Whose YouTube performance of "In the Garden" is best?

[Ray Brinzer]

I actually listened to a bunch of these, just for the heck of it.

I didn't know the song before.  Now I'm familiar with it.  It's okay.

My favorite rendition was Ella Fitzgerald's.  She really brings life to anything, which especially stood out in a song to which I was indifferent.  I'm always impressed with her choices:  she never did things just to show off, but she was never overly cautious or boring, either.  Her personality just shows through.

Doris Day was my second favorite, and the contrast is why I thought it worth writing a comment. She was very, very polished, in a way that doesn't hold my interest long. The difference between her and Ella isn't so much a matter of skill as personality... at least insofar as you can hear it.  Though they're comparable singers, Ella is always far more enjoyable.

Mahalia Jackson:  over-orchestrated, and over-blown, as too often was the case.  Too many flourishes and other distractions from the instruments, and too much lingering to embellish.  An example of a much better arrangment, in my opinion: How I Got Over.

Jerry Lee Lewis looked high as a kite.  Tolerable performance.

Elvis... well, it's Elvis. If you like his non-rock-and-roll stuff, you'll like it.

Glen Campbell:  good singer, extremely boring.

Joey Feek:  a bit of a surprise. For a fairly conservative performance, it had character. Minimal in the way that would have served Mahalia much better.

Most of the rest amounts to "et cetera".

[mspart]

It's kind of like Innagadadavida.  Which is truncated for In the Garden of Eden. 

Who out there knew that little piece of trivia?  Now for the second piece of trivia - Who named that song? 

mspart

Iron Butterfly originally name it "In the Garden of Eden".  Ahmet Ertugun, the President of Atlantic Records suggested that it should be changed to a one word title, Innagadadavida.  And that is the rest of the story!!

mspart

[FalconWrestlingKY]

It's kind of like Innagadadavida.  Which is truncated for In the Garden of Eden. 

Who out there knew that little piece of trivia?  Now for the second piece of trivia - Who named that song? 

mspart

Iron Butterfly originally name it "In the Garden of Eden".  Ahmet Ertugun, the President of Atlantic Records suggested that it should be changed to a one word title, Innagadadavida.  And that is the rest of the story!!

mspart

You mean it's not because Doug Ingle was really drunk when showing the song to his bandmates and kept slurring the lyrics?

[mspart]

It's kind of like Innagadadavida.  Which is truncated for In the Garden of Eden. 

Who out there knew that little piece of trivia?  Now for the second piece of trivia - Who named that song? 

mspart

Iron Butterfly originally name it "In the Garden of Eden".  Ahmet Ertugun, the President of Atlantic Records suggested that it should be changed to a one word title, Innagadadavida.  And that is the rest of the story!!

mspart

You mean it's not because Doug Ingle was really drunk when showing the song to his bandmates and kept slurring the lyrics?

So, as it turns out, it was sort of a little of both.  From  Ahmet Ertegun in his own words:   http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-story-of-atlantic-records-20010426?page=4

"At one session I looked down at an acetate across which someone had scrawled "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." So I asked the guitar player, "What does that mean?" He said, "Oh, that's a misspelling – it should read 'In a Garden of Eden.' Somebody must have got drunk or something and rearranged a few letters." That was around the time that the Beatles and the Stones were going to India and so forth, so I said, "You know, we should leave it as it is. It's a good title, it conjures up the feeling of some kind of Eastern spirituality." So the final track was very long, and it had on it what sounded like a Gene Krupa drum solo. But I tell you, this record came out, and, man, it seemed like every college student, like the whole country went out and bought it. It became the biggest record that we'd ever had up to that time – with a band that was just learning their instruments."

mspart