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 freaking out from 475 to 451...
475. The Association- "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies" (1966), in which you refuse to listen to today's song because The Association is the band that did the wretchedly sappy "Cherish" and because it's called "Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies", and I shout, "You're the one who's missing out!" just as you turn the corner and disappear from view forever.
474. Vanilla Fudge- "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (1967), in which the polished restraint and impeccable taste of Motown gives way to an utterly uncompromising stand against both.
473. Blossom Toes- "Look at Me, I'm You" (1967), in which Blossom Toes lure in the weekend-warrior flower-children and bludgeon them to death with cacophony and a rather disturbing declaration.
472. The Standells- "Why Pick On Me" (1966), in which The Standells deliver a pretty solid raga rock-ish vibe without ever even having to learn the sitar.
471. Family- "The Breeze" (1968), in which Roger Chapman finally reveals why he is able to do that fluttery thing with his voice.
470. The Playboys- "Sad" (1967), in which a band called The Playboys back up an Australian guy named Normie Rowe who didn't have to rely on Jerry Lewis being his dad to get a record deal.
469. Donovan- "Breezes of Patchoulie" (1966), in which Donovan gives one of his songs the hippiest title imaginable but the song is so ethereally lovely that you won't even puke when you find out what it's called.
468. The Beach Boys- "Vega-Tables" (1967), in which Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks prove that they're so awesome that they can write a song about goddamn vegetables and it's still awesome!
467. Syd Barrett, "Golden Hair" (1970), in which Syd Barrett sets a romantic James Joyce poem to music, but instead of making it romantic, he makes it eerie as fuck.
466. Sagittarius- "Song to a Magic Frog" (1968), in which Bruce Johnston and Terry Melcher create a song with a title so twee it should put you in a coma, but the song is so sincerely lovely it doesn't.
465. The Left Banke- "Men Are Building Sand" (1967), in which production whiz Michael Brown supposedly considers sneaking a heartbreaking environmental statement into record stores by pretending it was recorded by his former band, The Left Banke, but doesn't.
464. The End- "Dreamworld" (1969), in which Bill Wyman takes a break from recording psychedelia with the Stones to produce psychedelia for his protégés The End, and ends up making a damn good album.
463. The Elastik Band- "Spazz" (1967), in which a quintet of San Fran no-hit-wonders forever make their mark on Team Nuggets with a rather offensive, widely banned, undeniably ingratiating word-of-warning for some guy who's ingested so much acid he just can't get his limbs under control.
462. The Beatles- "Yellow Submarine" (1966), in which The Beatles finally enter the game with a beloved children's sing-along named after Nembutal capsules.
461. Procol Harum- "Repent Walpurgis" (1967), in which Procol Harum create a psych/prog/Goth instrumental classic by unabashedly ripping off Bach.
460. Small Faces- "Happiness Stan" (1968), in which Small Faces introduce the daffiest character in the daffiest conceptual rock opus of the psychedelic era.
459. Donovan- "Peregrine" (1968), in which Donovan rhapsodizes over seeing a bird.
458. Love- "The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This" (1967), in which Arthur Lee crafts a title that's just about as long as his song's lyrics.
457. Donovan- "Superlungs" (1966), in which Donovan somehow cuts a cooler version of a song he'd later rerecord with the freaking Jeff Beck Group...and no, it has nothing to do with the pot-smoking girl being underage in this version. That's just weird.
456. Pink Floyd- "Jugband Blues" (1968), in which Syd Barrett bids farewell to Pink Floyd so that they can carry on without him in much less interesting fashion.
455. The Beach Boys- "I Went to Sleep" (1969), in which Brian Wilson suggests that a daytime nap is the stuff that psychedelic bliss is made of and not just something that toddlers do.
454. Brigitte Bardot- "Harley Davidson" (1968), in which Serge Gainsbourg supplies his paramour with a peppy, Rickenbacker bass driven ditty with a soupçon of sitar.
453. Crosby, Stills, & Nash- "Guinevere" (1969), in which David Crosby makes it quite clear that even though he's not in a proper psychedelic band anymore and it's no longer 1967, he still quite enjoys getting real far-out man, thank you very much.
452. Les Fleur De Lys- "Gong with the Luminous Nose" (1968), in which a band that changed names more frequently than Bowie changed hairdos shows what can be done with just a bit of Edward Lear and a bit of Hendrix.
451. The Rascals- "Sattva" (1968), in which The Rascals seamlessly blend blue-eyed raga and blue-eyed soul.
Trip on to #450-426... (COMING SOON)
