Living Loving Life

Album: The Great Conspiracy (1967)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a life-affirming, celebratory tune that songwriter Alan Lee Brackett told Songfacts he wants played at his funeral. The song talks about waking up "all mankind" to the wonders and beauty around them. The sound is representative of the Los Angeles psychedelic scene from which it was born, with a mixture of youthful innocence and purposeful, existential gravitas, suggesting the discussed embrace of life goes beyond something superficial or trite. The song sounds more like a rousing battle cry of positivity than like a vacuous casual call for fun.
  • In his memoir Almost Famous: Journey to the Summer of Love, Brackett explained that the song is about "going through life and loving every moment you can and how we're on a free ride."

    "The 'bomb' that explodes in your mind is something bound to happen and when it does you'll wonder why it had to happen," he said. "But if we look at each other and love each other, perhaps instead of just giving up and being negative, we can influence in a positive way the world."
  • The Great Conspiracy album is generally considered to represent the Peanut Butter Conspiracy at their peak. Their second (of three) major label studio releases, it embodies the psychedelic Flower Power identity that marked the Conspiracy before its later shift to a more R&B-flavored sound and, after that, their eventual dissolution.

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