"Magic Carpet Ride" is a rock song written by John Kay and

Rushton Moreve Rushton Moreve (born John Rushton Morey; November 6, 1948 – July 1, 1981) was an American bass guitarist best known for his work with the rock band Steppenwolf from 1967 to 1968 and again in 1978. According to singer John Kay, he was an ...

from the

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- American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band Steppenwolf. The song was initially released in 1968 on the album '' The Second''. It was the lead single from that album, peaking at number three in the US, and staying in the charts for 16 weeks, longer than any other Steppenwolf song. The 45 rpm version is not only an edit of the album version, but contains a different vocal take on the first verse. Despite the single's popularity, the album version enjoyed heavy airplay on FM radio and is still the preferred version on most classic rock stations, as well as the one most commonly included on compilations and in popular media.

Writing and recording

When preparing to record the band's second album, '' The Second'', bassist Rushton Moreve came up with a "bouncy riff". Band member

Jerry Edmonton Gerald Michael Edmonton (born Gerald McCrohan, October 24, 1946 – November 28, 1993) was a Canadian musician who was the drummer and secondary lead vocalist for the rock band Steppenwolf. Early life and career Edmonton was born in Oshawa, ...

's brother,

Mars Bonfire Dennis Edmonton (born Dennis Eugene McCrohan; 21 April 1943), also known by the stage name Mars Bonfire, is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter, best known for writing the hit song " Born to Be Wild" for Steppenwolf. Early career Born Den ...

, started playing guitar, and the band developed the riff. For the introduction, guitarist

Michael Monarch Michael Monarch (born July 5, 1950) is an American guitarist. He is best known for his work with the band Steppenwolf. Monarch was born in Los Angeles. As the original lead guitarist with Steppenwolf (1967 through most of 1969), ("Guitarist Mon ...

created

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...

which was spliced on to the beginning of the band's recording. John Kay had recently bought a new top-quality

hi-fi High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

system, and started writing lyrics "about how great our new stereo system sounded," adding imagery about making a wish. After completing the lyrics and recording the vocal track, Kay overdubbed a

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

, and sound engineer Bill Cooper spliced an extra chorus at the end of the track. While denying that the song was about drug experiences, Kay did admit to the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' in 2016 that "I may have smoked a joint" the night he and Monarch got the idea for the song. Kay also alleged the lyrics went beyond referencing the quality of the new stereo and were also a reference to his relationship with his wife Jutta and envisioning that he had made a wish with Aladdin's lamp. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described the single as a "pulsating rocker" with similar sales potential to Steppenwolf's earlier single, " Born to Be Wild". ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' predicted that "the young set will flip for

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

In popular culture

In the fictional ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' universe, the song is played by the originator of warp flight,

Zefram Cochrane Zefram Cochrane is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' universe. Created by writer Gene L. Coon, the character first appeared in the 1967 ''Star Trek'' episode "Metamorphosis", in which he was played by Glenn Corbett. James Cromwell later ...

, during launch sequences for good luck. Cochrane uses the song for any test flights and plays the song during the first warp flight, with the crew of the Enterprise, as featured in the movie '' Star Trek: First Contact''.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

*A 1978 version by the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n group Buffalo spent 12 weeks on the

Springbok Radio Springbok Radio (spelled ''Springbokradio'' in Afrikaans, ) was a South African nationwide radio station that operated from 1950 to 1985. History SABC's decision in December 1945 to develop a commercial service was constrained by post-war financia ...

charts, peaking at number five. *

Billy Paul Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was an American soul music, soul singer, known for his 1972 Record chart, No. 1 single "Me and Mrs. Jones". His 1973 album and single ''War of the Gods (alb ...

on his 1971 album '' Going East'' covered the song. *

Creative Source Creative Source was an American R&B group from Los Angeles, who had several funk and disco hits during the 1970s. History Creative Source was formed in 1972 by several veterans of the West Coast recording studios. They were managed by Ron Town ...

on their eponymous album covered the song. *

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Kidd Creole (not to be confused with Kid Creole), Keef Cowboy, ...

, on the 1988 album, ''

On the Strength ''On the Strength'' is the second and final studio album by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Released in 1988, it was the full line-up's last album together. Although contributing to the album itself, Cowboy (Keith Wiggins) was not prese ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1968 singles 1968 songs 1979 singles ABC Records singles Dunhill Records singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Steppenwolf (band) songs