“Introduction”
by The Seeds
1967 spoken track
The 1967 Seeds album Future begins with a short spoken "Introduction" by Sky Saxon. It serves to pull the listener into the band’s psychedelic carnival world, so the rest of the album will make more sense.
Underneath Sky’s earnest, self-consciously poetic versifying, a gently plucked harp, Daryl Hooper’s understated electric piano, and other quiet but exotic sounds ebb and flow. The soundscape is sparse, as befits the sense of wide-eyed wonder in Sky’s voice. Cleverly, Sky shoehorns names of Future songs in "Introduction"; it sounds like the text of a radio commercial for the album:
Just like "Painted Doll" is to "Fallin'"
The Future is yours… today
As "Introduction" continues, a key change brings on further melodrama from Sky: “The rain! is the tears! fallin’ down from the angels above to let them grow,” he explains of the “flower children”. It’s quite a strange but apropos intro to an album that itself swoops and slides through a varied and weird aural world. If you like the general vibe of this introductory piece, chances are you’re going to enjoy the rest of the album.
Sky was proud of having, as far as anyone can tell, invented and popularized the phrase “flower children”, and it is on "Introduction" that the phrase first made it onto recorded music. The appealing moniker would become the go-to term used to describe the 1967 love and peace youth culture in the wider mass media of the United States; Sky’s pride was justified.
"Introduction", only a minute long, is generally paired with the song that comes next on Future, "March Of The Flower Children". Future fans may even think that “March” sounds strange without it. On some CD versions of the album, the two are paired as one track while others split them.
