(Fresh Air) Have Another Hit!

This song was written by Gary Duncan, and the lyrics are by Jesse Oris Farrow, who is professionally known as Chester William Powers Jr and he also used the stage name of Dino Valenti.  Dino Valenti recently rejoined the San Francisco-based band Quicksilver Messenger Service just before this song was released.  ‘Fresh Air’ was the only single released from the album Just for Love.  The single peaked on November 7, 1970 at No. 49 during a nine-week stay on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the band’s most successful single.  This song featured some of John Cipollina’s best guitar work.

Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco.  All five members of the band were born under the sign of Virgo, which is ruled by Mercury, so they took the name Quicksilver Messenger Service.  The original members of Quicksilver Messenger Service were folk singer/songwriter Dino Valente, guitarist John Cipollina and singer Jim Murray. David Freiberg joined on bass, and the group was completed by the addition of drummer Greg Elmore and guitarist Gary Duncan.  As the band was being put together, Valente was imprisoned on a drug charge and he didn’t rejoin Quicksilver until later.  Murray was out of the band before they released their first album.

They played hippie music, mostly love songs made up of simple straight forward lyrics, where they stretched out and improvised, pushing their music in unpredictable directions.  They never managed to achieve the popularity of the other San Francisco bands like Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead, or the Jefferson Airplane and they faded away after 1975.  In the words of guitarist Gary Duncan, “We had no ambition toward making records, we just wanted to have fun, play some music and make enough money to be able to afford to smoke pot.”  This song sounds like it could have been done by Santana.  Nicky Hopkins played keyboard on this song.

John Cipollina died on May 29, 1989 after a long-fought battle with emphysema.  Chet Powers aka Dino Valente died on November 16, 1994.  Gary Duncan died on June 29, 2019 after suffering a fall at home on the stairs where he hit his head, went into a seizure and cardiac arrest, drifted into a coma and was finally pulled off life support.

Oh, what you do to me, oh, what you do to me, little girl.
Ooo, have another hit of sweet air, come on, ooo, have another hit.
I want to know where you’re going,
I want to know, sweet mama, where you’re gonna go, yeah.
Ooo, have another hit of fresh air, ooo, have another hit.
Oh, baby, what you gonna do, oh, honey, what you gonna do, sweet thing?
Ooo, have another hit of sweet love, ooo, have another hit.
I love you, yes I do, babe, and I love you, I do, sweet lips.
Ooo, have another hit of sweet California sunshine, ooo, have another hit.
Take me home, take me home, take me home with you,
Take me home, I wanna go home with you, little girl.
Ooo, have another hit of fresh air, ooo, have another hit.

The challenge today is to focus on this song and use it for a short story, a piece of flash fiction, or a poem that you can share with the WordPress writing community.  There is no need to stick with this song, as if you like to write about another Quicksilver Messenger Service song, or a song that is about breathing air or being in the California sunshine, that would work.  You might also go with a song that is about the hippie culture.

The whole point of this MM Music challenge is to get you to think, to trigger something so that you can show how creative you are and everyone is welcome to participate.  This challenge is very loose, so pretty much whatever you come up with will be acceptable.  I try to throw some ideas out there for you and if they seem right, then go with it.  You could write about being embarrassed about something that you did, or something that you wrote.  If you want to write about a being in love, that would be perfect, or if you have any idea where this girl is going, then I will give you bonus points for explaining that.

Dylan Hughes will be here on next Friday April 24 with her First Line Friday and everybody should check out this fun prompt challenge.  I will be back on Friday, May 1 with another MM Music Challenge where we will discuss the song ‘Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’.  When you are finished writing your post, create a ping back to this post, but you can also place your link in the comments section below if you desire.  This Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie MM Music challenge has a special feature called Mr. Linky, which will allow you to instantly link your post after you click the Mr. Linky Button, and permit everyone to read your post sooner that way, and then follow the directions that are given.