Ah yes, I remember it well. In February, 1969 on radio station KSAN-FM in San Francisco, the late, great DJ Voco (Abe Keshishian) introduced a track by The Northern California State Youth Choir. Their director, Edwin Hawkins, had entered them in a singing competition at a youth convention in Cleveland. To raise funds for the trip they recorded eight songs on a two-track machine in the Ephesian Church of God in Christ. These were made into an album, Let Us Go into the House of the Lord, of which a thousand copies were produced to be sold at the convention. One track, "Oh Happy Day," was a call-and-return led by a young singer named Dorothy Morrison. A friend gave Voco a copy and he started playing and promoting "Oh Happy Day." It caused thousands of hippies to start praising the Lord for such authentically far out music. Things went a little crazy for the choir, bringing on some of the various complications of instant fame. However, even as they continued to sort themselves out, San Francisco continued to have a happy day for many months.

Elmer