“Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966) – the Beatles * Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney * Produced by George Martin * LP: Revolver * Label: Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US)
The US version of Revolver may rank as one of the more grievous hatchet jobs by Capitol Records. In this case, the label altered the original UK version by pruning three notable John Lennon songs altogether (“I’m Only Sleeping,” “Doctor Robert,” and “And Your Bird Can Sing”). But this action gave the two remaining Lennon branches a certain increase in gravitas, especially with both of them (“She Said She Said” and “Tomorrow Never Knows”) ending each side of the album, as if they were the only two slots that Lennon the new philosopher needed for his keynote words of wisdom. So extraordinary a production is “Tomorrow Never Knows” that all future attempts by anyone to do a cover version are rendered inadvisable and preemptively disappointing. Lennon reportedly found inspiration for the lyrics, including the opening line of “turn off your mind, relax and float downstream” from a book co-authored by Timothy Leary called The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Since then the conception of “turning off” the mind has traveled in status from being a radical “drop out” gesture, to one of regrettable escapism, to one of Buddha-endorsed mindfulness and a reliable 21st-century coping mechanism.
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