Crystal Blue Persuasion

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“Crystal Blue Persuasion”

Single by Tommy James and the Shondells from the album Crimson and Clover
B-side	"I'm Alive"
Released	June, 1969
Format	7" 45 RPM
Genre	Rock, Pop
Length	4:02 (album version) 3:45 (single version)
Label	Roulette
Writer(s)	Eddie Gray, Tommy James, Mike Vale
Producer	Tommy James, Ritchie Cordell

"Crystal Blue Persuasion" is a song originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells and composed by Eddie Gray, Tommy James and Mike Vale.

A gentle-tempoed groove, "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was built around a prominent organ part with an understated arrangement, more akin to The Rascals' sound at the time rather than James's other efforts of the time with psychedelic rock.

The title of the song came to James while he was reading The Bible's Book of Revelation, according to James in a 1985 interview in Hitch magazine:

I took the title from the Book of Revelations[sic] in the Bible, reading about the New Jerusalem. The words jumped out at me, and they're not together; they're spread out over three or four verses. But it seemed to go together, it's my favorite of all my songs and one of our most requested.^[1]

However some sources cite the Song of Solomon instead.^[2] It has also been suggested that this song was also inspired by a book James had read called The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses). The book gives information about the future of mankind based on biblical scripture, and has a blue cover.^[3] However, according to James's manager, James was actually inspired by his reading of the Book of Ezekiel where it speaks of the Blue Shekinah Light which represented the presence of the Almighty God and the Books of Isaiah and Revelation where it speaks of a bright future of a brotherhood of mankind living in peace and harmony.^[4]

In an opposite interpretatory direction, at the time and for many years later, other listeners thought "Crystal Blue Persuasion" a drugs song; in 1979, noted writer Dave Marsh described it as "a transparent allegory about [James'] involvement with amphetamines."^[5]

Regardless of inspiration and meaning, when released as a single in June of 1969, "Crystal Blue Persuasion" became one of the biggest hits for the group, peaking at number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. The single version differs from the album version of the song, with horn overdubs added to the mix and a longer bongos overdub before the third verse.

A primitive non-representational music video was made, that showed various scenes of late 1960s political and cultural unrest and desire for love and peace.

Tito Puente and The Heptones are among those who have covered the song.

[edit] Appearances in film & television

"Crystal Blue Persuasion" has appeared in the films A Walk on the Moon (1999), The Secret Life of Girls (1999) and Zodiac (2007). It was also used in the pilot episode of the television series The Wonder Years, and an Estee Lauder commercial.