The musical’s title song begins as character Claude slowly croons his reason for his long hair, as tribe-mate Berger joins in singing they "don't know."[1] They lead the tribe, singing "Give me a head with hair," "as long as God can grow it,"[1] listing what they want in a head of hair and their uses for it. Later the song takes the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner" with the tribe punning "Oh say can you see/ My eyes if you can/Then my hair’s too short!"[1] Claude and Berger’s religious references continue with many a "Hallelujah" as they consciously compare their hair to Jesus’s, and if Mary loved her son, "why don’t my mother love me?"[1][2] The song shows the Tribe's enthusiasm and pride for their hair as well as comparing Claude to a Jesus figure.[2]
"The Prophecy of Daniel and John the Divine" (1969)
The song was a major hit for the Cowsills in 1969 and their most successful single. The Cowsills' version cuts out most of the religion-themed lyrics, changing "long as God can grow it" to "long as I can grow it" and removing some verses. Their version spent two weeks at number one on the Cash Box Top 100[5] and reached number two on the BillboardHot 100.[6] "Hair" was kept out of the number-one spot by another song from the Hair cast album: "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by The 5th Dimension.[7] It also reached number one on the RPMCanadian Singles Chart.[8]
A version by Dutch rock band Zen reached the top of the Dutch Top 40 in January 1969.[21] A cover was released as a B-side by girl group Gilded Cage in 1969.[22]
In My Wife and Kids episode, "The Sweet Hairafter", Michael Kyle (Damon Wayans), sings the song playing his keyboard, while his hair supplement grows in.
In the 2015 animated film Minions, Stuart used a "hypno hat" to hypnotize three of the palace guards while breaking into the Tower of London, and made them sing the song (in the Minion Language), dance, strip to their underwear and let their hair down.
↑ Molanphy, Chris (June 28, 2019). "The Lullaby of Broadway Edition". Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia (Podcast). Slate. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
↑ Doherty, Bob (2001). "The Cowsills". In Cooper, Kim; Smay, David (eds.). Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth. Los Angeles: Feral House. p.58.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.