There's a fog upon L.A...

The Beatles - Blue Jay Way
from the album "Magical Mystery Tour" (Parlophone/Capitol, 1967)



Believe it or not, I had never heard this song before today. I've always liked the Beatles, but never really been a serious fan. Obviously not since I've never heard the Magical Mystery Tour album as a whole. Don't you worry, I will be listening to it from now on. Been in a bit of a Beatles period lately. Been listening a lot to the Abbey Road album and now also the Magical Mystery Tour. Probably the most psychedelic album they ever made. Perhaps the Sgt. Pepper album is better but that album was made more as an whole album, while the Magical Mystery Tour was made as a collection of singles or EP's. At least that's my understanding.



The reason that I finally heard this song was just reading in some review that the music Vetiver has made on their new album Tight Knit might be the music George Harrison would have made if he had stayed in the house he rented in Blue Jay Way in the Hollywood Hills in 1967. This triggered my interrest and here we are. I'm always intrigued about that timeperiod and especially the music scene in Los Angeles at the time. Mostly the Laurel Canyon scene but of course all the other music from the period as well. So that turned me on to this song, which I liked a lot. George Harrison wrote the song as he was sitting alone in this rented house waiting for his friends, supposedly Derek Taylor and Harry Nilsson. As the song goes, they got lost trying to find the house. Probably a good thing, had they found the house mr. Harrison wouldn't have had the time on his hands to write this song. The melody was written on an Hammond organ which Harrison didn't really know how to play on, but inspired by the indian music he was into at the time he wrote this song around one or two chords while ad-libbing the lyrics on the spot. At least, so the myth goes.




And of course, it doesn't hurt that George Harrison is one of the coolest people that ever walked the planet either.

Kudos to the reviewer in MOJO and a big thank you to George Harrison and last but not least Los Angeles.



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