Crystal Blue Persuasion

"Crystal Blue Persuasion"
Single by Tommy James and the Shondells
from the album Crimson and Clover
B-side	"I'm Alive"
Released	June 1969
Format	7" 45 RPM
Genre	Rock, Pop
Length	4:02 (album version) 3:45 (single version)
Label	Roulette
Writer(s)	Eddie Gray, Tommy James, Mike Vale
Producer	Tommy James, Ritchie Cordell

"Crystal Blue Persuasion" is a 1969 song originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells and composed by Eddie Gray, Tommy James and Mike Vale.

A gentle-tempoed groove, "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was built around a prominent organ part with an understated arrangement, more akin to The Rascals' sound at the time rather than James's other efforts of the time with psychedelic rock.

It also included a melodic passages for an acoustic guitar, as well as a bass pattern, played between the bridge, and the third verse of the song.

The title of the song came to James while he was reading The Bible's Book of Revelation, according to James in a 1985 interview in Hitch magazine:

I took the title from the Book of Revelations[sic] in the Bible, reading about the New Jerusalem. The words jumped out at me, and they're not together; they're spread out over three or four verses. But it seemed to go together, it's my favorite of all my songs and one of our most requested.^[1]

With an appropriate lighting scheme, the 2000s edition of Tommy James and the Shondells perform "Crystal Blue Persuasion"

However, according to James's manager, James was actually inspired by his reading of the Book of Ezekiel where it speaks of the Blue Shekinah Light which represented the presence of the Almighty God and the Books of Isaiah and Revelation where it speaks of a bright future of a brotherhood of mankind living in peace and harmony.^[2]

Many listeners thought "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was a drug song advocating the use of "crystal meth" (Methamphetamine), while on the West Coast-- where at the time of the song's release there were several popular types of high quality blue-colored LSD tablets in circulation--listeners generally assumed James was referring to "acid". In 1979, noted music writer Dave Marsh described it as "a transparent allegory about James' involvement with amphetamines."^[3] However, until the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, most illicit amphetamine use involved the more readily available pharmaceutical grade pill form rather than the then-rare "crystal meth" form. It was after the pill form became harder to obtain on the street due to the CSA that "crystal meth" rose in popularity. Thus it is unlikely that "Crystal Blue Persuasion", being written before 1970, would refer to "crystal meth".^{[citation needed]} Additionally, until the mid-70's methamphetamine was most commonly called "speed", or, in the case of cheap home-brewed stuff, "crank"; the term "methedrine", under which name it was once commercially manufactured, was generally used instead of "methamphetamine", a term more commonly heard after the drug's later resurgence in the 80's.

When released as a single in June 1969, "Crystal Blue Persuasion" became one of the biggest hits for the group, peaking at number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. The single version differs from the album version of the song, with horn overdubs added to the mix and a longer bongos overdub before the third verse.

A primitive non-representational music video was made, that showed various scenes of late 1960s political and cultural unrest and desire for love and peace.

Tito Puente, The Heptones and Morcheeba are among those who have covered the song.

Appearances in film & television

"Crystal Blue Persuasion" has appeared in the films A Walk on the Moon (1999), The Secret Life of Girls (1999), Zodiac (2007) , "The Nanny Diaries" (2007), and "How to Make it in America" (2010). It was also used in the pilot episode of the television series The Wonder Years, and an Estee Lauder commercial.

References

1. ^ Tommy James and the Shondells/Hitch (Article)
2. ^ Crystal Blue Persuasion by Tommy James and The Shondells Songfacts
3. ^ Rolling SYtone Record Guide, Rolling Stone Press, 1979.