On March 8, 1969, the single “Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In,” a medley of the opening and closing songs from the 1967 musical Hair, made its debut on Billboard’s Hot 100, eventually rising to the top of the chart, where it stayed for six weeks. The recording, with music by Galt MacDermot and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, marked the last Broadway tunes to reach #1. It was the first #1 hit for The Fifth Dimension, who had made it to the Top Ten in 1967 with “Up, Up and Away” and the Top Five with “Stone Soul Picnic” in 1968. The recording also won two Grammys: Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal by a Group. The single is featured on the group’s #2 album The Age of Aquarius, which includes their subsequent #1 song, “Wedding Bell Blues.” Below is the quintet on the May 18, 1969, broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show and the Broadway revival cast on the Aug. 5, 1990, broadcast of The View, featuring soloist Sasha Allen.
The idea for the recording began when group member Billy Davis Jr. left his wallet in a New York taxi. The man who found it was in the cast of Hair and invited the group to see the show. Afterward, Davis called producer Bones Howe, telling him they wanted to record “Aquarius.” Later, Howe saw the show himself and got the idea to create a medley with “Let the Sunshine In.” He hired session musicians The Wrecking Crew to record the instrumental, on which The Fifth Dimension laid their vocals. For comparison, below is the original Broadway cast performing another medley of songs at the 1969 Tonys, featuring “Let the Sunshine In” (6:50), and soloist Ren Woods singing “Aquarius” (2:24) in the opening scene of the 1979 film.