ViniBassMan, Mar 21, 2009
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcase a YouTube video of The Fifth Dimension's 1969 hit medley Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine". Information about The Fifth Dimensions and information about that medley are included in this post. .
This post also presents an excerpt of a 2010 theosophical.org article excerpt entitled "The Dawn of Aquarius: The Turning of the Great Ages".
The content of this post is presented for cultural, inspirational, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the composers and arrangers of "The Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine" medley. Thanks to The Fifth Dimensions and thanks to all those who ate quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
****
WIKIPEDIA EXCERPT ABOUT THE FIFTH DIMENSION'S MEDLEYECORD "AGE OF AQUARIUS/LET THE SUNSHINE"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarius/Let_the_Sunshine_In
" "Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh
Failures)" (commonly called "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In",
"The Age of Aquarius" or "Let the Sunshine In") is a medley
of two songs written for the 1967 musical Hair by James Rado and Gerome Ragni
(lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (music), released as a single by American R&B
group the 5th Dimension. The song spent six weeks at number one on the US
Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in the spring of 1969 and was eventually
certified platinum in the US by the RIAA.[2] Instrumental backing was written
by Bill Holman and provided by a group of session musicians commonly known as
"the Wrecking Crew".[3][4]
The song is listed at number 66 on Billboard's "Greatest Songs of All Time".[5]
History
The recording was led by veteran American producer and engineer Bones Howe, who had previously worked with the 5th Dimension as well as the Mamas & the Papas and Elvis Presley. As Howe tells it, the recording can be traced to an incident in which 5th Dimension lead singer Billy Davis Jr. left his wallet in a New York City cab; the man who found the wallet was involved in the production of Hair and invited the group to see the show: "After they'd seen it I received a phone call in which they were all talking over one another, saying 'We've got to cut this song "Aquarius". It's the best thing ever.'"
Howe was skeptical ("This isn't a complete song. It's an introduction."), but after seeing the show on stage got the idea to create a medley with another musical moment from the show, a few bars from the song "The Flesh Failures" that consist of the repeated words "let the sunshine in". Although the two song fragments are in different keys and tempos, Howe resolved to "jam them together like two trains".[6]
[…]
This song was one of the most popular songs of 1969
worldwide, and in the United States it reached the number one position on both
the Billboard Hot 100 (for six weeks in April and May) and the Billboard Easy
Listening chart. It also reached the top of the sales charts in Canada and
elsewhere. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 Hot 100 single for 1969, although
"Aquarius (Let the Sunshine In)" would go on to outsell the No. 1 Hot
100 single for 1969, "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies, and consistently
ranks several positions above it in the all-time chart.[7]
The recording won both the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group for the Grammy Awards of 1970, after being published on the album The Age of Aquarius by the 5th Dimension, and also being released as a seven-inch vinyl single record. In 2004, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[8]
The lyrics of this song were based on the astrological belief that the world would soon be entering the "Age of Aquarius", an age of love, light, and humanity, unlike the current "Age of Pisces". The circumstances for the change are given as: "When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars." Astrologer Neil Spencer denounced the lyrics as "astrological gibberish", noting that Jupiter forms an astrological aspect with Mars several times a year and the moon is in the 7th House for two hours every day.[9]
The American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Songs list, published in 2004, ranked "Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" as number 33."...
****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE FIFTH DIMENSIONS (VOCAL GROUP)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_5th_Dimension
"The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music
encompasses sunshine pop,[1] pop soul,[1] and psychedelic soul.[3]
Formed as the Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "the 5th Dimension" by 1966.[4] Between 1967 and 1973 they charted with 20 top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, two of which – "Up, Up and Away" (no. 7, 1967) and the 1969 number one "Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" — won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Other big hits include "Stoned Soul Picnic" (no. 3), "Wedding Bell Blues" (no. 1), "One Less Bell to Answer" (no. 2), a cover of "Never My Love" (pop no. 12/Easy Listening no. 1), "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All" (no. 8), and "If I Could Reach You" (pop no. 10/Easy Listening no. 1). Three of their records reached the top ten of Billboard's Rhythm & Blues/Soul chart. Five of their 19 top 20 hits on the Easy Listening chart reached number one.[5]
The five original members were Lamonte McLemore, Marilyn
McCoo, Florence LaRue, Ronald Townson, and Billy Davis Jr. Their earliest
recordings were on the Soul City record label, which was started by recording
artist Johnny Rivers. The group later recorded for Bell/Arista Records, ABC
Records, and Motown Records.
Some of the songwriters who worked with the 5th Dimension
went on to careers of their own, especially Ashford & Simpson, who wrote
the song "California Soul". The group is also notable for having more
success with the songs of Laura Nyro than Nyro did herself,[4] particularly
with "Stoned Soul Picnic", "Sweet Blindness", "Wedding
Bell Blues", "Blowin' Away" and "Save the Country".
The group also recorded songs by well-known songwriters including Burt
Bacharach and Hal David ("One Less Bell to Answer") and Jimmy Webb,
who wrote "Up, Up and Away". The group's 1967 LP The Magic Garden
features all but one song composed by Webb"...
-snip-
Click https://genius.com/The-5th-dimension-aquarius-let-the-sunshine-in-lyrics for the lyrics to The Fifth Dimension's song "Age Of Aquarius"/"Let The Sunshine In"
****
ARTICLE EXCERPT ABOUT THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS
From https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/the-dawn-of-aquarius-the-turning-of-the-great-ages "The Dawn of Aquarius: The Turning of the Great Ages"
By Ray Grasse, Originally printed in the Winter 2010 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Grasse, Ray. "The Dawn of Aquarius: The
Turning of the Great Ages."
Quest 98. 1 (Winter 2010): 10-13
...” The Age of Pisces
For two millennia now, we have been under the influence primarily of the watery sign of Pisces. The exact beginning of the Piscean Age is hotly debated, though most would agree that it can be loosely associated with the start of the Christian era. The manifestations of the Piscean Age include the rise of a global religion centering primarily on symbols of water: baptism, walking on water, changing water into wine, and so forth. Indeed, for the student of astrological symbolism Christianity offers a virtual mother lode of correspondences in connection with Pisces.
For example, Christian scripture speaks extensively of fishermen, sympathy for society's outcasts, martyrdom, and the washing of feet—all traditional symbols of Pisces. One of the defining miracles of Christ's ministry was the feeding of the multitude with two fishes and five loaves of bread. More subtly, the Catholic practice of eating fish on Friday is sometimes linked to the fact that Friday is governed by Venus, the planet that is "exalted" (attains its optimal expression) in Pisces.
Were these correspondences intentional on the part of the church fathers, or are they purely synchronistic? Even scholars disagree on this point, so we may never know for sure. Either way, we can study these symbols for what they reveal about the archetypal dynamics of the time. Viewed as a whole, they suggest that humanity was learning to relate to reality and the divine through a more emotional filter. In its constructive aspect, this brought about a newfound element of compassion and faith in key segments of society, especially in the Christian world. A spiritual sensibility emerged which spoke of "turning the other cheek" rather than smiting one's enemies— shift from Roma to Amor, in a sense.
More negatively, this same emphasis on emotionality ushered in a spirit of dogmatism and persecution within the emerging religions. Pisces is intensely concerned with matters of faith, but taken to extremes, this can lead to zealotry, self-righteousness, and the urge to establish absolute guidelines for all to follow. At its worst, the Piscean Age was an era of religious intolerance, when large populations were expected to show unquestioning allegiance to a monolithic belief system, as was the case for much of Christianity and Islam during this period.
One of the more striking Piscean symbols found in Christianity is its central image—the crucifixion. It is sobering to consider that for nearly two millennia Western culture has defined itself largely in terms of an image of someone being tortured in a particularly gruesome manner. Viewed archetypally, this singular seed image contains both the best and worst of the Piscean legacy. At its worst, the crucifixion expresses dark Piscean qualities like self-pity, masochism, guilt, and martyrdom. These traits reflect the self-dissolving principle of water, but directed in a more destructive way. In some respects the Piscean Age could be called the ultimate age of neurosis, an era when many believed suffering and guilt were somehow synonymous with spirituality. This is precisely the sort of delusion that arises when the ego is unhealthy or ungrounded and finds itself drawn back into the more corrosive and ego-dissolving emotions of the soul.
But the crucifixion has a more positive interpretation too. As astrologers know, Pisces symbolically relates to the transcendence of the ego and the surrender of personal interests in service of higher ideals. As the last sign in the zodiac, Pisces is that final stage in the soul's evolution where the boundaries of personality have begun dissolving and the soul now merges with the great cosmic ocean. In its highest sense, this is what the crucifixion means: the willing capacity for sacrifice, worship, and profound devotion. This is the water element at its most refined. Some examples of this would be St. Francis of Assisi, or the ideals of chivalry and courtly love, with their ethos of self-sacrifice and idealism, that arose during the medieval era. Note, too, that the word for that other major Piscean Age religion, Islam, means "surrender" when translated into English.
[…]
The Age of Aquarius (ad c. 2100–c. 4200)
The most frequently asked question concerning the Aquarian Age is, when does it begin? That's a bit like determining when the dawn starts. Is it when the morning sky first starts glowing long before the actual sunrise? Or is it when the sun actually appears over the horizon?
The same problem applies to understanding the timing of any Great Age. An age doesn't begin on a single day or year but unfolds gradually over many years or even centuries, exerting its influence in pronounced waves like the incoming tide. Consequently, while the Aquarian Age may not manifest fully for several hundred years yet—most estimates suggest somewhere between ad 2100 and 2800—;there are any number of clues to suggest that its forces have already begun appearing in our world. The rise of the Internet is a current example, but we can see evidence of it even as far back as the American Revolution.
Whereas Pisces is traditionally associated with the element of water, Aquarius is associated with the element of air. Outwardly, this is reflected in the startling rise of aviation technologies and space travel over the last century. In a quite literal sense, humans are learning to master the air realm, not only with aviation but through the construction of ever taller buildings that allow us to live higher up off the ground than ever before. The media also employ metaphors that reflect this elemental shift when they say that a show is going "on the air" or a broadcaster is "taking to the airwaves."
But these outer developments are really reflections of an
inner shift taking place, one that relates to an awakening of mind throughout
the culture. Symbolically understood, air is the medium through which we
communicate ideas, and is the element most associated with rationality and
thinking. This means that the Aquarian Age will likely usher in major advances
in humanity's intellectual growth, though probably at widely varying levels of
sophistication. Someone living a life in front of a TV set might be described
as pursuing a "mental" existence, but in a vastly different way than
the scientist struggling to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos. Terms like
"information superhighway" or the "information revolution"
are further examples of how the impending Aquarian influence has already begun
to propel our world toward more mental values and modes of experience. The
modern separation of church and state is another important example of the
disengaging of our rational minds from the dogmatic and emotional concerns of
the Piscean Age.
[…]
Aquarius isn't simply concerned with ideas and theoretical
relations; it is concerned with ideas and relationships that are global or
cosmic in scope.
For this reason, the Aquarian Age will likely be an era when science rather than religion will be the dominant paradigm, with scientists becoming the new high priests. Whereas religion purported to reveal the moral and theological principles underlying the world, science attempts to uncover, in a wholly secular way, the universal physical laws and principles underlying nature. It aspires to a completely impersonal—and very Aquarian—understanding of the universe, divested of subjective feelings and opinions.
This impersonality is also evident in the way many of us now are developing social connections and networks extending over vast distances, using technologies like the Internet or TV. These allow people across the world to communicate with one another, but in more cerebral ways than ever before. It's one of the paradoxes of our time that just as we're becoming more interconnected with people across the entire world, we find ourselves knowing less about the people living next door to us.
This shifting orientation toward Aquarian air is also responsible for our growing fascination with outer space and its exploration, as reflected in films such as Star Wars or 2001: A Space Odyssey, or TV shows like Star Trek. Works like these capture the emerging spirit of a "longing for the stars" that is so intrinsic to Aquarius. The modern fascination with UFOs and extraterrestrial life will likely become even stronger in the years to come, as humanity finds its speculations in these areas progressively translating into concrete reality.”…
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment