7 and 7 Is

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“7 and 7 Is”
“7 and 7 Is” cover
Single by Love
from the album Da Capo
B-side "No. Fourteen"
Released July, 1966
Format 7" 45 RPM
Recorded June 20, 1966

Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood CA

Genre Rock
Length 2:15
Label Elektra
Writer(s) Arthur Lee
Producer Jac Holzman

7 and 7 Is is a song from the band Love, written by Arthur Lee and recorded on June 20,1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood.

It was produced by Jac Holzman and engineered by Bruce Botnick. The song took a great deal of work to record with Love's drummer, Alban "Snoopy" Pfisterer, being unable to cope with its frantic demands after 30 takes or so and being replaced on drums by Arthur Lee himself. The song climaxes in an apocalyptic explosion - the supposed sound of an atom bomb - before a peaceful conclusion.

The song was inspired from Arthur Lee's high school sweetheart, who - as Arthur Lee himself - was born on the 7th of March. It also describes Lee's frustration at teenage life - the reference to "in my lonely room I'd sit, my mind in an ice cream cone" being to wearing (in reality or metaphorically) a dunce's cap.

The song was released as the A-side of Elektra single 45605 (c/w "No. Fourteen", the 'answer' to the half-sentence formed by the A-side) in July, 1966 and made the Billboard Pop Singles on July 30, 1966, peaking at number thirty-three in a ten week stay and becoming the bands only hit single.

Described as "proto-punk", it was later covered by the Ramones, Alice Cooper, and others, as well as being re-recorded by Lee himself. Rush released a version on their EP Feedback.

[edit] Trivia

Members of the band The 77s have used the name 7&7iS, derived from 7 and 7 Is, for various releases.