Product Description
Jan Berry and Bill Stafford's original music score, used by Wrecking Crew studio musicians to record the original track in 1967 and 1968. "Blowing My Mind" was slated for release as a single on Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records, and for inclusion on Carnival of Sound, Jan & Dean's proposed album for Warner Bros. The single and album releases were cancelled in late 1968. Carnival of Sound was finally released officially by Rhino Handmade more than 40 years later.
Transcribed by Mark A. Moore from Jan Berry's music archive, in association with his estate. Moore is the author of Dead Man's Curve: The Rock 'n' Roll Life of Jan Berry (McFarland 2021) and The Jan & Dean Record (2016).
The song that became "Girl, You're Blowing My Mind" was the last original composition Jan had begun writing, arranging, and producing before his car accident in April 1966.
The basic track for "Blowing My Mind"with its electric 12-string lead guitar licks, reminiscent of Jan & Dean's 1965 Top-30 hit "I Found a Girl"offered insight on the direction Jan wanted to take the music before the car accident. It's one of Jan's few compositions-before or after the accident-that does not feature a key change. The key is "A Major" all the way through.
After the accident, Jan experimented with many different versions of the song (under various titles) in 1967 and 1968. He and Bill Stafford wrote a nice horn arrangement for a version initially titled "You Can't Blow My Mind." Charts for that version of the song were used by Wrecking Crew studio musicians to record the horn parts, and that incarnation of the song is presented in this publication. (The vocal arrangement is also included.)
Jan also produced heavier versions of "Blowing My Mind," with more psychedelic flourishes and electric lead guitar riffs. In those versions, the horn parts are audible in the latter half of the song.
Surviving manuscripts in Jan's archive reveal that the music was written by Jan, with lyrics by Jan and Steve Gaines. The psychedelic lyricsalternate versions of which still exist on paperwere written in 1967. Co-writer Paul Freese probably contributed instrumentally to the various versions of the song. The credit split was 50 percent to Jan and 25 percent each to Gaines and Freese.
The vocals for "Blowing My Mind" were a composite track, the main voice for which was provided by Jan's good friend and Wrecking Crew guitarist Glen Campbell. The vocal blend mimicked Jan's pre-accident voice. Glen had played guitar on Jan & Dean's biggest hit records and best album cuts in 1963 and 1964, and Glen was there for Jan after his car accident. Glen, while simultaneously rising to stardom as a solo artist, played guitar and sang on several of Jan's post-accident sessions for tracks that were slated for Carnival of Sound in '67 and '68.
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Fiji Printing #22. Distributed by ArrangeMe and the Hal Leonard Corporation.
Perfect for ensembles that want to tackle this pleasing relic from the Psychedelic era.
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BACKING TRACK ARRANGEMENT (1967) - "You Can't Blow My Mind" Variant:
BRASS: Bass Saxophone
WOODWINDS: Trumpet; Flugelhorn; French Horn.
RHYTHM: Guitar 1 (Electric 12-String); Guitar 2 (Acoustic); Guitar 3 (Danelectro 6-String Bass Guitar); Bass; Drums; Percussion (Tambourine, Sleigh Bells); Piano.
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VOCAL ARRANGEMENT (1967-1968):
VOCALS: Lead; Falsetto; Alto; Tenor; Bass..
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Publication includes:
(1) Illustrated cover page; (2) Introductory text with commentary on the music; (3) Song chronology with recording session details; (4) Full music score; (5) Individual charts for each part in the music score; and (6) Illustrations, including images from Jan Berrys music archive.
44 Pages
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.