MUSC-21600: The Art of Rock Music Prof. Freeze
Tomorrow Never Knows (1966) The Beatles
LISTEN FOR • Non-western influences (Indian sitar, tanpura; lyrics) • Advanced recording techniques (tape loops, Leslie speaker) • Evocation of (psychedelically induced) meditation o Lyrics from Timothy Leary’s The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (1964)
CREATION Songwriters John Lennon, Paul McCartney (lyrics, music) Album Revolver Label, Record Parlophone PMC-7009 (UK); Capital T-2576 (U.S.) Musicians John Lennon (vocal, organ, tape-loops), Paul McCartney (bass, tape-loops), George Harrison (guitars, sitars, tanpura, tape-loops); Ringo Starr (drums, tambourine, tape-loops); George Martin (piano) Producer George Martin Engineer Geoff Emerick Recording Abbey Road 2 and 3 (London); April 1966; mono/stereo Charts Album 1
MUSIC Genre Psychedelic rock, experimental rock Form Simple verse Key C major Meter 4/4
MUSC-21600 Listening Guide Freeze “Tomorrow Never Knows” (The Beatles, 1966)
LISTENING GUIDE Time Form Lyric Cue Listen For 0:00 Intro (4) • Opens with sitar, then other instruments and tape loops enter. • Persistent but catchy drumbeat, drone bass in tanpura. 0:12 Verse 1 (8) “Turn off your mind” • Vocal double-tracked. • Tape loops slip in and out. 0:26 Verse 2 (8) “Lay down all thoughts” • As before. 0:42 Verse 3 (8) “That you may see” • As before. 0:56 Inst. verse (8) • Tape loops and then backward guitar prominently featured. 1:12 Inst. verse (8) • Continues loops and backward guitar. 1:27 Verse 4 (8) “That love is all” • Vocal played through Leslie speaker. 1:42 Verse 5 (8) “That ignorance and • As before. hate” 1:57 Verse 6 (8) “But listen for the color” • As before. 2:13 Verse 7 (8+12) “Or play the game” • Fades out with piano.
LYRICS Turn off your mind That ignorance and hate Relax and float down stream May mourn the dead It is not dying It is believing It is not dying It is believing
Lay down all thought But listen to the Surrender to the void Color of your dreams It is shining It is not living It is shining It is not living
That you may see Or play the game The meaning of within Existence to the end It is being Of the beginning It is being Of the beginning
That love is all Of the beginning And love is everyone It is knowing It is knowing
2 MUSC-21600 Listening Guide Freeze “Tomorrow Never Knows” (The Beatles, 1966)
SOURCES • John Covach and Andrew Flory, What’s That Sound? (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012), 172–74. • Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties, 2d ed. (London: Pimlico, 2005), 77. • http://www.songtexte.com/songtext/the-beatles/tomorrow-never-knows-63d292ef.html.
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