KAPLAN FLURY, Jimi, oh Jimi Hendrix, 1970

This record was digitized and scanned by my good friend Asphalt Tiger. He sent me the files  months ago, but I never got around to post them. Now they fit nicely in this little series of Christian records. Thanks Tiger!

Alfred Flury (1934 – 1986) was a roman-catholic chaplain and a songwriter. He recorded a number of records and also wrote books on drug prevention. In 1971 he founded the Kaplan Flury-Stiftung, an organization that is still doing drug prevention work today.

Personally I have tried most drugs, apart from heroin and crack, but found they didn´t do much for me. I feel like I´m too mellow in my regular life, so I have no use for drugs that make me feel even more mellow. The drugs people use to get excited, also disappointed me. I get excited quite easily so I didn´t feel much of a difference. But the most disappointing thing about drugs, were the people I used them with: none of them danced or talked more. They were as boring as ever. On top of that, I always washed the drugs down with a lot of alcohol anyway. Like many artists, I´m mildly manic-depressive. If diagnosed, a doctor would probably subscribe some sort of mood stabilizing drug. A drug to get rid of all excessive emotion and all my source of creativity. I rather do sports.

Hopefully the age of  hipsters like Pete Doherty and Amy Whinehouse, who promoted drug use in the past decade, is over. Their excess was probably a reaction to the conservative  political atmosphere and general uncertainty at the beginning of this new millennium. It didn´t lead anywhere, but to self-destruction. This said, I think we all need to get high from time to time, to be transported out of ourselves. There must be a reason why humans have always used drugs in shared rituals throughout the centuries.  And as boring as it is, the people who get drunk at Oktoberfest do just that. They partake in a collective ritual to get out-of-control. These intoxicated rituals remind us of the fact, that we are collective beings and that each of us is not the center of the universe.

(Alfred Flury together with Josephine Baker)

In the 1960´s religion had not given up on the youth yet. Or rather, some idealistic individuals, like singin´ chaplains and motor-bikin´vicars, had not given up on organized religion yet. Kaplan Flury hit the charts with Lass die kleinen Dinge in 1965. The death of Jimi Hendrix on September 18, 1970 marked a turning point of the 1960´s youth culture. Drugs were no longer a game. Early on Kaplan Flury recognized the growing drug problems in Germany. His credibility helped establish the first drug awareness campaigns and help-programs.

A book (plus CD) about Alfred Flury´s life was published in 2008. More songs can be downloaded on this site dedicated to Kaplan Flury. Jimi, oh Jimi Hendrix was re-issued in 2008 on the excellent Bear Family CD “Hippies, Hasch und Flower Power”. In this song Flury mentiones that he met Jimi Hendrix personally:

“The world intoxicated is a world that collapses rapidly. Jimi Hendrix, I knew you. Maybe I can even understand you. Hopefully the others also understand your ending. Jimi Hendrix – a path that didn´t know its way. Jimi Hendrix – a light that burnt itself. Jimi, Jimi, your dream couldn´t keep up with life.  You took a lot of us with you.”

KAPLAN FLURY, Jimi, oh Jimi Hendrix, 1970

According to this soulful schlager song, the four things that are most important are: having a heart, loving, believing and living. Three of these things, I wholeheartetly agree with:

KAPLAN FLURY, Die vier Dinge, 1970

Kaplan Flury and singer Katja Ebstein are both wearing a sun wheel necklace, the sign of Flury´s NO DRUGS organization. Flury met the Rolling Stones and many other pop stars. I can´t think of a contemporary religious personality (other than the pope),  who would meet and know today´s pop stars. Let alone could ever hit the charts…

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