Welcome back to Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500, in which I count my personal fave psych songs from 500 all the way down to #1! Today, let's see what's mellowing out from 375 to 351...
375. The Doors- "People Are Strange" (1967), in which Jim Morrison sings a jaunty little number about how you shouldn't be a weirdo, apparently without ever passing a mirror in the process.
374. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "Hey Joe" (1966), in which Hendrix interprets a twisted ballad about a guy who shoots his girlfriend as a mesmerizing psychedelic trance.
373. The James Gang- "Ashes, the Rain, and I" (1970), in which Joe Walsh's band takes a break from their expertly rendered American versions of Jeff Beck and Who records to make an eerie, string streaked folk-psych haunter.
372. Nico- "Frozen Warnings" (1968), in which Nico drops you on an ice-floe to nowhere and her expression doesn't change one iota even though she basically just murdered you.
371. Neo Maya- "I Won't Hurt You" (1968), in which a genuinely sick and creepy human being sings a genuinely lovely song with genuinely creepy lyrics...and no, it's not "PYT".
370. The Byrds- "It Happens Each Day" (1967), in which The Byrds create a mini-masterpiece of hypnotic harmonies and can't even be bothered to give it a proper release.
369. Tommy James and the Shondells- "Crystal Blue Persuasion" (1968), in which Tommy James is definitely, definitely, definitely not singing a love song to his beloved crystal meth. No sir.
368. Simon & Garfunkel- "Scarborough Fair/Canticle" (1966), in which Simon & Garfunkel take an old English folk ballad and load on the twinkly bells and baroque harpsichords more associated with psych in 1966 than Oliver Cromwell or whatever.
367. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "Love or Confusion" (1967), in which Hendrix stirs up a maelstrom of guitars that makes the outcome all too clear: Love: 0 / Confusion: 1.
366. Tomorrow- "Now Your Time Has Come" (1968), in which a band of peace and love hippies kill off their girlfriend because the magic has gone and end up on death row when saying "I think we should see other people" would have been the preferable solution.
365. Blossom Toes- "When the Alarm Clock Rings" (1967), in which the alarm clock rings and it's time to wake up, but you're still sleeping it off, maaaaan.
364. The United States of America- "I Won't Leave My Wooden Wife for You, Sugar" (1968), in which The United States of America choose to stay with their wife instead of their S&M fuck buddy, which is definitely something the actual United States of America wouldn't do.
363. King Crimson- "Moonchild" (1969), in which we totally ignore the ten minutes of interminable noodling to just enjoy the entrancing first two minutes.
362. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice" (1967), in which we enjoy both the song-ish first 45 seconds and the three-and-a-half minutes of intergalactic-party noodling that follow it.
361. Nico- "No One Is There" (1968), in which nothing more than Nico's voice and John Cale's viola is necessary to define the apex of beautiful/terrifying.
360. Cream- "Those Were the Days" (1968), in which Cream longs for the days when people lived in Atlantis, which might not be 100% historically accurate.
359. Jefferson Airplane- "Wild Tyme (H)" (1967), in which Jefferson Airplane reuse the title of an olde English ballad but put the "h" in "Wild Thyme" in parentheses because that is Jefferson Airplane's idea of a joke.
358. The Mothers of Invention- "Mother People" (1968), in which all it takes is for it to appear on The Monkees to get me to like a Frank Zappa song.
357. Donovan- "Teas" (1968), in which Donovan does his favorite thing: makes a pun on the word "tease."
356. The Kinks- "Sitting by the Riverside" (1968), in which Ray Davies enjoys a pleasant afternoon by the riverside, and things get really weird whenever he closes his eyes.
355. Blossom Toes- "Mister Watchmaker" (1967), in which Blossom Toes place some very unreasonable demands on a watchmaker.
354. The United States of America- "The American Metaphysical Circus" (1968), in which The United States of America aim a psychedelic ray gun at your face and melt your skin and skull and brains and eyeballs.
353. Les Fleur De Lys- "I Can See a Light" (1967), in which Les Fleur De Lys have a spiritual epiphany triggered by incandescent bulbs.
352. Buffalo Springfield- "Mr. Soul" (1967), in which Neil Young steals the "Satisfaction" riff and no one seems to care.
351. The Who- "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1968), in which John Entwistle writes a fun, jokey, Halloweeny song about his best friend's alcoholism.
Trip on to #400-376... (COMING SOON)
