Tommorrow Never Knows

4.13.2007

No Plugs Today.
Seriously none.

You Are Listening Too . . .
Tomorrow Never Knows, by The Beatles off one of their masterpiece albums Revolver. What can we say about this song, beyond amazing, and one of their best of all time.

First you need to imagine the context. You have heard most of Revolver over the past couple of weeks. This songs is the very first song recorded off that album in April of 1966. That is right 1966. Listen to this song. How modern does it sound? Beck could be doing this song today, and it would not feel outdated. This song is a precursor to industrial, trance, techno, hip hop, and fusion. It was done again in 1966. No samplers, no computers, no synthesizers, no drum machines. This song is one of the reasons The Beatles stopped touring, how do you reproduce a song like this in 1966. For comparison, what was popular in music at the time?

The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel; Paint It Black - the Stones; These Boots Are Made for Walking - Nancy Sinatra; (You're My) Soul and Inspiration - Righteous Brothers; Monday Monday - The Mamas and Papas ; It's a Man's Man's Man's World - James Brown; Strangers In the Night - Frank Sinatra; Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys; You're Gonna Miss Me - The 13th Floor Elevators; etc.

Wow, some amazing music, but nothing like this song.

The song was mainly written by Lennon, and even though being the first recorded, it is the last track on Revolver (Imagine, your thoughts in 1966 as this song closed the album). Obviously a very experimental and expressive song, it is a very good lead in to their next album, Sgt. Pepper, as this song definitely explores psychedelica.

The inspiration for the song derives from the book The Psychedelic Experience, which in and of itself is based upon the The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Leary's book goes on about the "Ego Death" experienced during a LSD trip and it's correlation with Tibetan death rites. It is reputed the song is a soundtrack of sorts for the process of the psychedlic voyage. In addition, Lennon supposed based much of the song of his own reading of The Tibetan Book of the Dead while tripping.

This is one of the only Beatles songs where the title does not appear in the song. According the Lennon at the time, he was unconfortable with the spiritual nature of the song, and gave it a throw away title based upon a Ringo Starr malapropism. The original title it has been noted was The Void.

The recording of the track, the sounds you hear are a combination of highly compressed drums, reverse and backward guitar rifts, processed vocals, and looped tape effects. This is the first Beatles experiment with tape loops. Some of the more prominent loops include the "laughing seagull" (McCartney laughing, played backward, and sped up) and the sitar loops. There is also a very weird backward guitar solo. Even more amazing is the piece was mixed on a four track recorder. 16 tape machine were also used, the condensed to get all the noise for this song.

The song was a precursor to some more experimental Beatles stuff, including Revolution 9 and Carnival of Light. It also brought helpinfluenced some of their late classics including Day In The Life and the side two of Abbey Road.

Just amazing, and still fresh 40 years later, enjoy this one buckos. This is the song, that will really expand many people thoughts about The Beatles who are only familar with their more popular stuff.

How convenient.
So tell us MC Rove, 5 million missing emails? How does that happen? Nothing is virtual world is ever truly deleted unless someone has the knowledge to do that. Oh well at least no one there has had an affair, or gotten oral sex from an intern.

Google that monster.
So they buy Double Click for $3billion and change. I am telling you, I would part with this website for say $250,000 . . .

Let the Sue fest begin!
Anna Nicole just won't die. Well, not literally.

Spy Games.
In your local Chicago Elementary School.

It nice to see . .
that Hugo Chavez in Fidel Castro's publicist. That is why I love him so.

Even the Birds . .
Want Dick Cheney dead.

So Dubya . .
voted down the stem research bill becuase " . .resist temptation to manipulate life". OK, riddle me this, how many lives have been "manipulated" by Iraq?

So the Pope has a new book.
And in this book he criticizes the capitalist system, and the power of the rich over the power . . . uh, Ratzy, you ever look at the Catholic Church? You guys have more treasure than a pirate. Of course he would hate capitalism, being a nazi and all.

Hey China.
Yeah good luck with that.

Malach's Quote of the Day

I am Malach and I have just given you yet another reason to want to kill Carl Rove . . . . and for that matter, Colin Mochrie. MC Malach signing off, word to your mother