Ron Bushy, the drummer for Iron Butterfly has died. He was 79. TMZ reported that he had been battling cancer.
Bushy was the only original member to appear on all six of Iron Butterfly’s albums, beginning with 1968’s Heavy through 1975’s Sun and Steel.
He continued performing with various incarnations of the band for decades following their commercial peak.
The title track from In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, remains one of rock’s most legendary songs.
In an article that ran last year in the magazine, It’s Psychedelic Baby, Bushy said… “I came home late one night and Doug Ingle had been drinking a whole gallon of Red Mountain wine.” When Bushy asked him what he had been writing, he was so drunk he could barely talk. So, Bushy wrote down on a napkin what he THOUGHT his bandmate had said… In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. But what he was trying to say was: “In the Garden of Eden.”
Originally the song was a slow, country ballad and it was only a minute and a half long.
Iron Butterfly recorded the song the following year in 1968.
When they went into the studio, the engineer, Don Caselle said, “Guys, why don’t you just start playing and let me get some mic levels.” So they did. And when they finally stopped playing over 17 minutes later, the song was finished on the first take.
The legendary drummer passed away peacefully, with his wife, Nancy by his side Sunday afternoon (August 29th) at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital. All three of his daughters were there with him. He also had six grandchildren.
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