Monterey (song)

"Monterey"
Single by Eric Burdon & The Animals
B-side	"Ain't That So" (USA), "Anything" (UK)
Released	November 1967 (USA) May 1968 (UK)
Format	7" single
Recorded	1967
Genre	Hard Rock, Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock
Label	MGM
Writer(s)	Burdon, Briggs, Weider, Jenkins, McCulloch
Producer	Tom Wilson
Eric Burdon & The Animals singles chronology
"Anything" (1967) "Monterey" (1967) "Sky Pilot" (1968)

"Monterey" is a 1967 song by Eric Burdon & The Animals, with music and lyrics by the group's members, Eric Burdon, John Weider, Vic Briggs, Danny McCulloch, and Barry Jenkins. In 1968, two different video clips of the song were aired.

Other than lead singer Burdon and recent drummer holdover Jenkins, the band that recorded and released "Monterey" was an entirely separate mid-1960s band known as The Animals. Burdon transformed himself from a hard-driving bluesman to his own version of psychedelia. The new Burdon and band appeared at the famed 1967 Monterey Pop Festival at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California at the peak of the Summer of Love; they followed Johnny Rivers onstage and were introduced by Chet Helms. In his book, Monterey Pop, Joel Selvin wrote that, at the festival, "Burdon did nothing short of reinvent himself in front of the audience."

The song "Monterey" was subsequently written in tribute to the group's experiences at the festival, and proved to be one of the new band's biggest hits. The lyric told the story of the event, how "the people came and listened," and others gave away flowers, "down in Monterey." The lyrics describe the musicians who played at the festival, including The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, The Who, Hugh Masakela, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix, as "young gods" with music "born of love" and "religion was being born." The band described a scene at which "children danced night and day," and "even the cops grooved with us." "His Majesty Prince Jones" referred to Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, who was the MC at the big event. Before the ending of the song, Burdon quoted a line from the Byrds song "Renaissance Fair" with the line "I think that Maybe I'm Dreamin'."

Released as a single in 1967, the song reached number 15 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 16 on the Canadian RPM charts. It did not appear as a hit in the UK, where the image of the festival was not as strong. It was included in the new band's second album The Twain Shall Meet as well as their 1969 U.S.-only compilation, The Greatest Hits of Eric Burdon and The Animals.

The Mexican MGM release gives the song titles in Spanish as "Monterrey" and "No Es Muchos". Monterrey is in fact an entirely different city, in Mexico.

In 1967 and 1968 it was included on their live shows. Burdon re-recorded the song many times at his live shows, adding more and more sequences every time.

In 1993, the Eric Burdon - Brian Auger Band released it on their live album "Access All Areas". In 1999, it was featured on Eric Burdon & The New Animals' concert film "Live at the Coachhouse". In 2000 the same band released another long live version, which runs for nearly 8 minutes. When Burdon had a completely new band in 2006 they also performed it sometimes.

References

See also

California portal

• Monterey Pop Festival