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‘Coming Into Los Angeles’: the terrifying plane ride that inspired Arlo Guthrie’s generational 1969 hit
Far Out Magazine revisits the story behind Arlo Guthrie's 1969 song "Coming Into Los Angeles," explaining how a genuinely nerve-wracking flight helped shape one of the era's most enduring counterculture anthems. The piece situates the track within the anxieties of travellers attempting to bring drugs through customs at the height of America's crackdown on smuggling, showing how a personal scare became the basis for a song that captured a generational mood of paranoia and rebellion.
The song appeared on Guthrie's album "Running Down the Road" and gained lasting fame after his live performance at the Woodstock festival in August 1969, cementing its status as a countercultural touchstone. Its lyrics, describing a tense flight into Los Angeles while carrying contraband, reflect the real fear travellers felt about customs searches during that period, and the article frames this blend of lived experience and songwriting as key to why the track has endured for over five decades.
In short
- Arlo Guthrie's 1969 hit was inspired by a real, tense flight.
- The song reflected fears of drug smuggling through customs checks.
- Its Woodstock performance helped cement its lasting fame.
Explained simply
In the late 1960s, US authorities were stepping up efforts to stop drugs being smuggled across borders. Travellers arriving by air could face customs searches, making the prospect of carrying contraband a source of real anxiety.
Arlo Guthrie was an American folk singer-songwriter, and “Coming Into Los Angeles” drew on the tension of a flight involving drugs and the risk of detection. The song appeared on his album Running Down the Road and became widely known after he performed it at the Woodstock festival in August 1969.
Woodstock was a major music festival that became closely associated with the counterculture of the era. The song’s mix of travel, danger and defiance connected with themes familiar to many young people at the time.