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 happening in the end, my only friend, the end, from 25 to 1...
24. Tomorrow- "Real Life Permanent Dream" (1968), in which Steve Howe rolls up his sleeves to try out that sitar that someone gave him and every other rock musician who'd attempted to play the instrument is instantaneously mortified.
23. The Monkees- "Auntie's Municipal Court" (1968), in which Mike Nesmith suggests that bureaucrats need to recognize how plastic fantastic they are and get groovy instead.
22. The Byrds- "Eight Miles High" (1966), in which the psychedelic era officially begins.
21. Donovan- "Epistle to Dippy" (1966), in which even I'm surprised by how much Donovan is on this list...but damn, this is a great track.
20. The Rolling Stones- "Child of the Moon" (1968), in which The Rolling Stones make a B-Side as good as the A-side and the A-side is "Jumpin' Jack Flash", which means the B-side is unbelievably amazing.
19. The Beatles- "Lovely Rita" (1967), in which you contemplate stabbing me in the eye with a fork because I placed this musical ray of sunshine above "A Day in the Life".
18. The Beach Boys- "Cabin-Essence" (1966), in which you just can't help but want to punch Mike Love in the face for questioning the artistry of Van Dyke Parks.
17. David Bowie- "Space Oddity" (1969), in which Bowie's career properly begins and an astronaut makes decisions without properly thinking them through first.
16. The Creation- "Making Time" (1966), in which I've decided that the bizarro bowed guitar solo makes this power pop monster sufficiently psychedelic to be included on Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500!
15. The Monkees- "Love Is Only Sleeping" (1967), in which half The Monkees really play their instruments, and in 7/4 time, so critics can just shut up about all that Pre-Fab Four shit already.
14. The Beach Boys- "Heroes and Villains" (1967), in which I'm going with the less elaborate and well recorded but punchier Smiley Smile version. Sue me.
13. The Beatles- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (1967), in which Spiro Agnew severely overreacts to a song about a child's drawing.
12. The Kinks- "Big Sky" (1968), in which God couldn't give less of a shit about you, me, and everyone else.
11. The Who- "A Quick One, While He's Away" (1966), in which The Who create the first rock opera by stitching together bits trippy, creepy, power poppy, noisy, and clowny.
10. The Beatles- "Eleanor Rigby" (1966), in which a debate about the distinction between psychedelic rock and chamber pop ignites and I fall asleep from boredom.
9. The Rolling Stones- "Citadel" (1967), in which The Rolling Stones absolutely tickle Candy Darling by mentioning her in one of their songs!
8. Procol Harum- "A Salty Dog" (1969), in which Procol Harum create a spaced-out ocean disaster that will move you to tears.
7. The Rolling Stones- "Paint It Black" (1966), in which Mick Jagger longs to redecorate some doors.
6. The Monkees- "Porpoise Song" (1968), in which The Monkees show you what psychedelia is all about, so seriously, stop with the Pre-Fab shit!!
5. The Kinks- "Autumn Almanac" (1967), in which The Kink's autumnal brand of jaunty granny music goes psych on the sly with its Mellotron and backwards tape loops.
4. The Who- "Tattoo" (1967), in which Pete Townshend packs more humor, drama, insight, and musical brilliance into a three-minute pop song than he packs into all seventy minutes of Tommy even though he ends the song by having Roger go "rooty toot too," which must have been a bit humiliating for Rog.
3. The Rolling Stones- "2000 Light Years From Home" (1967), in which a little jail time yields the greatest space-rock song of all time.
2. The Beach Boys- "Surf's Up" (1971), in which Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks craft a musical masterpiece so spectacular that Leonard-fucking-Bernstein called it "complex" and "poetic", but Mike Love bullies it onto the shelf for a several years because he can't grasp anything more complex or poetic than shit like "she's real fine my 409."
1. The Beatles- "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1967), in which we finish off Psychobabble's Psychedelic 500 (!) with the greatest song and recording of all time... and nothing is real.
