The Beatles First Psychedelic Rock or Pop Song?

Tomorrow Never Knows...one of my most favourite songs ever.

I'd go with 'Tomorrow Never Knows' - it's far more suggestive of psychedelia than any other track on Rubber Soul for me.

Anyone listening to "Norwegain Wood" take 2 knows the Beatles were heading in the direction of psychedelic rock anyway. The only problem I have is that songs like "Eight Miles High", "Shapes of Things" and "See My Friends" are really rock songs with eastern influences. "Tomorrow Never Knows" though it has eastern influences was intentionally meant to be psychedelic sounding. It could be the first trippy rock song. Yes it influenced Syd Barrett.

Edited by Floydman - November 24 2009 at 14:13

the true meaning of Psychedelic?  you could fill a whole thread with that one, it started as an Art form in painting and design but soon influenced music and fashion from 1965,   i remember many records in 1965 and 66 as being Psyche, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Small Faces, Hendrix, Moody Blues, Donovan, The Mindbenders, Pink Floyd, Traffic,  and hundreds of others,  it was sort of Mod music going slightly weird  due to exotic instruments and studio effects,  many were trying to emulate the effects of an LSD  trip on record but there were many bandwagon jumpers as there has always been . much of this music developed into Prog -  though it was all a mixture really,  the dividing lines are blurred  (possibly so is my memory, don't  take my summary as a historical document )...

Edited by mystic fred - November 21 2009 at 07:47

mystic fred wrote: Officially according to release dates the first real Psyche song by the Beatles was "Rain" as the B side of "Paperback Writer" in June 1966, followed by the album "Revolver" in August, containing the  Psyche classic "Tomorrow Never Knows".

sounds right.. I voted Nowhere Man for fun and George's workmanlike solo

This is my one psycodelic Beatle moment or song is on "A Day In The Life" after,"I'd love to turn you ooooooonnnn" then the orchestral build-up,(the second time).I was eight or nine and I stopped and yelled out, "What The F...........  a classic beatle "i gotcha moment'  and got me they did. we also melted army men

Rain, because it just has such a psychadelic feel to the whole thing. The backmasking helps too. Previous songs were pratice, maybe, but Rain is the first to deliver.

Norwegian Wood without a doubt - the first glimmerings of psychedelia in music since Alan Watts "This Is It", released in 1962 (or arguably, the Holy Modal Rounders a couple of years later).

I can't remember 'The Word'. I must haved heard it a least once, long ago.
'Nowhere Man' has nothing psychedelic.
'Norwegian Wood' is a fine example of proto-prog with its sitar passages, but it's not prychedelic either.

'Rubber Soul' is the Beatles' first move in a more progressive direction. The psych period of the Beatles starts in 1966. This leaves the choice between 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and 'Rain'. According to Wikipedia, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was recorded 8 days earlier than Rain, although it was released 8 weeks later (in the UK). So my vote goes to 'Tomorrow Never Knows'.

The Word mainly because of the lyrics. Closely followed by Yellow Submarine.