Badajoz 1

Begoña Badajoz Muñoz

Professor Navarrete

Otras Manifestaciones Culturales Anglo-Norteamericanas

4 June 2014

The Impact of Drugs on Beatles’ Songs Creation: Myth or Truth?

“I’d love to turn you on” is one of the most illustrative sentences which points out

the real presence of drugs in Beatles’ songs. It belongs to the song “A Day in the Life”

from the album Sgt. Pepper’s, in 1967. In fact, it is the only one in which Paul McCartney

recognises having taken LSD (Benson 157). Do many of Beatles’ songs hide a message

related to drugs? Are these songs excellent and innovative in the history of pop music

thanks to the ingestion of drugs? These questions can be answered in both positive and

negative ways. On the basis that the four members of the group recognised the fact of

taking drugs in several moments of their musical careers, our main objective will be to

enlighten the strong belief that Beatles’ songs are influenced by the use of drugs. I will try

to show this by taking a “tour” through several songs in which these ideas become stronger

from my point of view. I will also try to emphasize this, supporting my ideas with links to

some Beatles’ songs, and mainly through their lyrics.

Before focusing on our main analysis I would like to start with Professor Robbins,

who teaches Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge:

The fact that drugs can produce mind-altering effects through chemical activity

has been known for centuries...But we now understand a great deal about how

pharmacological classes of drugs exert their influence on the brain, for good

and bad (...) (“What do drugs do to the Brain?”)

That statement “for good and bad” reinforces the idea I have proposed: Did drugs

make Beatles’ songs so important in the history of music? In fact, George Martin, Beatles’
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manager, raised the following doubt: He affirmed that the album Sergeant Pepper’s

wouldn’t have been created with the same quality if the Beatles hadn’t taken drugs, above

all, hallucinogenic drugs (Benson 154). We should also take into account Paul

McCartney’s words in an interview made in the Daily Mirror newspaper where he explains

the absolute influence of drugs in Beatles’ songs, and at the same time, he also talks about

the overestimation of critics when talking about this influence (“Day Tripper by The

Beatles”).

When talking about The Beatles we have to take into account a whole decade, the

Sixties, and the entire social and Cultural Revolution that are implicit. They were

immersed in the called Counter Culture, a reaction against conservative social norms,

which influences literature, art, cinema and, of course, music. (Moniz 2). The trying of

drugs caused many problems to them, but they always had to admit that their careers had

been linked with drugs. They tried Benzedrine, cocaine, cannabis, heroine, magic

mushrooms and the famous LSD, although, as we have said, they won’t totally recognised

that those drugs, in a way, made their music innovative and unforgettable. As McCartney

said: “I now realise that taking drugs was like taking an aspirin without having a headache”

(Miles 32). “I don’t recommend it. It can open a few doors but it’s not any answer. You get

the answer yourself” (Miles 115). We mustn’t also overlook Lennon words: “(...) I was on

pills, that’s drugs (...) Started on pills when I was 15...since I became a musician...I’ve

always needed a drug to survive” (Miles 115).

From 1965 onwards, Beatles’ music begins to change into a more introspective and

soft manner, much richer not only in the musical aspect but also in their lyrics. A year

before, Bob Dylan had introduced them into the cannabis. They admitted that they spent

most of their time smoking marijuana and cannabis (Richards)

Those drugs probably find their way in songs like “Ticket to ride”, and “Yes, it is”,

both of 1965. The rhythm remarks a very significant letharging effect of the music, but it is

in 1966, with the album Revolver, when this highlights more significance thanks to the

creation of songs like “I’m only sleeping”, the song that suggests more clearly the

letharging effects of drugs. We have to notice the use of “m” which Lennon exaggerates to

create this effect: “I’m still yawning / when I’m in the middle of the dream”. Also, the use

of only one musical note in the beginning of each stanza, and what is more interesting,

notice the use of the electric guitar imitating the sound of a mosquito or even a tsetse fly,

maybe used to symbolise the idea of being sleepy 1. From The White Album we stress “I’m

so tired”, from 1968, which also reinforces this idea of drowsiness: “I’m so tired; I haven’t

slept a wink (...) / I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink...” It’s important to

remark Lennon’s interpretation whispering all the time. “Dear Prudence”, from the same

album, is another song which can be placed in the group of “letharging” songs, and again

with the same musical motif by singing one single note in a repetitive way. Also the guitar

and the bass are drawing the same musical notes during all the song.

In the middle of the Sixties, Beatles have changed absolutely their conception of

music and its relation with life itself. As we are told in the Blog “+Rock en todas partes”,

The Beatles begin to be keen on existentialism and its different manifestations, worried

about the fugacity of life, death, loneliness and general pessimism. Their interests in other

cultural manifestations guided them to deepen in their talent, and how drugs, as an

important part of social changes at that time, played their role.

Songs such as “For no one”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Nowhere man”, “I’m a loser”, among

others, talk about loneliness and the loss of the sense of life. “Love you to”, from 1965,

talks about fugacity of life: “Love me while you can / before I’m a dead man / a lifetime is

so short”. We can also talk about “Happiness is a warm gun”, whose lyrics illustrate very
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well the use of drugs: “I need a fix cause I’m going down / Down to the bits that I left up

town / I need a fix cause I’m going down...”.

In “Doctor Robert”, from 1966, we have clear allusions to what drugs are able to do,

making people feel fine: “He helps you to understand.../ If you’re down he’ll pick you up,

Doctor Robert / He’s a man you must believe.../ No one can succeed like Doctor Robert /

well, well, well, you’re feeling fine...” Even I would venture to say that maybe there is a

subliminal message related to the desire of legalisation of drugs.

Another song from the Album Revolver is “Got to get you into my life”. As Martin

Booth publishes in his book Cannabis: A History, McCartney talks about his use of

marijuana: “I kind of liked marijuana and to me it seemed it was mind-expanding (...).”Got

to get you into my life” is really a song about that. It’s not about a person, it’s actually

about pot” (Booth 306). “Everybody got something to hide except for me and my monkey”

from 1968, may also allude to drugs: “The deeper you go / the higher you fly”.

To finish with this part regarding drugs in general we have a song apparently naive

but with a very clear allusion to drugs, from my point of view, which is “With a little help

from my friends”, from Sergeant Peppers Album, in 1967, and it says, “Does it worry you

to be alone / how do I feel by the end of the day / are you sad because you’re on your own /

No I get by with a little help from my friends”. Another song from this album, “Fixing a

Hole”, makes clear allusions to the use of marijuana again although it was prohibited

because it was believed at that time that it made allusion to the injection of heroin, as we

can read in Beatles Bible. In fact, Paul McCartney says that the song “was another ode to

the pot...It was the idea of me on my own now, able to do what I want. If I want I’ll paint

the room in a colourful way...I like the double meaning (...)” (Beatles Bible “Fixing a

Hole”). From my point of view, besides this assumption, there are clear allusions to the

psychedelic world in which Beatles were immersed. As the song goes: “I’m painting my
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room in a colourful way / and when my mind is wandering there I will go.../ If I’m wrong

I’m right where I belong”, although McCartney only admits the use of marijuana, I see

clear “winks” to the use of psychedelic drugs, which precisely were being used in the

creation of the album Sergeant Pepper’s.

Moving toward their knowledge on drugs, we reach to the point of hallucinogenic

drugs. John Lennon and George Harrison were the first who initiated in LSD and maybe

there’s a wink in “Day Tripper”: “It took me so long to find out, but I found out”.

According to the definition that we can find in the Psychedelic Blogs, “Psychedelic”

comes from two Greek words: “Psyche”, which means “Mind” and “Delos”, which means

“to manifest”. As we read in the article, “It was coined by Humphrey Osmond in 1957 in a

letter he wrote to Aldous Huxley suggesting an alternative descriptor for hallucinogenic

drugs in the context of psychedelic psychotherapy” (Psychedelic Blogs).

Before moving on the songs with psychedelic elements, I would like to focus on a

brief explanation of Hallucinogenic drugs found in the article “The Effects of

Hallucinogenic Drugs on the Brain”, by Alicia Ebbitt. According to her, the influence of

hallucinogenic drugs is so strong on the brain, that perception of reality is totally altered:

They all have in common side effects, including distortion of sensory

perception, and other psychic and somatic effects, amplification of sense and

alterations of thinking and self-awareness. Possible bad reactions, referred to as

a “bad trip”, and may cause panic (Ebbitt).

Following her explanation, scientific studies have shown that the increase of

serotonin in the human brain is a reality, but “they inhibit the rapid firing of neurons

containing serotonin, which at the end, becomes a negative feedback system” (Ebbitt). In

their researching of an answer to the question “How can a person under the influence of

hallucinogenic drugs see things that aren’t there”(Ebbitt), scientists come across with the
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idea that apart from serotonin “other neurotransmitters maybe involved in these activities

as well”(Ebbitt).

Going on our study, there are two important songs in the Album Revolver related to

LSD: “She said, she said” and “Tomorrow never knows”. From the first one, John Lennon

said: “I like this one. I wrote it about an acid trip I was on in L.A. It was only the second

trip we’d had. We took it because we’d started hearing things about it and we wanted to

know what it was all about” (Miles 85). The song says: “She said: I know what it is to be

dead.../ and she’s making me feel like I’ve never been born / when I was a boy everything

was right”, referring to the loss of innocence. It is very interesting to underline the song

“Tomorrow never knows”. The lyrics reflect with great evidence the fact of taking LSD:

“Turn off your mind relax and float down-stream / it is not dying, it is not dying.../

surrender to the void / it is shining”, in which the “void”, apparently with negative

connotations, is related to happiness, “shining”. In the “nothing” you find “everything”.

Apart from the lyrics, the music is totally descriptive of a LSD trip: the repetitions of

sentences with the same music, the insistent rhythm, the experiment with innovative

techniques, and George Harrison playing the guitar the other way around2.

The Album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is considered one of the

most influential albums in the history of rock music. In The Rolling Stone Digital

Magazine, it is said that “is the most important rock and roll album ever made, un

unsurpassed adventure in concept, covert art and studio technology by the greatest rock

and roll group of all time” (“The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”) .

Innovative, this Album shows the Beatles searching for something else that prevent them

from a boring present. Hallucinogenic drugs are going to be present in most of its songs

and the psychedelic will become stronger, in the use of imagery of the album, in the
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treatment of sounds with innovative techniques, in their “colourful” lyrics, and all of this to

invite people to a universe of magic and transcendence (Rollin Stone Digital Magazine).

Fig.1. the Album Cover Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

It is essential to stress the song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. John Lennon

always denied its relation to the supposed acronym of LSD: “Lucy in the Sky with

Diamonds” which I swear to God, or swear to Mao...I had no idea spelled L.S.D” (Miles

98). According to The Beatles Bible, the title was a sentence of Lennon’s son when talking

about a friend’s picture (The Beatles Bible “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”). In my

opinion, what is more important in this song is not the real fact of having taken LSD to

create it, but the song itself, whose lyrics and music submerge us into an psychedelic world

surrounded by a fantastic imagery and in a way, tries to reconstruct an acid trip. John

Lennon affirmed that his inspiration comes from Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll:

“The images were from Alice in Wonderland. It was Alice in the boat; she is buying an egg

(...)” (Beatles Bible). The lyrics are essentially descriptive of a dream world: “Picture

yourself in a boat on a river / with tangerine trees and marmalade skies (...) / somebody

calls you (...) / the girl with kaleidoscope eyes (...)” But we mustn’t leave behind the

music, which makes stronger that image of a fantastic world. In each stanza, the

background music is a guitar playing all the time three different notes in a rhythm which
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comes closer to a waltz. Again, like we have previously pointed out in other significant

songs, the singer maintains the same note and it changes into a higher one before the

chorus starts, imitating an echo. And after these sleepy sensations, the chorus becomes an

explosion of joy. It is very illustrative to watch and listen to the song3.

“A Day in the Life”, again Sergeant Pepper’s Album, is described by McCartney as

“the only one in the album written as a deliberate provocation” (Miles 92). In fact,

according to the web the Beatles Bible, “the song being banned by BBC”, because of the

sentence “I’d love to turn you on”, which is a very clear invitation to the use of drugs.

Besides this, the lyrics stand for mundane issues which reflect, in my opinion, sadness and

loneliness, a recurrent leitmotif as we have seen. This world of chaos in which society

lives, in which Beatles live, is from my point of view a kind of mirror in which they reflect

themselves using drugs, and in a way it becomes a vicious circle majestically represented

again by the use of slow and long melodies, and above all, using the two incredible

glissandos which separate the song in three parts. A glissando is a fast slide by using

consecutive notes. The amazing point in this song is the long durability of the glissandos,

little by little, leading to a chaotic note, and interpreted by a symphony orchestra. The song

ends with a very long and harmonic musical chord, which opposes the two chaotic

glissandos. Maybe is it an allusion to hope? In the link, it is interesting to listen from 3:45

till the end. Notice the last time when Lennon says “I’d love to turn you on”, how he uses a

trembling voice4.

Coming to the end, I’ll just name a few songs before talking about “Helter Skelter”.

The Magical Mystery Tour Album also illustrates constantly this psychedelic world.

Songs such as “Magical Mystery Tour”, “I am the Walrus”, “Blue Jay Way”, “Flying”,

could be also part of this study, but I would prefer to finish talking about “Helter Skelter”,

a song which belongs to the White Album, from 1968. According to most historians of pop
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music, this song is the origin of Heavy Metal and Hard Rock styles (Blog Las Canciones

Perdidas).

Helter Skelter means Lose of Control or Disorder, as its lyrics reflect: “When I get to

the bottom / I go back to the top of the slide /where I stop and I turn / and I go for a ride /

till I get to the bottom / and I see you again”. Beatles were not only consumers of LSD, but

unfortunately, their songs influenced indirectly to those fans consumers of LSD, who

interpreted in their lyrics very negative meanings. Charles Manson, who believed himself

as Christ’s incarnation, created a group called “The Family”. His disciples killed several

people. The Beatles declared that they were conscious that their acts and songs could

influence people, and particularly young people, but never imagined the degree of madness

of some of their fans (Las Canciones Perdidas). Notice in the link5 how the voice goes in

crescendo and the guitar remains in the same monotonous notes all the time. That mixture

makes the sounds dissonant, what reinforces the idea of disorder and the sense of dirtiness,

as McCartney described (Taller “Cuando Calienta el Sol”).

At this point, none of the questions that were raised at the beginning can be solved,

and I even consider it not to be necessary. Lennon once said: “I had many trips, Jesus

Christ; I stopped taking it because of that. I just couldn’t stand it (...) I was shit” (Miles

116) The Beatles took drugs and they admitted it. On the other hand, The Beatles denied

having made many songs under the influence of drugs although critics and society in

general didn’t believe them. The group lived immersed in a time of social changes where

drugs played an important role as we have said. If their songs were so important and

innovative thanks to the drugs is in a way true but we can´t give a total answer. The myth

is above them. That’s the only truth in my opinion. If the doubt remains after all, maybe it

is because there are many people interested in it. Perhaps, even The Beatles were.
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Notes

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jXZHtPFBvk.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tisjsgsgtZU&feature=kp

3. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz9ef_beatles-lucy-in-the-sky-with-

diamon_music

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Q9D4dcYng&feature=kp

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fvJEpdq8a8&feature=kp
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Works Cited

Benson, Ross. Paul McCartney. El hombre y el mito. Barcelona: Primer Plano,

1992. Print.

Booth, Martin. Cannabis: A History. Bantam Edition, 2004. Print.

Cillero, Antonio. Beatles 2. Barcelona: Los Juglares, 1976. Print.

“Day Tripper by The Beatles”. Songfacts. Web.

Dister, Alain. Los Beatles. Barcelona: Los Juglares, 1988. Print.

Ebbitt, Alicia. “The Effects of Hallucinogenic Drugs in the Brain”. Biology 202.

1998. Serendip Studios. Web. 2008

“Fixing a Hole”. The Beatles Bible. Web.

“Helter Skelter”. Blog de las Canciones Perdidas. Web.

“Helter Skelter: The Beatles, The White Album (1968)”. Una Canción Perdida.

Taller cuando calienta el sol. Web.

Miles, Barry. Beatles in Their Own Words. Compiled by Barry Miles. Omnibus

Press, 1978. Print.

Moniz, Martha. “La Contracultura de los Sesenta”. Beatles in Psicodelia.

Universidad Simón Bolívar. 2012. Web.

Richards, Samantha. “The Influence of Drugs in the 1960s: The Psychedelic Era”.

Word Music. Web.

“The Beatles and Drugs”. The Beatles Bible. Web.

“The Beatles y su sincretismo revolucionario”. +Rock en todas partes. Web.

“The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Rolling Stone Music

Digital Magazine. Web.

“What do drugs do to the brain?”. University of Cambridge. 17 March 2011. Web.

“What is Psychedelic? It’s mind’s manifesting.” Psychedelic Blogs. Web.