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 piping at the gates of dawn from 400 to 376...
400. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band- "Abba Zabba" (1967), in which it's probably best not to think too much about Captain Beefheart's apparent interpretation of traditional Native American music and just enjoy how damn freaky it is.
399. Os Mutantes- "Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour" (1968), in which Os Mutantes drop you into a dream you don't want to wake from.
398. Pink Floyd- "Cymbaline" (1969), in which Pink Floyd toss off a soundtrack to some movie no one has ever seen and record at least one bona-fide classic of acoustic psych in the process.
397. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "I Don't Live Today" (1967), in which Hendrix has some sort of existential crisis and expresses it by beating the shit out of his Stratocaster.
396. The Moody Blues- "Nights in White Satin" (1967), in which I realize I really have to stop thinking it's "Knights in White Satin".
395. Jefferson Airplane- "Lather" (1968), in which a tune Grace Slick intended as nothing more than a good-natured joke about how her boyfriend was turning thirty inspires a million nightmares.
394. The Rolling Stones- "Please Go Home" (1967), in which the Stones take a second-rate song that cobbles together the Bo Diddley beat and their own tired misogyny and make it something special by tossing in deranged waves of feedback, theremin whoops, and massive amounts of echo.
393. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- "Third Stone from the Sun" (1967), in which you'll never hear surf music again.
392. Sagittarius- "My World Fell Down" (1968), in which Bruce Johnston, the guy who dismissed SMiLE-loving Beach Boys fans as a minority of "one-percenters," commits every psychedelic crime he accused the infinitely more talented Brian Wilson of committing.
391. The Monkees- "Writing Wrongs" (1968), in which Mike Nesmith returns to the States after witnessing recording sessions for The Beatles' "A Day in the Life" and records his own nightmarish missive and Colgems' Lester Sill hilariously places it immediately after the twee "Daydream Believer" on the next Monkees album, traumatizing legions of twelve-year olds in the process.
390. The Beau Brummels- "Magic Hollow" (1967), in which San Fran folk-rock hitmakers The Beau Brummels fail to get a big hit but succeed in conjuring a world every bit as magical as its title suggests.
389. The United States of America- "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (1968), in which a giant never bends over to reveal all the damned souls living in the enormous crack in his butt, which probably inspires a false advertising suit.
388. The Cowsills- "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things" (1967), in which the white bread clan that inspired The Partridge Family make a no-shit enchanting psychedelic gem.
387. The United States of America- "Cloud Song" (1968), in which The United States of America set some lyrics in a Winnie the Pooh story to music and come up with an airy, acid-revery.
386. Os Mutantes- "O Relógio" (1968), in which Os Mutantes once again smuggle you off to dreamland...but make a brief stop at a clown circus in the middle of it.
385. Tyrannosaurus Rex- "Child Star" (1968), in which no one is going to mistake Tyrannosaurus Rex's trippy folk for anything T. Rex would ever do.
384. Jefferson Airplane- "Today" (1967), in which Marty Balin and Paul Kantner write a sex song that sounds like a funeral song, leading one to the conclusion that it might be best not to get in bed with those guys.
383. The Monkees- "Through the Looking Glass" (1969), in which Boyce and Hart leap onto the Lewis Carroll bandwagon and The Monkees end up with one of their final psych classics.
382. Shocking Blue- "Love Buzz" (1969), in which the group that did "Venus" help Nirvana make their first record.
381. Tyrannosaurus Rex- "King of the Rumbling Spires" (1969), in which Marc Bolan plugs in and bridges the gap between Tyrannosaurus Rex and T. Rex.
380. Jefferson Airplane- "Blues from an Airplane" (1966), in which Jefferson Airplane pull their very first musical prank by labeling a rumbling slab of gut-bucket psych a blues song.
379. The Pretty Things- "Defecting Grey" (1968), in which The Pretty Things create the ultimate piece of rock verisimilitude by singing a song about going crazy while clearly actually going crazy.
378. Sands- "Listen to the Sky" (1967), in which an obscure British combo make psych history by slamming out a killer riff, piling on the sound effects, and interpreting a classical classic by not-at-all obscure British composer Gustav Holst.
377. Traffic- "No Face, No Name, No Number" (1967), in which Traffic manage to create a romantic and moving piece of psych while also invoking the disturbing image of a woman who doesn't have a face.
376. Simon & Garfunkel- "Save the Life of My Child" (1967), in which Simon & Garfunkel manage to create a genuinely funny and moving piece of psych while also invoking the transcendent image of a boy who could fly.
Trip on to #375-351... (COMING SOON)
