From: tferg@snl.com   
      
   Doug Ingle, who co-founded the heavy rock band Iron Butterfly and was   
   the singer and organist on songs including their signature hit,   
   “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida,” died Friday at age 78. He was the last surviving   
   member of the classic lineup from the late 1960s.   
      
   Most of Iron Butterfly’s success came with the 17-minute FM radio smash   
   “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida.” The 1968 sophomore album named after the hit   
   single spent 81 weeks in the top 10 in the U.S.; for a while it stood as   
   the bestselling album in Atlantic Records’ history. The LP went on to be   
   certified quadruple-platinum.   
      
   Ingle’s family announced the passing on social media and did not give a   
   cause of death. “It’s with a heavy heart & great sadness to announce the   
   passing of my Father Doug Ingle,” posted Doug Ingle Jr. “Dad passed away   
   peacefully this evening in the presence of family. Thank You Dad for   
   being a father, teacher and friend. Cherished loving memories I will   
   carry the rest of my days moving forward in this journey of life. Love   
   you Dad.”   
      
   Ingle was the last surviving member of the original lineup, which was   
   formed in San Diego in 1966, and also the only survivor of the so-called   
   classic edition of the group that recorded “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” two   
   years later, at which point the band had undergone a total turnover   
   except for him.   
      
   An edit of “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” that lasted only two minutes and 52   
   seconds went up the charts to land at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100,   
   although that is little indication of just how thoroughly the song   
   infiltrated the culture. It was the 17-minute album track that became   
   legendary — and something of an affectionate running joke in rock   
   circles, as either a symbol of excessive length or just something a   
   late-night FM disc jockey could put a needle down on for a smoking or   
   bathroom break.   
      
   Beyond the epic length, the biggest piece of lore surrounding the song   
   had to do with its willfully silly title, which was basically a slurred   
   version of “in the garden of eden,” as allegedly misheard by drummer Ron   
   Bushy when Ingle was first presenting the song to the band.   
      
   On a 1995 episode of “The Simpsons,” “Bart Sells His Soul,” Bart snuck   
   a   
   version of the organ-driven song into his church’s worship service under   
   the de-slurred title “In the Garden of Eden,” credited to I. Ron   
   Butterfly. “Hey, Marge, remember when we used to make out to this hymn?”   
   whispered Homer.   
      
   Besides being covered by Bart Simpson’s church congregation,   
   “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” was covered by Slayer (on the soundtrack for the   
   film “Less Than Zero”), the Residents, Boney M and the Incredible Bongo   
   Band, whose version was twice-sampled by the rapper Nas. It also   
   appeared memorably in Michael Mann’s thriller “Manhunter.”   
      
   Part of the reason the track ended up being 17 minutes long is that,   
   when Iron Butterly arrived at the recording studio, engineer Don Casale   
   asked the group to play through the song so he could set his levels.   
   They jammed through the extended version heard on LP as a practice run,   
   unaware that Casale had hit “record”; that epic jam, of course, ended up   
   being the master take.   
      
   Iron Butterfly has not remained as ubiquitous a name in counterculture   
   nostalgia as other groups of its era have, partly because the group   
   broke up rather soon after its biggest successes — in 1971 — and did not   
   enjoy the extended reunions that some others did.   
      
   But Ingle did take part in a short reunion in the late ’70s, two more in   
   the 1980s and, finally, a longer stint in the late 1990s, which ended   
   when Ingle retired from performing altogether in 1999.   
      
   Among the other band members from the classic “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” era   
   of the band, guitarist Erik Brann died in 2003, bassist Lee Dornan in   
   2012 and drummer Ron Bushy in 2021.   
      
   A Wikipedia entry for the group lists 60 musicians who have been part of   
   the group in its various incarnations over the decades — on top of the   
   four musicians who tour as Iron Butterfly today, none of whom go further   
   back with the band than 1995.   
      
   In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1995, when the group was   
   beginning a reunion tour, Ingle talked about his regrets about how   
   things had gone down with the group in the ’70s, with plenty of problems   
   brought about by debt.   
      
   “It all came so fast and easy,” Ingle told the Times, describing how he   
   had become a multi-millionaire in his early 20s, then got hit hard by   
   unpaid tax debt and lost a 600-acre ranch, apartment building and even   
   his grand piano, before he resolved his tax problems in 1986.   
      
   “I was a child among men,” said Ingle, looking back at 48. “I was   
   dealing with people who were competent but not necessarily (working) in   
   my interest. I took the luxury of playing ostrich. I didn’t involve   
   myself at the business level at all. I just went out and performed. It   
   was, ‘Isn’t life great?’ Then everything crashed down. I still maintain   
   life is great, but now I base it on something (real) rather than wishful   
   thinking.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)