Witchi Tai To

Grace Slick

"In the book 'Peter Pan', sparkle dust lets you fly. In 'The Wizard of Oz', they awaken in a poppy field to see the beautiful Emerald City. Our parents read us stories about chemicals that make it possible to have a good time." - Grace Slick, regarding drug references in her song "White Rabbit"

For decades, we've heard song lyrics about drug use and abuse; both the up side and the down. It was one of the first lyrical topics of recorded popular music, following shortly after love and love lost. The Rhythm and Blues 'race records' of the 1930's, 40's and 50's were loaded with references to all kinds of recreational substances and their effects. But there was a time long before that when naturally occurring drugs were also used in highly spiritual ways to fuel the music made by the shamans of the Native American Indian tribes. Now, hold that thought while I change gears for a minute.

Have you ever heard a song played on the radio that you enjoyed, but they didn't announce the song title or who did it? Most folks have, and now it's not so much of a problem, as you can just look at a screen to see what the song is. But it drove people crazy back in the day when you couldn't look up lyrics online. Your best bet was to call the radio station's request line and maybe the on-air DJ would pick up, if you were lucky.

There was one particular song that used to get periodic airplay on FM stations in Philadelphia back in the mid-70's. I never managed to catch the entire tune, just pieces of it at a time; much in the same manner of how most people have seen "The Shawshank Redemption" on cable TV. For the longest time, I had the vague idea that the song was by Quicksilver Messenger Service, though it turned out that it wasn't, and I still don't what gave me that idea. All I could recall of it was a repeated chant that sounded Native American, and I also thought that it was about 6 or 7 minutes long. For awhile, I had the song confused with Fleetwood Mac's early classic, "Oh Well", which runs about 9 minutes, but that was a red herring also.

The 1969 picture sleeve for the Vanguard 45.

It wasn't until the fall of last year that the song was featured in a random Facebook post, and I finally discovered the title and artist of the song after nearly 4 decades of it hibernating deep in the attic of my musical memory. The song is entitled "Witchi Tai To" and was recorded by a trio called Everything Is Everything. Their sole single, and the album that featured it, were released on the Vanguard/Apostolic label in 1969

In the 1960's, Native American saxophonist Jim Pepper played with many of the greats of the Free Jazz scene, including Larry Coryell, Don Cherry, and Ornette Coleman, and later was a member of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra during the 1970's. Pepper is also widely credited with introducing Native American musical concepts into Jazz in the mid '60s, having been encouraged in that direction by Coleman and Cherry.

Pepper's composition, "Witchi Tai To", is a prime example of that blending, taking a ceremonial peyote song he'd learned from his grandfather and arranging it in a Jazz setting. Pepper's mother was Creek and his father was Kaw, and he grew up listening to his grandfather sing Native American Church peyote songs and traditional Kaw melodies. These influences stayed with him, and years later found their way into "Witchi Tai To". He first recorded "Witchi Tai To" with his Jazz-Rock-Folk fusion trio, Everything Is Everything, and it found some commercial success upon its release in 1969, reaching #69 on the Billboard Pop chart.

Pepper said that his grandfather never did tell him what the lyric meant in English, saying that he just sang them as he heard them, but Pepper also wrote a new English lyric which emphasized the roots in the peyote ritual, especially by speaking of the Water Spirit, who carries the visions brought on by the peyote.

"Water Spirit feelin' springin' round my head
. Makes me feel glad that I'm not dead

"

The majority of the song is the chant, which Pepper hand wrote on a score chart as the following:

"Witchi tai to, gimme rah
. Ho rah nee ko, ho rah nee ko
. Hey ney, hey ney, no wah

".

So, it may seem that there's not much to the song, except that when taking in the song as a whole, it does have a certain hypnotic effect. I can imagine that, in its original setting, under the influence of some strong peyote, this prayerful chant could have gone on for quite some time.

Pepper recorded "Witchi Tai To" again in 1971 on his own album, "Pepper's Pow Wow", which featured big names of the Fusion scene including Billy Cobham and Chuck Rainey, as well as American Indian singer-songwriter Peter LaFarge. Jim Pepper continued to be active in both Jazz and the Native American cultural community until his death at the age of 50 in 1992. His family donated his saxophone and several of his beautiful handwritten musical scores to the National Museum of the American Indian in 2007.

But the 1970's hadn't yet begun when "Witchi Tai To" was given a vibrant makeover by the folk duo Brewer & Shipley, who most folks remember for their big bong hit, "One Toke Over The Line". That song appeared on their next album, "Tarkio", in 1970, but their 1969 album, "Weeds" was a moderate success of its own, mostly due to their recording of "Witchi Tai To", which began attracting regular FM radio play. The valuable radio exposure created a loyal underground following for the duo and set the stage for the commercial breakthrough they would enjoy with "Tarkio". (Note: "One Toke Over The Line" got an infamous cover treatment on the Lawrence Welk TV show! Check it out the Kool Kovers feature on it here!)

Brewer & Shipley's recording of "Witchi Tai To" runs nearly 7 minutes, serving as the perfect album closer for "Weeds". But at FM stations back then, songs that ran that long or longer were often played when the DJ needed a bathroom break! This version also moves along at a more enthusiastic tempo and is fleshed out a bit with some fine vocal harmony and a treatment of the water spirit verse as a 'round' ala "Frere Jacques".

One more thing. It's subtle, but to my ears, Brewer & Shipley's rhythm guitar chording bears a strong resemblance to "Sweet Jane" by The Velvet Underground. That song was being played live by The Velvets in mid-1969, but didn't see release until the album "Loaded" dropped in November of 1970. So, is it possible that Brewer & Shipley caught a Velvets gig and they later put the riff together with "Witchi Tai To"? I don't know, but like many things, it's possible. But perhaps I'm just hearing things. Blame the peyote.

Gene Shay, the Dean of Folk DJ's

I have to say that I find it interesting how FM DJ's became so attracted to either version of this song. While the song took hold during a resurgence of interest in Folk music around 1969-70, spearheaded locally by the great Philly DJ, Gene Shay, it seemed to stick with radio folks nationally throughout the 70's, and into the present day. I have to wonder whether it's just a nostalgic tune that takes them back to the 'good old days' of radio, or whether there's something else about it that naturally aligns with their spirit, as Jim Pepper may have intended. I heard the song played recently on Sirius XM's Deep Tracks station by Jim Ladd, who has solid roots in 70's FM, like many of those who program Deep Tracks. It's my default Sirius station. Well, that, and Little Steven's Underground Garage.

Time to do a little shopping! There's a perfectly adequate 'Best Of' CD by Brewer & Shipley that has both "One Toke..." and "Witchi Tai To" on it. Amazon has it, but it might also be found in either the Folk or Oldies section of your local, well curated music shop. Both "Weeds" and "Tarkio" appear to still be in print as well, if you must go that route.

Finding an original copy of "Witchi Tai To" will take some digging and some cash. The sole album by Everything Is Everything is long out of print, so you may have better luck scoring a reissue 45 at a record show. The Mp3 you heard in this article came from a fine series called "Hard To Find 45's On CD", which features, as advertised, lots of big hits along with a healthy dollop of oddball novelty tunes and some truly great one hit wonders that you just don't hear every day. The series is highly recommended for oldies fans. Just review each volume for the tunes that you want, as they're in no particular sequence.

The solo music of Jim Pepper is also available, but premium priced, so 'caveat emptor' when buying online.

For those of you who are curious about either Native American music, or the history of peyote in Native American spirituality, there is a series of brief paragraphs on the Brittanica website, but the excerpt from "Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing and Hallucinogenic Powers" at Peyote.org goes a whole lot further, and is much more informative. For music, I will recommend a visit to the website of Canyon Records, the home of Native American music since 1951.

Note: Although Peyote is federally classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic, its use by Native American Church members is legal in the United States. There's more info on the legal specifics here. Nonetheless, I must emphasize that this feature article is intended only to inform and entertain, and should not be construed as an endorsement of any kind regarding the use of Peyote, or any hallucinogen, be it natural or chemical. Music is our drug of choice here.