The Beatles played so many different styles of music during their career that they were often remembered and thought about by different groups of people. Some people think of early Beatles songs like “I Love You”, “I Want Your Hand”, and “They Can’t Buy Me Love”. Others think of mega songs like “Hey Jude” and “Be” or songs like “Yesterday” and “Here, There and Everywhere.” Others may also think of rockers such as “Retreat” and “Revolution”.
And while all these kinds of Beatles songs I really love. ‘t mention) the songs that really interest me are the Beatles psychedelic songs and that is what this article is about.
The Beatles’ 10 Greatest Psychedelic Songs
Many people have different definitions of psychedelic. Some think it is a race. I don’t do it. Psychedelic music to me is any music that, simply put, “twitches me”. And with this loose and simple definition I proceed with what I believe to be the 10 greatest psychedelic songs of Even the Weekend. This list is in no particular order. Choosing only 10 is hard enough without ordering.
1. Tomorrow Never Knows – Revolver’s last track in 1966 was something otherworldly. The Beatles were heavily influenced by LSD and also by oriental philosophy at this time and it shows in their music. Tomorrow Never Knows sound is mostly comprised of tape loops, very steady drums, and laid back guitar. The whole song is in one chord and John Lennon’s voice is distorted and unusual. The lyrics are taken from the Tibetan Book of the Dead: “Turn your mind away, relax, let the stream flow. There is no dying. There is no dying,” the song begins. It’s still amazing to me to this day that the Beatles went from “I Love You” to this two years ago.
2.I’m Sleeping Alone – This song has a very dreamy atmosphere with a guitar solo and outro. “When I am in the middle of a dream, in bed in the morning, flow up the stream.” A very beautiful song with beautiful harmonies.
3.A Day In The Life – In my opinion, perhaps one of the greatest song of all time. Beautifully deceptively simple (many nuances of thought) lines lead to the wonderful dreaminess of “I’d love to turn you… into” and the ensuing madness. The amount of people this really turns into is beyond anyone’s ability to count.
4. In You Without You – The Beatles perfectly realized and also their last foray into Indian music. The Beatles themselves don’t play on this track. The music was written by real Indian musicians to be played. The result is music that truly feels like it’s from another world. The song’s lyrics are also quite psychedelic, but my favorite part of the song is actually the instrumental interlude. Always smile and always before.
5. What The Real Mary Jane – Never released until the Anthology series, What The Real Mary Jane is an absolutely insane song. Not much of this “song” in the classical sense of the word, but I find it a very pleasant sound experience. This poem can be found in Anthology II.
6.Rain – One of the many great Beatles songs never appear on the Beats album. Rains are found in volume 2 of the Master’s CD. It was a B-side to Paperback Writer. Rain is one of the first pop songs to use backing vocals and has the best beats of any Beatles song. The bass line is also very heavy. Just an awesome song.
7.Strawberry Fields Forever – The legend of this song is long and deservedly so. I assume everyone has heard this song before, and if you haven’t you’d better get to it soon. If you haven’t heard it in a while, I suggest you put on some songs and really listen to everything that’s going on in this track. It is incredible.
8.1 The Walrus – Perhaps the best example of the sheer insane genius of the Beatles at the top of their game. I could listen to this song a thousand times and still hear something new in it every time. “Pretty Little Liars Cops In Row.” My favorite part may be when everything is phased during the day “Sitting in an English garden…
9. Too Much – This song is one of the neglected gems in the Beatles catalog and that’s partly why I’m including it now. I always thought this song was absolutely interstellar. By the way, everything seems to sound like it was shot out of a floating box, but with these giant hands. It is very difficult to describe using these words what we call and therefore sometimes we must sound. One of the most boring songs in Beatle history. It can be found on the Yellow Submarine album or the much superior Yellow Submarine Songtrack that came out many years later.
10.Revolution #9 – I had to include this track. Of course many people hate it. And you will have a very difficult time singing, but I find it very interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t listen to an album as often as I put it on but when I’m in the mood to listen to it I find it can really take me to another place.
I expect many to disagree with my list and of course I left out many worthy songs, such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “Magical Mystery Tour”, “Dear Prudence”, “The Blue Road”, and “The Runaway”; The Beatles wrote so many amazing songs that is to be expected when making an album that is only 10 songs long!
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