electric hair

"this is the dawning of the age of aquarius"

i remember the first time i tried to watch hair: the american tribal love-rock musical. it followed a macy’s day parade performance featuring stars of the latest broadway edition, circa 2009. this led me on a path of trying to watch the film version.

one day, i discovered that the movie (1979) was available on an hd channel — but i didn’t have an hd tv — so when i tried to watch it, i could only hear the audio. what a time that was filling in the blanks visually! eventually, i did see the film adaptation, which in its own way provided me with more context to the politics of the 1960s and not just the hippie ~aesthetic~ (but we appreciate that too over here).

hair, composed by Galt MacDermot, originated on broadway in 1968. it was originally met with negative reactions from conservatives due to its racy themes, glorification of counterculture, and anti-war rhetoric. controversy aside, the musical is probably best known for introducing the world to the cosmically divine song “aquarius/let the sunshine in.” in the musical, these are two separate tracks but in 1969, r&b group The 5th Dimension released a medley of the songs that has become a hallmark of psychedelic soul.

i mean, if you’ve ever watched anything from the Judd Apatow cinematic universe, you’ll also remember “aquarius/let the sunshine in” as featured in “the 40 year old virgin” during the title character’s sexual awakening. for context, i also grew up very into musical theatre (both watching and performing on stage). so this would have been around the time that i was invested in rent and across the universe and other related musical films, too. i’ll unpack my theatre origin story in the near future.

lyrics to “aquarius”

flash forward a few years, during a vintage shopping date with a friend, i came across this electric version of the hair score featuring a moog synthesizer. it was arranged and composed by jazz musician Robert (Bobby) Byrne in 1970 and for me, it’s equal parts meditative and intergalactic. it sounds like someone tried to transcribe a conversation between otherworldly beings and got 30 minutes of trippy, electro-tinged jazz.

give the electric hair album a listen below.

and since we’ve entered aquarius season, i’ve also added a playlist that fits my perception of the innovative, mystical aquarian spirit. enjoy!

(apple music | tidal)