The opening track of the 1968 album The Twain Shall Meet, it is a tribute to the famed 1967 Monterey International Pop Music Festival, which took place at the start of the Summer of Love. As such, it includes shoutouts to many of the featured artists.
Eric Burdon, whose group The Animals had been o...
[Verse 1]
The people came and listened
Some of them came and played
Others gave flowers away
Yes, they did
Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey
[Verse 2]
Young gods smiled upon the crowd
Their music being born of love
Children danced night and day
Religion was being born
Down in Monterey
[Bridge]
The Byrds and the Airplane did fly
Oh, Ravi Shankar's music made me cry
The Who exploded into fire and light
Hugh Masekela's music was black as night
The Grateful Dead blew everybody's mind
Jimi Hendrix, baby, believe me
Set the world on fire, yeah
His majesty, Prince Jones
Smiled as he moved among the crowd
Ten thousand electric guitars
Were groovin' real loud, yeah
If you wanna find the truth in life
Don't pass music by
And you know I would not lie
No, I would not lie
No, I would not lie
Down in Monterey
Alright!
[Verse 3]
Three days of understanding
Of moving with one another
Even the cops grooved with us
Do you believe me, yeah?
Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey, yeah
Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey, yeah
[Interlude]
I think that maybe I'm dreamin'
[Outro]
Monterey, Monterey
Down in Monterey
Did you hear what I said?
Down in Monterey
Monterey
I said Monterey, Monterey
Monterey, yeah, yeah
Monterey
Ow, Monterey...
Monterey was written by Eric Burdon & Vic Briggs & John Weider & Barry Jenkins & Danny McCulloch.
Monterey was produced by Tom Wilson.
The song was written by Eric Burdon, Danny McCulloch, John Weider, Barry Jenkins and Vic Briggs, all members of Eric Burdon & The Animals.