Magic Carpet Ride (Steppenwolf song) Magic Carpet Ride is a rock song written by John Kay and Rushton Moreve from the Canadian-U.S. hard rock band Steppenwolf. The song was initially released in 1968 on the album The Second. It was the lead single from that album, peaking at number three in the US, and staying in the charts for 16 weeks, longer than any other Steppenwolf song. The single version differs noticeably from the album version with a different vocal take by Kay used for the first verse of the song and differing instrume