I went with Rain, but I almost went for I'm Only Sleeping so that was a close one. Like many of you said, Tommorow Never Knows is the best but it aint on.
Because the words take over, just like tripping takes over. It's the most "out of control" or giving up control of all the songs listed. From "Elementary penguin" to "see how they sny"--this thing is truly out there. John was almost like a medium on this one.
I also think that "Across the Universe" is borderline psychedelic.
It's a shame John never did more of these type of songs. His writing became fairly conventional in the 70s (with the exception of things like #9 Dream and Mind Games, but neither of these are as unconventional lyrically as "I am the Walrus"). Maybe he was on different drugs. Or no drugs.
Anyhow:
Goo goo ga joob!
That's your answer.
The great thing is how important George Martin who didn't even smoke pot was in realizing this and other psychedelic visions in these songs.
I wonder what GM would have done with Syd Barrett?
Damn. 'I Am The Walrus' not psychedelic? There must be some good s**t floating around these days if what you're experiencing makes 'Walrus' not psychedelic. Yinks. Anyways, "Tomorrow Never Knows" is John's psychedelicatessen.
I Am Walrus is psychedelic? Okay, somebody needs to define psychedelic for me cuz that song is more a rocker than psychadelic. I think Lucy in the Sky is the most psychedelic of John's songs. George has more pyschedelic songs than them all. When I think of pyschedelic, I think of stuff like White Rabbit and The End. Lucy in the Sky has that same sort of flowy vibe.
I'm stealing from Roy Carr and Tony Tyler's "The Beatles: An Illustrated Record", but they said that, at least in 1967, there was a distinction between psychedelia in the US and the UK. They considered the "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields" 45 to exemplify British psychedelia with backwards drum parts and trumpet obbligatos, fade outs/fade ins, jokes galore, gibberish, etc. Whereas psychedelia here was more blatant, like 'White Rabbit', etc. I think 'Walrus' is very trippy, especially if you consider when it was released, all the layers of voices, the fade out, I mean having this noisy crescendo with King Lear pasted over it is pretty out there. Its hard to take it at face value now because we've all heard it a million times, but 38 years ago, it was a different story.
I guess. I mean it does have that element to it. The ending especially. British psychedelia was more on the pop side then. I mean if they consider Penny Lane psychedelic. I guess I do think mostly of American bands when I think of psychedelic. Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, THE DOORS, Hendrix...one English band I think of though is Pink Floyd. Especially the Syd days.
Found this article on what you were talking about. Interesting. I never gave it a thought!
American Psychedelic Music Versus English Psychedelic Music
Classifying bits of recorded music into its proper category is not as easy as it seems. We all think we know, when we hear a record, how to classify it. Metal. Punk. Country. Yet do we ever take time to think about what the exact elements there are to a record that ensure their placement in a particular genre? What could possibly be that unknown ingredient that places both "Teenager In Love" and "Master Of Puppets" into the same pool known as Rock? What do we hear in the music of Megadeth that makes us mentally stamp it Metal, a term for music first used for bands like Grand Funk Railroad, who sound nothing like Megadeth? Why do we not classify Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John" as rap?
And what about Psychedelic music? How do we describe that? The most common describe it is 'Drug influenced music.' But is that true? The Shaggs' music sounds drug-influenced but it's not really psychedelic, is it? Some Mothers of Invention music may strike the ears as psychedelic, and yet Uncle Frank and his gang were quite outspoken in their anti-drug stance.
Of course, music genres are often a product of the times. The counterculture of mid 1960's America helped take the music scene into a new territory, while the English hippies helped plot a route for their music as well. In both cases, the music was branded 'psychedelic.' But, as the difference between the two country's cultures is substantial, so was the difference between the type of music each country produced, despite being given the same tag. Surrealistic Pillow isn't quite the same music heard on Mr. Fantasy. You could count the similarities between "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" and "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" on one hand...one of Mickey Mouse's hand, even.
Fortunately for us, though, this time the distinctions are extreme enough to pinpoint directly.
An American psychedelic band may draw inspiration from Timothy Leary. An English psychedelic band might instead look to Lewis Carroll.
An American psychedelic band would cry "Further!" An English psychedelic band would move backwards.
American psychedelic bands sang about demanding their voices to be heard, wanting to be treated like adults. English psychedelic bands sang about wanting to be children again.
An American psychedelic band was apt to write a song about the man who sold them drugs. An English psychedelic band was apt to write a song about the man who sold them groceries.
The American psychedelic bands had long, shaggy hair. The English psychedelic bands had long, neatly trimmed hair.
The American counterculture bought clothes from the thrift shop. The English counterculture bought from the boutique.
The American psychedelic bands countered pop music standards. The English psychedelic bands did this to a degree but usually kept one foot on commercially viable ground.
American psychedelic music's keyboard of choice was a Hammond or Vox organ. English psychedelic music's keyboard of choice was a Harpsichord.
American hippies drank Electric Kool Aid. English hippies drank Tea.
American hippies ate Hash brownies. English hippies ate English: Biscuits (normal ones).
America: Long, often boring, aimless and chaotic jamming, mostly weird guitar sounds (the guitarist is the icon of our country's psych movement), loosely centered around a main tune to start and end on...This is our musical depiction of space travel, and it is enhanced by the awesome light show going on above us as we play. We're The Grateful Dead.
England: Long, often boring, aimless and chaotic jamming, mostly weird guitar sounds (the guitarist is the icon of our country's psych movement), loosely centered around a main tune to start and end on...This is our musical depiction of space travel, and it is enhanced by the awesome light show going on above us as we play. We're Pink Floyd.
American psychedelic band train of thought: Let's take a trip to that inner world of our mind...and write a song about it.
English psychedelic band train of thought: Let's take a trip to the park...and write a song about it.
American psychedelic band train of thought: LBJ is a drag. English psychedelic band train of thought: Maybe Harold Wilson would like to join us?
American psychedelic band train of thought: Psychedelic music is a live performance experience. English: Psychedelic music is a studio thing.
American psychedelic band mentality: "On the bus" English psychedelic band finds song inspiration: On the morning train.
The American psychedelic bands wrote songs about the Little Men (the oppressed, the minority, the victims of establishment and anyone else who can't get their voice heard). The English psychedelic bands wrote songs about songs about the Little Men (trolls, gnomes, fairies, etc.)
The American psychedelic bands followed Indian mannerisms, as in Native-American. The English psychedelic bands followed Indian mannerisms, as in mannerisms from India.
All these differences and yet we still put it all in the same bottle. And still we haven't yet found an answer to the question of what is psychedelic music?
Perhaps George Harrison, or the person doing his voice in Yellow Submarine put it most accurately.
Tomorrow Never Knows not included? Why, I think it's one of the Beatles' best!
Besides Rain...
That's the problem with these polls. I have probably only chosen two in all of the polls that have been given as options. How can you not include 'Tomorrow Never Knows'? All subjective I guess.
Talk about a tough decision. Those are four of the greatest songs,of any kind,ever written. I went with I am the Walrus,but I love all four. I'd love to have that EP!
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