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Cathy Wurzer

50 years since 'Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In' topped the chart

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The Fifth Dimension was No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart 50 years ago today with the song "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In."

The band had gone to see the musical "Hair," and wanted to do their own version of the opening number. Producer (and Minnesota native) Dayton "Bones" Howe thought the song was missing something, so he suggested adding three bars from another song in the musical.

"That's what we did, and I jammed them together like two trains, exactly as I said I would," Howe told Sound on Sound. "I just made an edit — bang! — editing from one set of eighth notes to the other set of eighth notes, and we went into 'Let The Sunshine In' and nobody cared that it was in a completely different key."