HAIR Authors Strongly Opposed to Trump Campaign Using Their Song 'Aquarius'

The authors of HAIR, The American Tribal-Love Rock Musical - James Rado, the estate of Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot - want the Trump Campaign to cease and desist using any music from the show.

Yesterday, Melania Trump entered a rally in Berwyn, PA to the music and lyrics of "the Age of Aquarius...harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding."

"The Trump political campaign is a far cry from the utopian vision of the new Aquarian age," said co-author James Rado. "We want to make sure they discontinue using the song."

HAIR originally opened at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in October 1967 with a run at the Cheetah nightclub following in December 1967. The show opened on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances. Famous for its brief nude scene, worldwide productions of HAIR followed (with some 14 companies running simultaneously) including a London production which ran for nearly 2,000 performances. Since then, HAIR has continued to delight and enlighten audiences around the world, spawning dozens of recordings.

A recent revival on Broadway won the Tony Award for Best Revival in 2009.
The Fifth Dimension's version of the song "Aquarius" won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group in 1970. The lyrics of this song were based on the astrological belief that the world would soon be entering the "Age of Aquarius," an age of peace, love and light for humanity. The original Broadway cast recording received a Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album and sold nearly 3 million copies in the U.S. by December 1969.

Photo credit: Martha Swope

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