“Spirit Of The Sixties (Return To The Sixties)”
by Sky Sunlight Saxon and Fire Wall
1986 song
It was twenty years ago almost. Sky Saxon looks back at the 1960s lovingly and unapologetically on his 1986 song "Spirit Of The Sixties (Return To The Sixties)". Recorded with his Fire Wall band and released on the US album Destiny's Children (released in France as ...A Groovy Thing), this garage-y psych-y track features lyrics that list lots of groovy sixties luminaries and iconography. Beads, trips, flowers, Buffalo Springfield, and The Moody Blues are among those that get singled out for special attention.
As do, in a fit of proud self-referentialism, “Sky Sunlight Saxon and the original Seeds”. (It’s a phrase which Sky would use as the artist credit on the Frankensteined-together album Takes & Glories the next year.) "Spirit Of The Sixties (Return To The Sixties)" could be one of the earliest throwbacks during the 1980s by one who was there. By the next year, when The Beatles’ catalog was issued on CD amid great fanfare, the sixties were back in a big way in American culture. Sky called it a year early.
What’s this song called?
On Destiny's Children this song is called "Spirit Of The Sixties (Return To The Sixties)". On ...A Groovy Thing the title is reversed as "Return To The Sixties (Spirit Of The Sixties)". And finally, on the 1988 French CD that combines the two French Fire Wall albums ...In Search Of Brighter Colors + ...A Groovy Thing it’s called simply “Return Of The Sixties”. They’re all the same recording; listeners can take their pick of which title they enjoy the best.
