Why don't you come with me, little girl, on a magic carpet ride

[MrScorpio]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwLdyIdY6U8

[mokawanis]

1. Wiki info on lead singer John Kay

from the Wiki entry about lead-singer John Kay

John Kay (born 12 April 1944 as Joachim Fritz Krauledat in Tilsit, East Prussia) is a German-born Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist known as the front man of Steppenwolf.

In the Evacuation of East Prussia in early 1945, in harsh Winter conditions, his mother first had to flee with the baby boy from the advancing Soviet troops. In 1948, the two also fled from Arnstadt in the East German Soviet occupation zone to resettle in Hanover, West Germany (as recounted in his song "Renegade" on the album Steppenwolf Seven). Located in the British occupation zone, teen aged Joachim, suffering from eyesight problems, listened to music broadcast by the British Forces Broadcasting Service before his family moved to Canada in 1958.

Those years are the basis of the excellent song "Renegade" which I can't find on youtube.
Sample lyrics:

My birthplace would be hard to find
It changed so many times
I'm not sure where it belongs
But they tell me the Baltic coast is full of amber
And the land was green
Before the tanks came