It's A Beautiful Day: Bombay Calling

For our “Bubbling Under” Saturday selection, I have selected an album cut from It’s A Beautiful Day’s 1969 debut album. “Bombay Calling” is significant in that it was the song that started the friendly musical feud between It’s A Beautiful Day and Deep Purple.

The tune for “Bombay Calling” was borrowed by Deep Purple and they transformed it into a Vietnam War protest song named “Child in Time.” It’s A Beautiful Day returned the favor and borrowed Deep Purple’s “Wring that Neck” for their song “Don and Dewey.”

The key instrumentation in the song, and for that matter in It’s A Beautiful Day, is David LaFlamme’s violin which he plays arco and pizzicato. In places, David also evokes the sounds of an Appalachian fiddle.

The next most important instrument in the song is the organ played by David LaFlamme’s first wife named Linda (he was married to two Lindas). Hal Wagenet also provides a nice guitar lead as well. Of course Mitchell Holman’s bass and Val Fuentes’ drums add to the mystique of “Bombay Calling.”

Although never released as a single and their signature song “White Bird” is the better known tune from their first album, “Bombay Calling” shows the immense talent of It’s A Beautiful Day.