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From: surfratt
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  • Back in the day, I spent a lot of time with a gal that was the BIGGEST Spirit fan. Never heard of them until then. Then I became a Spirit fan! Good upload!!!!!!!!

  • Almost sounds like Jerry Garcia

  • This was my favorite tune by them back in the day.

  • It's funny how Cheap Trick were so embarrassed how badly the opening for this song got ripped off for their song "The Flame". In fairness, Cheap Trick didn't write "The Flame" and hate that song.

  • To northernman...I don't know how old you are but I believed the same thing that you did. I heard this song back in '78-'79 when I was in Junior H.S. (I graduated in 1983). I now realize that I am not the only person to have thought the same thing about this song.

  • Great song...unforgettable memories some psychedelic at the time in the early 70's...

  • alot of good memories from this band. how time flys

  • had this on 8track, back in the day, also. Great record. The song, I thought,

    was an early pro-environment message. Spirit was a fine band. And I'm a bit

    dispirited by some of the idiotic postings I see.

  • I always wondered about this song, because I had it on 8-track. I wondered what they were singing about, I wondered if they were singing to homosexuals telling them they were acting against nature. I'm not homophobic, but I don't believe in homosexuality. I have had friends who were gay, but I would only tell them what this song does if they want to know, if they are questioning their way of living, otherwise I would treat them like everyone else.

  • Cheap Trick's 'The Flame' totally rips off this song

  • Comment removed

  • please check out my page on Facebook The Official Oldies Channel

  • I watched NCIS Los Angeles (born and raised in Venice), and wondered about the background music, as it seemed familiar. Watched the credits, and found out Jay Ferguson was doing the music.

    Sadly, Randy California passed in a surfing accident in Hawaii.

  • I grew up on spirit, and an interesting side note, they came to my house when I was a kid, and I intentionally stayed out of the house while they were there (went wondering off to a playground for several hours)since I was terrified of older men... I was 9yrs. To this day, I am kicking myself... I did know who they were btw, but my fear out wayed my curiosity. lol

    God Bless ~Amy

  • mark Andes went on to play for heart, and was Ann Wilson's boyfreind

  • Captain Copter!

  • To all the "kids" today, take a listen, and realize what you consume, and what you toss away. Listen to "Fresh Garbage".

  • I remember hearing this for the first time in '68 or '69. I think it is more relevant today even then it was back then. Sad, but true. We just don't learn, do we!

  • They didn't have that shit they ae advertising before the song lol, it's funny as hell. This came straight from the 60's and if you weren't there you missed out on a lot of heavy shit. But of course, heavy to you is carrying to much hahahaha !!!

  • Ever notice we sometimes forget to invite God to our so=called religious milestones. There are hurt feelings over religious differences and traditions.....and we fail to see the most important one at the party... and what its all about. All the Father wants is to be recognized and loved. Keep it simple. Keep it real/

  • @prettybettysue1  AMEN

  • huh? you seem to know more about whatever that is, than i.

  • The Lord gives with all his Love and takes with Tender Mercies...and I am not a reilgious man, but I thought Mr & Mrs Joslin might appreciate these words.

  • Nah, everything is perfect. :/ Don't listen to nature, sheople. ;p

  • @vinylvillela

    Then explain the Kardashians.

  • I seen them when they opened for Cream in 68... great band

  • i just lost my son ian edmond joslin on9/24/2011 this is therapy

  • i totally agree with you antitsa!! this tune goes straight to your heart and prompts you to check yourself out and ask if your doing good or evil in this life cause there is no inbetween either your for jesus or your idea of a greatness other that yourself or your against him. PEOPLEOPEN YOUR HEARTS AND LET JESUS IN HE WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE AND BLESS YOU BEYOND COMPARE!!! PEACE AND AMEN

  • I loved this song when it was first released all those years ago and just stumbled on it again today, and it still took my breath away.

  • this tune is meant to tell people that they need to search way down deep in their hearts and follow what their spirit leads them to do. it's was meant as a song of revised vision and a newer approach to dealing with this worlds falling off from the truth PEACE :)

  • Incredible! RIP Randy California! If people had only listened to this one song and heeded the message! What a world it might have been. It's not too late!

  • Fleetwood Mac

    Sorry LOL

  • Flletwood Mac, SPIRIT, & West Bruce & Laing @ The Spectrum Nov '72

    I was there Glad I was...

  • RIP Randy California. You died way too young

  • @whoadude420 I feel so fortunate that I was able to see them on many occasions...

  • @cataddict1 Cool - I'm glad you were able to see them. A band so very ahead of the times. They would be popular today for the people that would get it.

  • Why the hell do all these old bands play there instruments so well with dynamics and stuff... All us young people prefer extremely loud noise with people screaming at us!....

  • @JxEngel

    Remember hon, the old were young once... however we had The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin.....

    Ohhh, to be fair, oldies are happy to share these great bands with you screaming addicts, lol. It never goes away, just gets better, good screams, not to hard on the nerves.

  • I'm often taken aback at the mean spirited (unintentional pun) comments that I sometimes read with the music posts, they seem so out of place. Listening to music just doesn't make me want to start trashing people who think differently than I do. I suppose I just forget we're living in a time when calling someone a 'do-gooder' is an insult.

  • @hbdavew lol That was an insult when I was growing up in the late 80's/90's too, I always got insulted for being "pure" and "nice". But then guess what? years later, I'd talk to those same people who insult me, and come to find out they always admired and respected me; go figure... lol

  • @hbdavew amen to that

  • @Civitatuccillo some day you to will be old and will take offense when someone posts a line of shit about you being old.

  • @Civitatuccillo wow! what a troll of a statement. I was 15 when this came out and I don't feel I am washed up or my day is gone, you are as young as you feel in your heart. My 7 year old grandson could even tell you that. You can keep you misery to yourself.

  • @Akindone53

    ohhh, the ignorance of youth....

    One would think they would appreciate how we kept rock alive and kicking...

    At least James Durbin does, god bless his rocking heart

  • A great song from a great band that sadly was under recognized and largely forgotten today...

  • Takes me back to a time when there was so much pain, so much hope, so much rejection, so much love, so much honor, so much injustice, so much intensity, so much apathy...Vietnam, the draft the nightly body count on the news, . LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter,. like Janice Joplin said."It;s all the same f@#ng day!" I miss my youth, my youthful indiscretions, and my friends, and family. Like Tale of Two Cities, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Much like today, but with better music.

  • wonderful, i this album is really a great work

    Michele from Italy

  • wonderful, i this album is really a great work

    Michele from Italy

  • Pompous jerks who "KNOW" the human psyche has no influence on the natural world need to research the phenomena of poltergeists, and especially the work of psychologist Carl Jung, who experienced such events in the company of Sigmund Freud, both of whom acknowledged them.

  • love the overlapping harmonies......thanks for posting so i dont gotta dig out my old LP

  • This song meant a lot to me at 14 yrs old in 1974and still does

  • I can not tell you how much this song meant to me in 1969, when I was 16 years old. The effect has lasted all these years. Now how's that for a song having meaning!

  • I'm still listening, believing, and trying to continue living it. Many have forgotten the message but there are still a few of us out there!

  • New England tornadoes... east coast earthquakes... historic hurricane... floods...

    Something's wrong!

  • @Mibbitmaker suck it

    theres been east cost earthquakes before dummy

  • look what just happened this week...this song warned us before and reminded us today..we got to take care this planet...timeless music..

  • My mother got me listening to this way back in the early 70's and her taste in music was so great that even when she died she was still listening to Spirit, Pink Floyd etc.... clear into her 70's. My mother was an awesome woman.

  • @harleyluvrable I bet she was! And I'll be doing the same when I'm an old crone!!

    What a sweet thing to say about your mom. I'm sure her loving "Spirit" is with you always!

  • @ladyfuschia This old but proud Crone does still! LOL!

  • This song is amazing. This band has been one of my favorites of all time. They really have they're own unique sound and style, and they look like what the Mars Volta would've been in the 60's and 70's.

  • I saw them with Fleetwood Mac & West, Bruce & Laing @ The Spectrum Nov. '72.

    Glad I did.

  • Gives me the chills.

  • you got it backwarks...they hear but when will they listen? anyone can hear but not everyone can listen

  • This song takes me back to a time when life was as simple as where is the next party. Uncle Tom's MDA and screwing the local Disrict Attorney's daughter. You had to be there

  • @pfunkster100

    You seem to be the only one besides me that remembers MDA. I loved it back in 70-71.

  • I dont think there's a better song that can take me back to to where I once content with life. Just close your eyes and listen...

    

  • I dont think there's a song that can take me back to to where I once content with life. Just close your eyes and listen...

  • To arlva1===What are you talking about ?

  • So much talent at that time.

  • Look at America, droughts, floods, economic disaster, somethings wrong!

  • Came back to me Like a Message~~~~~ Always loved this song!!!!!

  • someone should form a posse, hunt down these 11 ppl and ask them, wtf is your problem?

  • Amazing music..my era..I think the problem is the sound production. Unless all these great albums/artists are not remastered to the dig. age, they seem flat ,,,,it's amazing what talent sound engineers have. Give that a thought. A lot of the great talent is a collaboration..of all working together. nuff said.

  • @ARLVA1 - Spot on, my friend! This band,

    and especially this LP, were born and designed

    for the RIAA 12" LP Stereophonic EQ curve ...

    I wonder if they *can* ever adequately be

    remixed for an equivalent CD experience!

  • Hauntingly good song.

  • Something`s wrong with the 11 people who dislike. But I`m sure someone`s already said that. lol

  • SO great to hear their greatest tunes. They played at our Junior Prom, at New Trier East. Remember rapping with some of the players, and i think an older drummer ? who we shared some stories and some local ganj at their breaks ... he gave me some life advice ...

  • I still have this LP. Cool stuff. Thanks for posting it.

  • Wendy and I saw these guys at the Victory so many years ago. Loved them so much so very much

  • attura is right on 

  • People do hear-But the real answer is they dont listen-Its just the opposite-You can hear but not comprehend.

  • I saw these guys in chicago around 1969. The kenetic playground. On the same bill with the mothers of invention Zappa.They were both great. I felt the same way about the earth then as I do today.

  • I saw these guys in chicago around 1969. The kenetic playground. On the same bill with the mothers of invention Zappa.They were both great.

  • Actually he saved his son . Look it up .

  • thanx for the trip down memory lane!!!!

  • good video and great music...thanks a lot man

  • "it's natures way of telling you 'smoke some weeeeed' "

  • how very true, the messages said so many years ago, in the form of a warning, with respect to destroying mother earth, and with war, have yet to be learned, and I doubt if they ever will.....

  • @oneexseal i always thought the writer was telling a story a someone dying , he coud tell, even tho hes never been told, i.e. the coughing at the end.. now i think its a combination of what i said & your good comment( destroying the earth, pollution& war) .natures been getting its revenge lately! ..tommy

  • Anyone remember that the drummer was Randy California's step-dad? Poor Randy; he drowned trying to rescue his son from a rip tide. They both died. Sad

  • Getting into Spirit! We're alright!

  • In light of the current weather changes I thought this tells it all!

  • wonderfull! i'm finding it hard to find the rest of the album to hear

  • As appropriate today as it was 40 years ago. People will listen, but ---- When will people HEAR???

  • @aattura

    Aww man, it's always like that. People only hear when they have enough reason. It's natures way.

  • One of my favorites, thanks for posting.

  • I was fortunate enough to catch Spirit when WMMS radio announced a  free concert on the commons grounds at Kent State University in about 1975.

    The line-up was Spirit, Bob Seger, J. Geils band and the Michael Stanley band.

    10,000 people attended this outdoor event.

    Great concert and good times!

  • @squirrelfartz Great show wasn't it?

  • @brianbrendalove Yes it was.

    Amazing that my post got a response from a *bonifide* (I checked your profile age) fellow attendee of a specific concert in a only a matter of days!

    That's the power of the internet for you.

  • this mortal coil

  • sounds alot like Jerry Garcia RIP.

  • Natures telling us....are we listening?

  • OMG haven't heard this song in decades. Brings back memories. Thanks for posting.

  • I like the part where they say "it's natures way of telling you somethings wrong"

  • Great writting... the A add 9 is glorious in this classic song from the 60s. The song makes the movie scene awesome.

  • it takes quite a hammering, like the Tsunami....Earthquake in Japan and Chile and Haiti.......to tell us to get it.......We are blessed to be here at this time.......Lets love this planet and love each other.......and get the show on the road instead of living only for ourselves.....This is a small planet........

  • Our current situation has been revealed to us over and over again.....sometimes it takes quite a hammering, like the Tsunami....Earthquake in Japan and Chile and Haiti.......to tell us to get it.......We are blessed to be here at this time.......Lets love this planet and love each other.......and get the show on the road instead of living only for ourselves.....This is a small planet........

  • this is still awesome

  • I saw Spirit and Strawbs and Spooky Tooth for 5 bucks in 1974 !! It was the 12 DREAMS tour .

  • MORE COWBELL!!

  • @emrhody

    All right, Bruce, no one asked for your opinion on this recording.

  • World resonance. The cadence of nature ... "in a song." Inspirational, timeless genius.

    Did see Spirit perform this at a college basketball gym in Florida.

    A hush goes out over the crowd. Respectful communing, and then touched speechlessness from the crowd.

    Thanks to Spirit and to you for remembering.

    Max Tillinghast

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  • Bellissimo magone!

  • Hi. Thank you for posting this tune...

  • Wow! I forgot about this band for over 30 years. They were awesome then and evermore so now.

  • As much as I like Cheap Trick I think they might've copied the beginning of "Nature's Way" to make their biggest hit "The Flame." I don't think Robin Zander denies it either. CT has combined both songs in concert before.

  • I was just 10 when this came out and would walk for miles to listen to my friend play this,,,,,

  • I grew up with Spirt its part of my life great band

  • NOW GOOGLE > THE HOLY GHOST IS HUNTING THE NWO says ONEWHITEDUCK :-)

    NOW GOOGLE > SOUP OR PUSSY says ONEWHITEDUCK :-)

    ^

    GOOGLE THAT WHOLE LINE :-)

    \/

  • That sigh at 1:06 is really haunting.

  • THANKS FOR THE SONG, IT HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART

  • DEAR JAPAN google> NIC TESLA WEAPONS CAN CAUSE AN EARTHQUAKE John Joseph O'Brien says NIC TESLA!

    ^

    yeah I KNOW ALL ABOUT "IT" NIC says John Joseph O'Brien :-(

    WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT FIRING HAARP WEAPONS AT PLANET EARTH al gore SAYS JOHN JOSEPH O'BRIEN

    GOOGLE > Al GORE by OCEANBREEZE is FUCKED by GOD THE FATHER

    ^

    Lets Buy Duck A Drink

    ANGELS STILL DON'T PLAY THIS HAARP al gore SAYS ONEWHITEDUCK

    WHAT IS A REMOTE VIEWER GUIDED BY GOD al gore SAYS JOHN JOSEPH O'BRIEN

  • GOOGLE > COME PLAY WITH US al gore SAYS THE SCOLE GHOSTS :-)

    GOOGLE > SNAP says John Joseph O'Brien :-)

    youtube ALAN PARSON PROJECT

    GOOGLE > I AM THE EYE IN THE SKY says ONEWHITEDUCK :-)

  • Comment removed

  • I was 22 years old and a creature of the times. It's 40 years later and those were the best days of my life even though in many ways I was a lost soul.

    This song is haunting...it always gets to me. Bummer I never got to see them perform.

  • @mtbootz

    You're right man,the song is incredibly haunting and damn good too.

  • @mtbootz

    You're right man,the song is incredibly haunting and damn good too.

  • I have to laugh at the pic of the cd. I had this on 8-track

  • One of the original environmentallly conscious songs... 'Out in the Country' by Three Dog Night is another great early one.

  • I so much loved Spirit! Thank you for posting these songs. Especially loved, "Nature's Way!"

  • YOU ARE SOO RIGHT , SICOWDEN

  • I love this song

  • Used to drive through one of many S. Ca. canyons to the beach

    listening to this song. Saw this great band in Santa Monica..

    1st love kind of stuff , and smokin good weed.

  • @MrWarbells at the time, I was doing the same thing. probably the same canyons. it seems so long ago and yet as if it were yesterday

  • @revwjh Yup such good memories..Live in Tucson now I really miss the Beach sometimes. So

    glad we got to experience the freedom..

  • @revwjh Yes, I am now in Mich., Miss those times too. I keep telling my wife that we're going home, she reminds me that we have grandkids now and she isnt leaving them behind. Still, someday... Blessings, jon

  • its natures way

  • Great song from an even greater album!

  • Thanks 4 the P0st! Good memmories!

  • I saw that same show at The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago in 1970 and watching father and son on stage was so amazing.....Randy California so rocks

  • @giacomo309 'Father and Son' is not exactly correct. Ed married Randy's mother. Ed was a fantastic 'father' to Randy, of course.

  • Saw them in Dallas or at least I saw something that night! Most of us got "caught between the longing for love and the struggle for the legal tender" as Jackson Browne once said. We need to get back "to the land and set our souls free" as Joni Mitchell said. Peace!!!!!!!

  • first song I dropped orange sunshine 40 years ago in panama city fla.for spring break and never went home....ma send me money I met a girl and got a job

  • I was in Maui in 1972 and some of the hippies there said they saw this guy playing guitar on the beach and man this cat was good. They said he used to play in a band called Spirit.

  • 7 people tried to fool Mother Nature

  • Awesome band, so glad I was there..........

    thanks so much for putting this up, man!

    Great track from an absolutely CLASSIC album! (12 Dreams)

  • Like birds dropping outta the sky and fish rising to the surface.

  • according to wikipedia, Cheap Trick formed in 1974, The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonius dropped in 1970, perhaps "The Flame" sounds like "Nature's Way"? ... hmmm?

  • As in the days of the dinosaurs, who saw the asteroid coming, who tried to tell their neighbors and were ridiculed, and were ultimately proven correct, so we now have a new generation of those who choose to deny the facts.

    Some profess to believe in the bible, but ignore the lessons of Noah, oh well!

    Others profess to believe in science, but believe the corporations will save us, again, oh well!

    I choose to believe in the indominitable spirit of the common human... we'll see!

  • it's nature's way of telling us.

  • lyrics son, lyrics, way back better than what, Eminem?

  • the vinyls better

  • This has to be one of the most beautiful tunes ever composed. It is.

  • How about Cheap Tricks -The Flame sounds like this song.....

  • The opening chords definitely sound alot like "The Flame" by Cheap Trick.

  • This is it...we've been hearing the sounds of advise...yet did we listen?

  • Actually to visit Slinger on YT visit crimescenestudios. Sorry for the misinformation.

  • This song kinda sounds like Cheap Trick's "The Flame." Does anyone else hear the similarities?

  • Possibly one of the most underrated, and greatest songs ever written. The melody and lyrics are as relative today as they were forty years ago.

  • A friend of mine who goes by the name Slinger on YT played with Spirit in the past. Please check out Slinger's channel and his new video........Peace my friends.

  • One that goes down in "My history" BOOK.

  • Beautiful song...played and sung with real emotion and passion...

  • Too many memories of too many friends that are no longer here...

  • use to go to a bar in toledo back in 1973 and go dancin with friends with them playing there tunes live

  • Fantastic song - one of my all time favourites

  • JonhnytheC: If you haven't done it yet, get this album. If you only buy 10 albums in your entire life, 12 dreams really should be one of them (trust me-I still have over 3,000 vinyl albums).

  • Old song, old concept...real tears are shed by those of us who knew and still watched, helpless.

  • I saw Spirit in Philly in 1970 when they opened for Jethro Tull at a very small venue. I must tell you, they stole the show. My buddies didn't think so but the lump in my throat and faint tears in my eyes told me better. Now that was 40 years ago and the words to this song are more relevant than ever. Unfortunately, Spirit, like everyone, was unable to get the message across. Yes, ignorance is bliss, or blank, or numb, or a true mortal sin. Thank You for trying...many of us did hear you.PEACE...

  • @1samuelfour If you want a real awakening about the group Spirit, do a little digging on the internet about Randy California. There is a great story of their encounter with Jimi Hendrix before he went to England to get "noticed" and the story of how Randy died trying to save a life. As inspiring as his music. I ran into 2 of the guys in San Diego around 1969. Back then a bald head kind of stuck out more than now. Always a fan of the group.

  • @1samuelfour Electric Factory-right? It was not that long ago was it? I remembered it the Spectrum. I am sure you are right though. I saw Alice Cooper open for Zappa at the Factory. That I recall for sure. The message from Spirit never did get across, did it? They sure whooped Tull's butt that night.

  • @1samuelfour

    I heard, and listened, agree with you whole heartedly...this song brught me to tears the 1st day I heard it, and it still does today...

  • @1samuelfour: Your comment may well be the most brilliant, heartfelt, and insightful that I've ever seen posted here on YouTube. Thank You.