How did Iron Butterfly come up with the name In A Gadda Da Vida?

Question

I heard rumors that the lead singer was drunk and/or stoned and it was supposed to be in the garden or eden, but they liked the name.

I heard rumors that the lead singer was drunk and/or stoned and came up with In a gadda da vida instead of in the garden of eden.

Answer 1

extracted from Ironbutterfly .com

As to the birth of “In The Garden of Eden”, Ron Bushy lays claim to that: “I was supporting the band by making pizza,” he says. “I came home at three in the morning from working one night and Doug played me a song he was writing. He polished off a whole gallon of Red Mountain Wine as the evening wore on. He played this song on the keyboard and he was so drunk that it came out as ‘in-a-gadda-da-vida.’ I thought it was real catchy so I just wrote it down phonetically. The next morning we woke up, looked at the writing, ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,’ and decided to keep the title.” As the group became more comfortable with the song and its concept, it grew longer and longer in performance.

Answer 2

That is correct. It meant Garden of Eden. And I don't think it was drunk or stoned. I suspect Quaalude was involved. Or maybe acid. Considering the group anyway.

Neither Pot nor Alcohol screws your speech up that much.

Hmmm... Iron Butterfly. Acid, definitely acid.

-Dio

Answer 3

You heard correctly.. it should have been in the garden of eden

Answer 4

They tried to sing "In the graden of Eden", but it came out poorly

Answer 5

I've heard the same. there is a great episode of the Simson's that incorporates the song into the episode. it made me howl.

Answer 6

You were right