Frontman John Kay's mother escaped with him at age 4 from Soviet occupied East Germany, an event recounted in the song "Renegade" on the album Steppenwolf Seven. His family resettled in Hannover, West Germany, before moving to Canada in 1958. Kay is partially blind, hence the use of dark glasses
In 1968, Nick St. Nicholas replaced Moreve as bass player.
Steppenwolf had its origins in the Toronto blues band Sparrow, which was formed in 1964 and played coffeehouses in Yorkville. By 1967 they had settled in San Francisco.
Steppenwolf rocketed to fame after their third single, "Born to Be Wild" was used in the movie Easy Rider, as well as "The Pusher". The former song may have coined the term "heavy metal". This was followed by several more hits, including "Magic Carpet Ride" from Steppenwolf the Second, and "Rock Me" from At Your Birthday Party. Many fans consider their double album Steppenwolf Live [an extended single album in the UK] the best of Steppenwolf's releases. Monster and For Ladies Only were the band's most political albums, and are still fondly remembered by fans as two of the best rock & roll snapshots of the attitudes of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The band broke up in 1971, and Kay pursued a solo career. Steppenwolf reformed in 1974 with the album Slow Flux, and disbanded in 1976. Afterwards, several versions of the band toured North America until Kay reformed the official version of the group in 1980.
John Kay released a solo album in 2001.
Girl I Knew
Steppenwolf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
At the end of her night was an endless flight
While her head, it was lost in the laughter.
A girl I knew
Someone I used to talk to
When we'd meet in the middle of a room
A girl I knew
Someone I used to talk to.
She used to sing in the night while her ring
It would sparkle like burgundy wine
And the people stopped and stared but pretend she's not there.
She used to dance when she had the chance and the time it didn't matter
At the end of her night was an endless flight
While her head, it was lost in the laughter.
The lyrics to Steppenwolf's song "Girl I Knew" speak to the experience of knowing someone who was carefree and uninhibited. The song describes a girl who used to dance and sing without worry, with an endless sense of joie de vivre that seemed to bubble up from inside of her. The opening verse describes how she would dance without any concern for time, losing herself in the moment and the music. At the end of the night, her head would be lost in laughter, capturing the effervescent energy of the night in a moment of pure joy.
The chorus of the song reinforces the idea of the fleeting nature of this person's presence in the singer's life. She is "a girl I knew", someone who he used to talk to in the middle of the room. The shades of blue she would wear signal her whimsical nature, in contrast to the darker colors that others might be wearing. This free-spirit is not seen as out of place, however. Instead, the people around her stop and stare, captivated and drawn in by her presence. The final verse of the song circles back to the idea of her dancing and singing, invoking the sense of the dream-like state that she might have inhabited as she lost herself in the music and the moment.
Overall, the lyrics to this song paint a vivid picture of a specific moment in someone's life that is vivid, joyful, and fleeting. The singer is mourning the loss of this experience, but also celebrating it by capturing it in music.
Line by Line Meaning
She used to dance when she had the chance and the time it didn't matter
The girl enjoyed dancing without any worries about time constraints
At the end of her night was an endless flight
She would leave the place in a carefree mood, as if taking off on a flight
While her head, it was lost in the laughter.
She was so happy that she lost track of everything else, and became lost in laughter
A girl I knew
Narrator is reminiscing about a girl he used to know
Someone I used to talk to
He had conversations with this girl
When we'd meet in the middle of a room
They used to bump into each other at social gatherings
Who wore a shade of blue
The girl usually wore blue clothing
She used to sing in the night while her ring, it would sparkle like burgundy wine
The girl had a beautiful voice and a mesmerizing ring
And the people stopped and stared but pretend she's not there.
Onlookers would pay attention to her, but she pretended not to notice them
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOHN KAY, MORGAN ANDERSON CAVETT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Philip Kassabian
on Move Over
A really great song.
Philip Kassabian
on It's Never Too Late
Yet another great Steppenwolf song.
Philip Kassabian
on Jupiter's Child
Wow what an excellent song.
Philip Kassabian
on Born to Be Wild
Wow a great song love it.
Scott
on Happy Birthday
It is I hope you read your story book NOT WRECK YOUR STORY BOOK.