One of the best albums to get high to, The Beatles, a.k.a. the White Album, is a 93 minute trip – deceptively psychedelic in the acoustic flavors it wraps around itself. It also contains what is considered some of the first metal songs. But its ability to fuck with people’s heads is what makes the double album a legend.
The last time I saw my vinyl copy of The Beatle’s White Album, opened the gatefold cover and sure enough. The crease in the middle was stained green, from having cleaned god knows how many ounces weed on it. There was even a few microscopic flakes there.
I started getting Beatles albums when I was five, as they came out. But nobody would buy me the White Album, which is actually titled The Beatles. I didn’t get it till I was eleven or twelve. The good thing about The Beatles was they didn’t release songs from the albums as singles. So even though the album was a few years old, unless you had a hip radio station nearby, you hadn’t heard the songs.
We didn’t have a hip radio station.
It was mind boggling to a kid. Which is good, as that sent me out to read, so I could understand what I was listening to. It also meant I started following along with the Manson trials which were going on at the time.
The White Album fucked with Charlie’s head. He got visions from that which inspired him to send his minions out on murder sprees. That fucked with my pre-pubescent brain, and so the White Album always contained elements of terror to me.
It fucked with the Beatle’s heads while making it. That comes out in some of the more bizarre pieces … Wild Honey Pie, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Happiness is a Warm Gun, Piggies and even Rocky Raccoon is strange when you think about it. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road was inspired by McCartney watching two monkeys fuck while they were in India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
And then there’s Revolution Number Nine, which many people saw as a sound collage of Armageddon.
On the other hand, there are the songs that became a staple of popular music, Blackbird, Birthday, Revolution, Helter Skelter and the currently ironic, Back in the U.S.S.R.
It was a double album for a reason, as that’s still likely not half the music. There are some of their more elegantly beautiful pieces, like Lennon’s Dear Prudence, or Julia, balanced by Savoy Truffle, a song inspired by Eric Clapton’s deteriorating teeth while inhaling a box of chocolate.
Sgt. Pepper was released in the summer of 1967. It’s been described as possibly the best piece of recorded music ever. It not only had a massive effect on public culture – it ushered in the summer of love and the hippie counter culture, it trickled deeper into consciousness. Even square musicians recorded the songs, and elements inspired by the music made its way into the parent’s TV shows.
And it warped quite a few drug addled minds at the time, which surprisingly, made them turn towards love
The Beatles helped with that too, releasing All You Need Is Love in the first around the world satellite broadcast. Between the summer of 1967 and May 1968, they also made the film, Magical Mystery Tour, with half an album of new music for that, a few more songs for the Yellow Submarine film, went to India with the Maharishi and wrote twenty songs there, George released a psychedelic film score on the new label they created – Apple, and John met Yoko and followed suit with Two Virgins which showed them fully naked on the cover.
Between the summer of 1967 and May 1968, they also made the film, Magical Mystery Tour, with half an album of new music for that, a few more songs for the Yellow Submarine film, went to India with the Maharishi and wrote twenty songs there, George released a psychedelic film score on the new label they created – Apple, and John met Yoko and followed suit with Two Virgins which showed them fully naked on the cover.
What they should have done was take time off. Instead they went into the studio, friend from over exposure, not to mention increased drug use. It was still mainly pot and LSD at the time, but it didn’t turn out to be a happy few months. Most of the time they worked apart, splitting up into two or three. Or recording solo. They described it recording solo work using the Beatles as a backing band. Their producer walked out and went on holiday. Their long time engineer quit. Ringo quit for two weeks.
And in the middle they took a break and recorded Hey Jude and Revolution. McCartney scores with an instant classic, and Lennon starts down the road towards martyr.
George turned in his most amazing piece of music so far, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, announcing to the band and the world that he’d risen to level of songwriting that Lennon and McCartney had attained. That those two continued to reject his songs led to him leaving shortly after beginning the next project, the ill fated Let It Be.
Does the album fuck with your head? It’s their most individual album yet. The one that cemented their personalities for the last stage of the Beatles career. Lennon died from an assassin’s bullet. George Harrison survived an assassination attempt by a deranged fan, but suffered multiple stab wounds. Yeah, The White Album, perhaps more than any there of their work fucks with your head.
But just as those poor fuckers took the music down a darker road, most people find it to be an exhilarating trip. You laugh, you cry, you rock, you get mellow, you get trippier than fuck and it ends with a lullaby.
And the best thing, with digital versions you don’t have to get up and turn the record over. Important for the Indica lovers.
Weed recommendations for The Beatles, The White Album: As albums go, it’s a long one. There’s a variety of music on here, some of it can really leave you with couch lock. Which isn’t a bad thing, as the last two songs on the album are Revolution #9 which is as weird and abstract as the Beatles ever got, and Good Night, which is a lullaby. But you’ve got almost thirty songs to get through before you get there, so a bouncy weed like Azrael, with some healthy Sativa lines in it might be a good choice. And besides, side three is great for cleaning house.
Weed shirts hoodies, mugs and gifts inspired by dope songs of the seventies
