Crystal Blue Persuasion
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"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 Scripture, and has a blue cover. [ 2 ] 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. [ 2 ]
In an opposite interpretatory direction, at the time and for many years later, other listeners thought "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was a drug song advocating the use of "crystal meth" (Methamphetamine). In 1979, noted music writer Dave Marsh described it as "a transparent allegory about James' involvement with amphetamines." [ 3 ]