Some songs are so culturally relevant that they serve as a sort of shorthand in movies and TV shows: As soon as you hear it, you're transported to a specific time or filled with a certain feeling (or both). Take, for example, "Get Together," released by the Youngbloods in 1967. It's been used in movies like "Forrest Gump," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and others (not to mention countless shows and commercials) to immediately evoke that "Summer of Love" vibe, and with good reason. Over 50 years since it first hit the airwaves, it remains the defining anthem of the era. Oddly enough, though, it didn't catch on at first.
While the Youngbloods' version of "Get Together" is the most well-known, it wasn't the first. Written by Chet Powers (otherwise known as Dino Valenti) in 1963, the song was recorded and released by the Kingston Trio, the We Five and Jefferson Airplane before the Youngbloods put their own spin on it, according to American Songwriter.
The Youngbloods' lead singer, Jesse Colin Young, first heard the song played at an open mic in Greenwich Village.
"It was a Sunday afternoon and I was walking through the Village and thought, 'Oh, the Go Go's gonna be dark. I'll call the band; we can rehearse,'" Young told NPR's Tom Cole, who praised "Get Together" as an "anthem for every season."
"I walked down the stairs and it turned out to be an open mic," Young continued. "I thought I would turn around and go home. But Buzzy Linhart was onstage singing 'Get Together.' That song just stopped me in my tracks."
As Young explained, the first two lines of the song really hit home at the time.
"'Love is but a song we sing / Fear's the way we die.' Wow — the human condition in two lines," he said, noting, "Back then we were all subject to the draft. That made everything more life and death. And hope is what comes out of that song."
David Freiberg of Jefferson Starship recalled being similarly affected by the song (initially titled "Let's Get Together") when Powers/Valenti first played it for him while he was in Los Angeles visiting a friend.
"In pops Dino Valenti driving in like a crazy [man] and says, 'Hey man, listen to this song I just wrote!' " Freiberg said. "And we listened to it and went, 'Oh my goodness! How great that song is.' And we're quickly writing down the lyrics to it."
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
The Youngbloods released their version, now titled "Get Together," on their 1967 debut album, The Youngbloods. At first, it didn't make a huge impact, peaking at just #62 on the Billboard Hot 100. That changed after the song was used in a public service announcement for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, prompting people to call radio stations asking for it to be played. The sudden surge in popularity grabbed the attention of record exec Augie Blum.
"Augie Blum, the head of promotion at RCA, went to his boss and said, 'I want this song again. Now's the time for it,'" Young explained. "And they told him, 'Now Augie, we don't do that. You know we released it once. That's it.' And he said, 'You release a song again or I'm out of here.' He was too valuable for them to lose. So they put it out again, and he was right, of course. The country was ready."
The second time around, "Get Together" went all the way to #5 on the Hot 100, making it the Youngbloods' only Top 40 hit.
C'mon people nowSmile on your brotherEv'rybody get togetherTry to love one another right now
Decades later, the chorus remains as relevant as ever.
Related: 1967 Rock Classic, Ranked Among 'Greatest Songs of All Time,' Was Written in an Hour on a Broken Piano
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