Hair (song)

"Hair"
Song from the album Hair
Released	1968 (1968)
Recorded	May 6, 1968
Genre	Rock, pop rock
Length	02:55
Label	RCA
Writer	James Rado, Gerome Ragni
Composer	Galt MacDermot
Producer	Brian Drutman, Denis McNamara, Norrie Paramor, Andy Wiswell
Hair track listing
"I Got Life" (9) "Hair" (10) "My Conviction" (11)
"Hair" The end of a verse and the chorus.

"Hair" is the title song to the 1968 musical Hair and 1979 film adaptation of the musical.

Context in the musical

The musical’s title song begins as character Woof slowly croons his reason for his long hair, as tribe-mate Berger joins in singing they deem they “don’t know.”^[1] They lead the tribe, singing “Give me a head with hair,” “as long as God can grow it,”^[1] listing what they want in a head of hair and their uses for it. Later the song takes the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner” with the tribe punning “Oh say can you see/ My eyes if you can/Then my hair’s too short!”^[1] Woof and Berger’s religious references continue with many a “Hallelujah” as they consciously compare their hair to Jesus’s, and if Mary loved her son, “why don’t my mother love me?”^[1][2] The song shows the Tribe's enthusiasm and pride for their hair as well as comparing Woof to a Jesus figure.^[2]

Cover versions

The song was a major hit single for The Cowsills in 1969 and their most successful single. Their version spent two weeks at #1 on the Cash Box Top 100^[3] and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4] It also reached #1 on the RPM Canadian Singles Chart.^[5]

The song was also covered in Australia in 1969 and released as a single by Doug Parkinson in Focus (b-side with "Without You") and was a top ten hit for him there that year.^[6]

Italian singer Elio Gandolfi covered the song in 1968, entitled "Hair (Capelli)".^[7]

A version by Dutch rock band Zen reached the top of the Dutch Top 40 in January 1969.^[8]

Punk rock band The Dickies covered the song on their 1989 album "Second Coming".

Appearances in media

• On The Simpsons episode, "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", the song is played in the background as Marge's hair starts to fall out from stress.^[9]
• In 2009, the song was used in a mash-up with Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" in the Glee episode 11, "Hairography".^[10]
• The title song as well as another song from the musical "Good Morning Starshine" were featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000" in the Season 5, 8th episode "Hercules Unchained".^[11]

References

Notes