structure with a different chord for almost every word, instead of the melody, and words floating over chords that are holding for a bar or more. John’s song, “You Took Too Much,” was filled with lines like “you tripped out on the trees” and “you’re trippin’ all the time.” So, I was not alone; that’s for sure.

The opening song from Great Conspiracy was “Turn On A Friend” to which Columbia added the next line in the song to the title in parenthesis (To The Good Life). I knew something like that would happen, and that’s why I wrote the song with that line after “turn on a friend” in the lyrics. Like “Why Did I Get So High” in the first album, I wanted to use double-meaning because I saw it as a way of getting away with saying what I wanted to say. The lyrics were all positive, about helping a friend to have a good trip through their life.

Musically, I wrote the song around some big open chords on the guitar and bass. The half step up from the A in the third chord gives an Eastern sound along with blues chords in the rest of the song. On the double-time instrumental break, Mikael Kollandar played some fast-fingered raga style runs that added to the Eastern flavor. This song was released as a single prior to the album in October of 1967.

Paranoid about the lyric content of the song, Columbia made Billy send out postcards to the DJs and promotion people.

A huge thanks to Alan Brackett for sharing excerpts from his book. It was very kind.

And now that you've enjoyed this exclusive story, why not check out what other exclusive stories we've received?

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The Peanut Butter Conspiracy - Why Did I Get So High (1967)

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Lyrics:

Why did I get so high
Just to fall from the sky?
Why did I get so high
Just to see our love die?
Oh, why did I get so high?

There was a time
I thought you were mine
And the world was new
Filled with thoughts of you

In this state of mind
My love was blind
And the world closed in
On my heart, on my mind
And my love, oh no

Why did I get so high
Just to fall from the sky?
Why did I get so high
Just to see our love die?

Now I'm gone, I can't go on
'cause my heart is dead
And so is my head
But I live on to spite the world
'cause there was a time
I thought you were mine
And the world was new
Filled with thoughts of you

Why did I get so high
Just to fall from the sky?
Why did I get so high
Just to see our love die?
Oh, why did I get so high?

Why did I get so stoned?

Sagittarius - My World Fell Down (1967)

Born in 1938, Gary Usher made a name for himself as a songwriter in the early ‘60s. Perhaps most notably at that time, he co-wrote songs with Brian Wilson for The Beach Boys such as the popular “In My Room.” In 1967, Usher came across a song called “My World Fell Down,” performed by the British band known as The Ivy League. He attempted to give the song to Chad & Jeremy, whom he had been producing for at the time. They refused, opposed to recording work other than their own. Still convinced that the song could be a hit, Usher called up some session musicians to record the song and, upon completion, when he turned it in to Columbia Records, dubbed the non-existent group “Sagittarius” after his own astrological sign. When the song reached number seventy on the Billboard charts, it was considered a success. Columbia, not knowing that there wasn’t really a band behind it, wanted the non-existent group on tour to support the song. At that point, Usher had to confess that there wasn’t actually a band. Attempting to continue the success of the Sagittarius name, Usher began recording material himself, using the Sagittarius name. What resulted were two albums attributed to Sagittarius, a band that never truly existed.

As stated above, Gary Usher had done a lot of collaboration with Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. Also mentioned above is that this song was created by a group of session musicians. What combines these two facts into something very interesting is some of the session musicians used were friends Usher had made through Brian Wilson: Glen Campbell, Bruce Johnston, and Terry Melcher. Although never officially a member of The Beach Boys, Glen Campbell was Brian Wilson’s replacement on a Beach Boys tour from December 1964 until March 1965. Bruce Johnston, on the other hand, was an official member of The Beach Boys, having replaced Campbell on the aforementioned tour and later joining the group full-time in the studio. Lastly, Terry Melcher had been associated with The Beach Boys having done record producing for them (as well as for The Byrds).

All three men playing on this song had previously contributed to The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, so it should go without saying that when this song was released less than one year later, it carried a heavy influence from those sessions. All having worked so closely with Brian Wilson, some people refer to this song as a reflection of Brian Wilson’s genius, channeled through the playing of his protégés.



Sagittarius - My World Fell Down (1967)

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Lyrics:

Just like the breath of spring
You came my way
I heard a bluebird sing
But not today

‘cause it’s wintertime
And the leaves are brown
Since you went away
My world fell down
(My world fell down)
(My world fell down)
Fell down

I see your suitcase lyin’
Packed up to go
I stop myself from cryin’
How, I don’t know

‘cause it’s wintertime
And the leaves are brown
Since you went away
My world fell down
(My world fell down)
(My world fell down)
Fell down

Wish I didn’t feel like winter
‘cause spring’s a better thing, I know
I know I’d feel so much better
If I could only let her go

‘cause it’s wintertime
And the leaves are brown
Since you went away
My world fell down
(My world fell down)
(My world fell down)
Fell down

‘cause it’s wintertime
And the leaves are brown
Since you went away
My world fell down
(My world fell down)
(My world fell down)
Fell down