Northern Psychedelia

If you’re listening to this song
You may think the chords are going wrong
But they’re not— We just wrote them like that

If you’re listening late at night
You may think the band are not quite right
But they are— They just play it like that

And it doesn’t really matter what chords I play
What words I say or time of day it is
As it’s only a Northern song . . .

It doesn’t really matter what clothes I wear
What words I pair or if my hair is brown
‘Cause it’s only a Northern song . . .

If you think the harmony
Is a little dull and out of key
You’re correct— there’s nobody there

And it’s only there’s no one there . . .

All Too Much

Mar16

All-time favorite psychedelic song:
a swirling synaptic overload set to music.

I always wondered about the strange syllables before the transcendent feedback at the start of this song. I now know that John L. was saying “to your mother” but before learning that, I always heard it as some sort of primordial mantra of creation—
like saying “Let there be light”, as if he were speaking a very powerful syllabic combination in a state of meditation:

**TU – YO – MOH !** ♫♪♫♪

and then the worlds and the cosmos are brought forth into being.
Those first bursts of melody from the organ undo my soul completely.

That’s what beautiful psychedelia does to me.
This song is so full of celestial synesthesia; it has often reduced me to tears. Part of it is because I had the album as a child and I loved the music in an innocent way for years before I ever knew or cared about altered states of consciousness. The Beatles generally affect me in that way. I was very sad when George passed away…
If you like this song as much as I do you may enjoy the image I found by Mati Klarwein to accompany it (although no mere image will ever do justice to the empyrean vibrations of this universal anthem). Lyrics are HERE