‘60s psychedelic music owed a great deal to Bob Dylan’s uninhibited and surrealistic lyrics as well as the Beatles’ sonic experimentation (after reportedly getting high while listening to the Fab Four’s songs on headphones, John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas realized where popular music needed to go). But Dylan and the Beatles were also artists in every sense of the word and could not help but soak in and get inspiration from the sights and sounds around them. The Byrds, whose influences included Dylan and the Beatles (not to mention jazz and folk), returned the favor by inspiring Dylan to see there was more fun (and more money) in rock music; and Byrds albums impressed an inspired the Beatles.
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| Bob Dylan |
Whether it was the U.K. or the U.S.A., psychedelic sounds were for a short time the hip sound of popular music- at least for a new generation of listeners who were looking at reality in radically new ways (and LSD was legal in the United States until 1968). As Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead is said to have exclaimed after taking LSD for the first time, “I knew they weren’t telling us everything!” Here are some of my favorite psychedelic songs, including some of the biggest names in ‘60s music (though I caution both artists and listeners: drugs do not create anything- they merely lower inhibitions). Enjoy!
01. The Beatles – “Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 4)” (1966)
02. Bob Dylan – “Desolation Row” (1965)
03. Bob Dylan – “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (1965)
04. The Association – “P.F. Sloan” (1971)
05. The Monkees – “The Good Earth” (1969)
06. The Mamas and the Papas – “My Heart Stood Still” (1966)
07. The Beatles – “If I Needed Someone” (1965)
08. The Byrds – “Chimes of Freedom” (1965)
09. The Mamas and the Papas – “Look Through My Window” (1967)
10. The Zombies – “She’s Not There” (1964)
11. Bob Dylan – “Tombstone Blues” (1965)
12. The Beatles – “Eleanor Rigby” (1966)
13. The Kinks – “You Really Got Me” (1964)
14. Bob Dylan – “All Along the Watchtower” (1967)
15. The Beatles – “In My Life” (1965)
Listen to the playlist on Spotify...
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