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"Tomorrow Never Knows" is a song by the English rock band
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
, written primarily by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
and credited to
Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...
. It was released in August 1966 as the final track on their album ''
Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
'', although it was the first song recorded for the LP. The song marked a radical departure for the Beatles, as the band fully embraced the potential of the recording studio without consideration for reproducing the results in concert. When writing the song, Lennon drew inspiration from his experiences with the hallucinogenic drug LSD and from the 1964 book '' The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead'' by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner. The Beatles' recording employed musical elements foreign to pop music, including
musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...
,
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
composition and electro-acoustic sound manipulation. It features an Indian-inspired modal backing of tambura and
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...
drone and bass guitar, with minimal harmonic deviation from a single chord, underpinned by a constant but non-standard drum pattern; added to this,
tape loop In music, tape loops are loops of magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound when played on a tape recorder. Originating in the 1940s with the work of Pierre Schaeffer, they were used among ...
s prepared by the band were overdubbed "live" onto the rhythm track. Part of Lennon's vocal was fed through a
Leslie speaker The Leslie speaker is a combined amplifier and loudspeaker that projects the signal from an electric or electronic instrument and modifies the sound by rotating a baffle chamber ("drum") in front of the loudspeakers. A similar effect is provided ...
cabinet, normally used for a
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...
. The song's reverse guitar parts and effects marked the first use of reversed sounds in a pop recording, although the Beatles' 1966 B-side "
Rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...
", which they recorded soon afterwards using the same technique, was issued over two months before the release of ''Revolver''. "Tomorrow Never Knows" was an early and highly influential recording in the psychedelic and
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
genres, particularly for its pioneering use of sampling, tape manipulation and other production techniques. It also introduced lyrical themes that espoused mind expansion, anti-materialism and Eastern spirituality into popular music. On release, the song was the source of confusion and ridicule by many fans and journalists; it has since received praise as an effective representation of a
psychedelic experience A psychedelic experience (known colloquially as a trip) is a temporary altered state of consciousness induced by the consumption of a psychedelic substance (most commonly Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, or N,N- ...
. ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
'' placed the track at number 19 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s", and ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' ranked it at number 18 on the magazine's list of the 100 greatest Beatles songs.


Background and inspiration

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
wrote "Tomorrow Never Knows" in January 1966, with lyrics adapted from the 1964 book '' The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead'' by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner, which was in turn adapted from the '' Tibetan Book of the Dead''. Although Beatles aide Peter Brown believed that Lennon's source for the lyrics was the ''Tibetan Book of the Dead'' itself, which, he said, Lennon had read while under the influence of LSD,
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
later stated that the idea for the lyrics came from Leary, Alpert and Metzner's book.
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
recalled that when he and Lennon visited the newly opened Indica bookshop, Lennon had been looking for a copy of '' The Portable Nietzsche'' and found a copy of ''The Psychedelic Experience'' that contained the lines: "Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream." In 1980, Lennon said he wrote the song during his "''Tibetan Book of the Dead'' period." Lennon said he bought the book, went home, took LSD, and followed the instructions exactly as stated in the text. The book held that the "
ego death Ego death is a "complete loss of subjective self-identity". The term is used in various intertwined contexts, with related meanings. The 19th-century philosopher and psychologist William James uses the synonymous term "self-surrender", and Jung ...
" experienced under the influence of LSD and other
psychedelic drug Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluc ...
s is essentially similar to the dying process and requires similar guidance. This is a state of being known by eastern mystics and masters as ''
samādhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...
'' (a state of being totally aware of the present moment; a one-pointedness of mind). Harrison questioned whether Lennon fully understood the meaning of the song's lyrics:
Basically he songis saying what meditation is all about. The goal of meditation is to go beyond (that is, transcend) waking, sleeping and dreaming... I am not too sure if John actually fully understood what he was saying. He knew he was onto something when he saw those words and turned them into a song. But to have experienced what the lyrics in that song are actually about? I don't know if he fully understood it.
The title never appears in the song's lyrics. Lennon later revealed that, like " A Hard Day's Night", it was taken from one of
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
's
malapropism A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An exam ...
s. In a television interview in early 1964, Starr had uttered the phrase "Tomorrow never knows" when laughing off an incident that took place at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, during which one of the guests had cut off a portion of his hair. The piece was originally titled "Mark I" and was referred to as such in the EMI studio documentation until the Beatles were remixing tracks for the ''
Revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
'' album in June. "The Void" is cited as another working title, but according to Beatles historian
Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.
, this resulted from Neil Aspinall, the band's road manager and assistant, referring to it as such in a contemporary issue of '' The Beatles Book''. Lennon said he settled on Starr's phrase "to sort of take the edge off the heavy philosophical lyrics". He also said "The Void" would have been a more suitable title, but he was concerned about its obvious drug connotations. According to Aspinall's account in ''The Beatles Monthly'', the musical portion of the song was the result of all four Beatles working to ensure the music matched the power of Lennon's lyrics: "The basic tune was written during the first hours of the recording session."


Musical structure

McCartney remembered that even though the song's harmony was mainly restricted to the chord of C, George Martin, the Beatles' producer, accepted it as it was and said it was "rather interesting". The harmonic structure is derived from
Indian music Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk, rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several ...
, a genre that Harrison had introduced to the Beatles' sound late in 1965 with his
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...
part on " Norwegian Wood", and is based on a high volume C drone played on a tambura. The song's musical key is C Mixolydian. The chord over the drone is generally C major, but some changes to B major result from vocal modulations, as well as orchestral and guitar tape loops. According to author Peter Lavezzoli, the composition is the first pop song to eschew formal chord changes altogether. Despite this limitation, musicologist Dominic Pedler sees the Beatles' harmonic ingenuity displayed in the upper harmonies – "Turn off your mind", for example, is a run of unvarying E melody notes, before "relax" involves an E–G melody-note shift and "float downstream" an E–C–G descent. "It is not dying" involves a run of three G melody notes that rise on "dying" to a B, at the start of the verse's fifth bar, creating a VII/I (B/C) "slash" polychord. Due to Lennon's adherence to Leary's text, "Tomorrow Never Knows" was also the first song by the Beatles to depart from any form of rhyming scheme.


Recording

"Tomorrow Never Knows" was the first song attempted during the sessions for ''Revolver'', which started at 8 pm on 6 April 1966, in Studio 3 at EMI Studios (subsequently
Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...
). Geoff Emerick, who was promoted to the role of the Beatles' recording engineer for ''Revolver'', recalled that the band "encouraged us to break the rules" and ensure that each instrument "should sound unlike itself". Lennon sought to capture the atmosphere of a
Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...
ceremony; he told Martin that the song should sound like it was being chanted by a thousand Tibetan monks, with his vocal evoking the
Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
singing from a mountaintop. The latter effect was achieved by using a Leslie speaker. When the concept was explained to Lennon, he inquired if the same effect could be achieved by hanging him upside down and spinning him around a microphone while he sang into it. Emerick made a connector to break into the electronic circuitry of the Leslie cabinet and then re-recorded the vocal as it came out of the revolving speaker. Further to their approach when recording '' Rubber Soul'' late the previous year, the Beatles and Martin embraced the idea of the
recording studio as an instrument In music production, the recording studio is often treated as a musical instrument when it plays a significant role in the music composition, composition of music. Sometimes called "playing the studio", the approach is typically embodied by artis ...
on ''Revolver'', particularly "Tomorrow Never Knows". As Lennon hated doing a second take to double his vocals, Ken Townsend, the studio's technical manager, developed an alternative form of double-tracking called artificial double tracking (ADT) system, taking the signal from the sync head of one tape machine and delaying it slightly through a second tape machine. The two tape machines used were not driven by mains electricity, but from a separate generator which put out a particular frequency, the same for both, thereby keeping them locked together. By altering the speed and frequencies, he could create various effects, which the Beatles used throughout the recording of ''Revolver''. Lennon's vocal is double-tracked on the first three verses of the song: the effect of the Leslie cabinet can be heard after the (backwards) guitar solo. The track includes the highly compressed drums that the Beatles favoured at the time, with reverse cymbals, reverse guitar, processed vocals, looped tape effects, and sitar and tambura drone. In the description of musicologist Russell Reising, the "meditative state" of a psychedelic experience is conveyed through the musical drone, enhancing the lyrical imagery, while the "buzz" of a drug-induced "high" is sonically reproduced in Harrison's tambura rhythm and Starr's heavily treated drum sound. Despite the implied chord changes in the verses and repeatedly at the end of the song, McCartney's bass maintains a constant
ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...
in C. Reising writes of the drum part:
Starr's accompaniment throughout the piece consists of a kind of stumbling march, providing a bit of temporal disruption ... hefirst accent of each bar falls on the measure's first beat and the second stress occurs in the second half of the measure's third quarter, double sixteenth notes in stuttering pre-emption of the normal rhythmic emphasis on the second backbeat – hardly a classic rock and roll gesture.
The use of ¼-inch audio tape loops resulted primarily from McCartney's admiration for Stockhausen's '' Gesang der Jünglinge''. By disabling the erase head of a tape recorder and then spooling a continuous loop of tape through the machine while recording, the tape would constantly overdub itself, creating a saturation effect, a technique also used in
musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic ...
. The tape could also be induced to go faster and slower. McCartney encouraged the other Beatles to use the same effects and create their own loops. After experimentation on their own, the various Beatles supplied a total of "30 or so" tape loops to Martin, who selected 16 for use on the song. Each loop was about six seconds long. The overdubbing of the tape loops took place on 7 April. The loops were played on BTR3 tape machines located in various studios of the Abbey Road building and controlled by EMI technicians in Studio Three. Each machine was monitored by one technician, who had to hold a pencil within each loop to maintain tension. The four Beatles controlled the faders of the mixing console while Martin varied the stereo panning and Emerick watched the meters. Eight of the tapes were used at one time, changed halfway through the song. The tapes were made (like most of the other loops) by superimposition and acceleration. According to Martin, the finished mix of the tape loops could not be repeated because of the complex and random way in which they were laid over the music. Harrison similarly described the mix of loops as "spontaneous", given that each run-through might favour different sounds over another. Five tape loops are prominent in the finished version of the song. According to author Ian MacDonald, writing in the 1990s, these loops contain the following: #A recording of McCartney's laughter, sped up to resemble the sound of a seagull (enters at 0:07) #An orchestral chord of B major (0:19) #A
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
on its flute setting (0:22) #A Mellotron strings sound, alternating between B and C in time (0:38) #A sitar playing a rising scalic phrase, recorded with heavy saturation and sped up (0:56). Author Robert Rodriguez writes that the content of the five loops has continued to invite debate among commentators, however, and that the manipulation applied to each of the recordings has made them impossible to decipher with authority. Based on the most widely held views, he says that, aside from McCartney's laughter and the B major chord, the sounds were two loops of sitar passages, both reversed and sped up, and a loop of Mellotron string and brass voicings. In their 2006 book '' Recording the Beatles'', Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew list two loops of sitar recordings yet, rather than Mellotron, list a
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
or acoustic guitar, treated with tape echo. Rather than revert to standard practice by having a guitar solo in the middle of the song, the track includes what McCartney described as a "tape solo". This section nevertheless includes a lead guitar part played by Harrison and recorded with the tape running backwards, to complement the sounds. The final overdubs were recorded on 22 April. According to Lewisohn, who had access to EMI's studios logs and notes, these overdubs comprised Harrison's sitar and Lennon's Leslie-treated vocal part. Lennon later told Beatles biographer Hunter Davies: "I should have tried to get near my original idea, the monks singing. I realise now that's what I wanted." The discarded take 1 was issued on the '' Anthology 2'' compilation in 1996.


Previews and influence on ''Revolver'' project

While highlighting "
Love You To "Love You To" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. The song was written and sung by George Harrison and features Indian instrumentation such as sitar and tabla. Following Harrison's introduction ...
" as an example of the Beatles fully exploring Indian musical form during the ''Revolver'' sessions, music historian Simon Philo identifies "Tomorrow Never Knows" as the track that "made few if any concessions to formula, and so confirmed that the Beatles had unequivocally moved on. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was barely a song, let alone a pop song." Musicologist William Echard describes it as an example of a raga rock song "rubb ngshoulders with the classical avant-garde". After completing the recording, McCartney was eager to gauge the reaction of the band's contemporaries. On 2 May, he played the song to
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
at the latter's hotel suite in London; as the track started, Dylan said dismissively: "Oh, I get it. You don't want to be cute anymore." According to
Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...
, who was also present, Dylan then walked out of the room. McCartney recalled that when the Beatles played the song to members of
the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
and
the Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...
, they "visibly sat up and were interested", whereas Cilla Black "just laughed". After experimenting with the techniques on "Tomorrow Never Knows", the Beatles used reversed sounds and tape-speed variation extensively throughout the ''Revolver'' sessions. On "
Rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...
", which was issued as the B-side of their " Paperback Writer" single in May 1966, part of Lennon's vocal track was reprised backwards over the coda, while Harrison planned and recorded his lead guitar parts for " I'm Only Sleeping" with the tape direction reversed, in order to achieve a dislocated effect. Tony Hall, a music industry figure and journalist with a reputation for predicting trends, was also given a preview of the song, along with other tracks from early in the sessions. Writing in his column for ''
Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...
'' in the issue dated 14 May, Hall especially highlighted "The Void" when describing the new songs as "the most revolutionary ever made by a pop group". Focusing on the otherworldly electronic effects, he wrote: "Sound-wise, it's like an hypnotically horrific journey through the dark never-ending jungle of someone's mind ... And the effect is of shapes and sounds and colours looming over and above one and zooming in and out of a monotonous drone." Hall added that the track was "as revolutionary as Ornette Coleman appeared to the jazz scene a decade ago", before concluding: " he Beatlesare so far ahead. And I'm longing to hear your reaction when the album is eventually issued."


Release

"Tomorrow Never Knows" was sequenced as the final track on ''Revolver'', which EMI's
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...
label issued on 5 August 1966. According to author Mark Hertsgaard, as the first song recorded during the ''Revolver'' sessions, its sequencing ensures that the track serves as "the summit to which the entire album ascends". In his design for the LP cover,
Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German graphic artist, artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, includ ...
drew inspiration from the song, recognising the need for artwork that would capture the Beatles' new direction and the avant-garde aspect of the recording. Voormann later said that he found "Tomorrow Never Knows" "frightening", adding that it was "so far away from the early Beatles stuff that even I myself thought, well, the normal kind of Beatles fan won't want to buy this record. But they did." In an interview in October 1966, Harrison described the song as "easily the most amazing new thing we've ever come up with", but acknowledged that it might represent "a terrible mess of a sound" to listeners who approached the track without "open ears". He added: "It's like the Indian stuff. You mustn't listen to Eastern music with a Western ear." In advance of the release, EMI had issued the songs to radio stations throughout July, in increments, to prepare the Beatles' audience for the new music. "Tomorrow Never Knows" was the last track to receive a public airing, a few days before the album was issued commercially. Reaction to ''Revolver'' was "generally ecstatic", according to MacDonald, with listeners marvelling at the album's "aural invention". To the Beatles' less progressive fans, however, the radical changes in the band's sound were the source of confusion. The editor of the Australian teen magazine ''Mirabelle'' wrote: "Everyone, from Brisbane to Bootle, hates that daft song Lennon sang at the end of ''Revolver''." Recalling the release in his 1977 book ''The Beatles Forever'',
Nicholas Schaffner Nicholas Schaffner (January 28, 1953 – August 28, 1991) was an American non-fiction author, journalist, and singer-songwriter. Biography Schaffner was born in Manhattan to John V. Schaffner (1913–1983), a literary agent whose clients includ ...
commented that whereas the group's more traditional fans warmed to McCartney's new songs, "some people thought Lennon was sprouting complete gibberish, and concluded that the poor lad had slid off the deep end." Aged 16 in 1966, author and academic Nick Bromell says that psychedelic drugs were a year away from "erupting" into American youth culture, and most contemporary listeners heard "strangeness, undiluted and outrageous strangeness" in the song. He adds: "'Tomorrow Never Knows' was an enigma they would understand only gradually, through many listenings and over many months. They heard it first and foremost as a place to dwell, not as an answer or as a deliverance."


Critical reception

In his album review for the ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'', Allen Evans expressed confusion over "Tomorrow Never Knows". In response to the lyric's exhortation to "relax and float downstream", he wrote: "But how can you relax with the electronic, outer-space noises, often sounding like seagulls? ... Only Ringo's rock-steady drumming is natural." Peter Jones of ''Record Mirror'' commented: "You need some sort of aural microscope to get the message from this. But it's darned compelling listening." '' Disc and Music Echo''s review of ''Revolver'' took the form of a track-by-track rundown by
Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the Rock music, rock band the Kinks, which he led, with his younger brother Dave Davies, Dave pro ...
of
the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...
, who, in author Steve Turner's opinion, took the opportunity to air his longstanding bitterness towards the Beatles. Davies was unimpressed with the track, and concluded that the band must have had "George Martin tied to a totem pole when they did this". Writing in the recently launched '' Crawdaddy!'', Paul Williams derided "Tomorrow Never Knows" and the album's single, " Yellow Submarine", saying of Lennon's song: "A good artist doesn't publish first drafts." Edward Greenfield of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' described the track as "the most remarkable item on a compulsive new record". He said the lyrics were a "curious sort of poetry" that conveyed the concept of "pop-music as a substitute, both for jungle emotions and for the consolations of religion", as teenagers followed in the long societal tradition of disengaging the mind and surrendering "to the tribal leader, the priest, or now the pop-singer". Greenfield concluded by saying, "Thank goodness Lennon is being satirical: at least one hopes so." Reporting from London for ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'', Richard Goldstein said that ''Revolver'' had opened up
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
as a commercial proposition, adding, "
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...
move over – the Beatles are now reaching a super-receptive audience with electronic soul." He recognised "Tomorrow Never Knows" as the key track in this regard and concluded that "The boundaries f pop musicwill now have to be re-negotiated." Maureen Cleave of '' The Evening Standard'' described the song as a "lengthy and monstrous piece of nonsense about love being all and love being everyone, punctuated by what appear to be bagpipes and Zulu noises", adding: "Even this is gripping. Never have I been able to recommend an LP with more conviction." In 2006, ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
'' ranked "Tomorrow Never Knows" at number 19 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s" and '' Q'' magazine placed the track 75th on a list of "The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time". "Tomorrow Never Knows" appears at number 18 on ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
''s list of the best Beatles songs and at number 4 on similar lists compiled by '' Uncut'' in 2001 and '' Mojo'' in 2006. In 2018, the music staff of '' Time Out London'' ranked it at number 2 on their list of the best Beatles songs.


''Love'' remix

In 2006, Martin and his son, Giles Martin, remixed 80 minutes of Beatles music for the Las Vegas stage performance ''
Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...
'', a joint venture between
Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...
and the Beatles' Apple Corps. On the ''
Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...
'' album, the rhythm to "Tomorrow Never Knows" was mixed with the vocals and melody from " Within You Without You", creating a different version of the two songs. Reviewing the album for ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
'', Zeth Lundy wrote: "The 'Within You Without You'/'Tomorrow Never Knows' mash-up, perhaps the most thrilling and effective track on the entire disc, fuses two especially transcendental songs into one: ... a union of two ambiguous, open-ended declarations of spiritual pursuit." In their chapter on the Beatles' psychedelic period in ''The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles'', authors Russell Reising and Jim LeBlanc describe "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" as "the most musically and visually stunning segment" of the Cirque du Soleil show. The ''Love'' remix is one of the main songs in '' The Beatles: Rock Band''.


Influence and legacy


In popular culture

Nicholas Schaffner said that listeners who had been confused by the song's lyrics were most likely unfamiliar with hallucinogenic drugs and Timothy Leary's message, but that the transcendental quality became clear during the build-up to the 1967 Summer of Love. According to Colin Larkin, writing in the ''
Encyclopedia of Popular Music ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kno ...
'', "Tomorrow Never Knows" has been recognised as "the most effective evocation of a LSD experience ever recorded". Ian MacDonald says that the song's message represented a revolutionary concept in mainstream society in 1966, and by introducing LSD and Leary's "psychedelic revolution" to Western youth, it is "one of the most socially influential records The Beatles ever made". He adds: "'Tomorrow Never Knows' launched the till-then élite-preserved concept of mind-expansion into pop, simultaneously drawing attention to consciousness-enhancing drugs and the ancient religious philosophies of the Orient, utterly alien to Western thought in their anti-materialism, rapt passivity, and world-sceptical focus on visionary consciousness." According to Simon Philo, "Tomorrow Never Knows" was the most groundbreaking track on an album that announced the arrival of the "underground London" sound. Barry Miles also sees it as the experimental highpoint of ''Revolver'', which he recalls as an "advertisement for the underground" and a work that resounded on the level of experimental jazz among members of the movement, including those who soon founded the
UFO Club The UFO Club ( ') was a short-lived UK underground, British counter-culture nightclub in London in the 1960s. The club was established by Joe Boyd and John Hopkins (political activist), John "Hoppy" Hopkins. It featured light shows, poetry r ...
.


In music

Hernan Campbell of Sputnikmusic recognises "Tomorrow Never Knows" as "the most important Psychedelic composition in the history of the genre" and "the epitome of everything that psychedelia stands for". In the opinion of former ''Mojo'' editor Paul Trynka, the track benefited most from the Beatles' ability to channel their ideas into a recognisable song form, a discipline that ensured their psychedelic recordings were superior to those by
the Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psyc ...
and other contemporary
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
acts. In the 1997 ''Mojo'' feature article "Psychedelia: The 100 Greatest Classics", Jon Savage listed the April 1966 recording as the first item in his chronological history of UK psychedelia, adding that the song "immediately impacted on pop culture". According to Bromell, writing in his book ''Tomorrow Never Knows: Rock and Psychedelics in the 1960s'', the track is "regarded by many critics as the most important rock song of the decade". In his book ''Electronic and Experimental Music'', Thom Holmes includes "Tomorrow Never Knows" in his list of the "pioneering works" in electronic music. He credits the song with "usher ngin a new era in the use of electronic music in rock and pop music". Music historians David Luhrssen and Michael Larson say that with ''Revolver'' the Beatles "erased boundaries of time and culture", adding: "Ancient met modern on 'Tomorrow Never Knows' as sitars encountered tape loops. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' reintroduced the sustained repetition of the drone, absent in Western music since the Middle Ages and only recently discovered by avant-garde composer
La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...
." According to Peter Lavezzoli, in his book ''The Dawn of Indian Music in the West'', "'Tomorrow Never Knows' was the most groundbreaking production to date in popular music" and he says it "still retains a terrifying visceral power". Musicologist Walter Everett describes ''Revolver'' as "an innovative example of electronic music" and says that "Tomorrow Never Knows" was also "highly influential" on
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
. He identifies its studio effects and musical form as central to
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
's " Pow R. Toc H." and recognises the same use of extreme tape-speed manipulation in subsequent recordings by
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
and
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
, and backwards tapes in the work of Hendrix, Pink Floyd,
the Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) being the so ...
, the Who, the Electric Prunes, Spirit, Tomorrow, Soft Machine and the First Edition. He also identifies the Leslie-treated vocal as a precedent for similar experimentation by Hendrix, the Grateful Dead,
the Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in May 1964. The band initially consisted of Graeme Edge (drums), Denny Laine (guitar/vocals), Mike Pinder (keyboards/vocals), Ray Thomas (multi-instrumentalist/vocals) and Clint W ...
,
Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...
, Yes,
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
and
Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...
. Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic at ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', has described "Tomorrow Never Knows" as "a portal to decades of music to come". Steve Turner highlights the sound sampling and tape manipulation as having had "a profound effect on everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Jay Z". Having introduced these techniques to mainstream pop, Turner writes, "Tomorrow Never Knows" inspired the sampling that became commonplace over ten years later – such as in Sugarhill Gang's " Rapper's Delight" and other examples of an artist taking a well-known riff or musical motif from an existing song; in
David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...
and
Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...
's '' My Life in the Bush of Ghosts'', with its use of assorted spoken-word and vocal samples; in recordings by
Big Audio Dynamite Big Audio Dynamite (later known as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, and often abbreviated BAD) were an English band, formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones (The Clash guitarist), Mick Jones, former lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of th ...
, which included samples from film soundtracks; and in
Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...
's ''
Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...
'', with its incorporation of little-known and disparate vocal tracks. In 2011, DJ Spooky said that the Beatles' song remained "in the DNA of so much going on these days" and that the use of " tape collage alone makes it one of the first tracks to use sampling really successfully. I also think that Brian Eno's idea of the studio-as-instrument comes from this kind of recording. Recalling his introduction to "Tomorrow Never Knows" in 1966, American producer Tony Visconti has said: "It was incredible how the music matched the lyrics and, previous to this album, nobody was writing like that." He also said that ''Revolver'' "showed how the studio could be used as an instrument" and contributed to his decision to relocate to London, because, "I had to learn how people made records like this." In his 2004 book ''Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings'', David Howard pairs Martin's work on "Tomorrow Never Knows" with
Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...
's 1966 production of " River Deep – Mountain High" as the two "visionary achievements in sound" that ensured that "the recording studio was now its own instrument: record production had been elevated into art." The song is referenced in the lyric to
Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentMorning Glory Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose taxonomy and systematics remain in flux. These species are distributed across numerous genus, gene ...
": "Tomorrow never knows what it doesn't know too soon".
The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...
have referred to "Tomorrow Never Knows" as the template for their music; their 1996 track " Setting Sun" is a direct tribute to it, as is " Let Forever Be". John Foxx of
Ultravox Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which wa ...
also cited "Tomorrow Never Knows" as an influence, saying that "As soon as I heard it, I knew it contained almost everything that I would want to investigate for the rest of my life." In 2012, the song was included as the title track of the Beatles'
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
compilation album '' Tomorrow Never Knows'', which the band's website described as a collection of "the Beatles' most influential rock songs".


Cover versions

* 801, an
experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...
group that included Brian Eno and his former
Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...
bandmate Phil Manzanera, performed the song live at their three concerts in 1976, under the name "TNK (Tomorrow Never Knows)". The final performance at London's
Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...
was released on their album '' 801 Live''. Author and musician Alan Clayson cites 801's adoption of the track as evidence that the Beatles' musical influence remained strong among 1970s glam rock artists, and that the latter scene lacked the generational divisiveness that would soon characterise
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
. * "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the twelfth and final track on Phil Collins first solo record, Face Value, which was released in 1981. After the song ends, Collins can be heard quietly singing "Over the Rainbow" in reference to the recent murder of John Lennon; this final song is unlisted on most releases of the album (the original US cassette version being an exception), and marks the only time Collins used a hidden track on one of his own releases. * In 2007, Oasis set "Within You Without You" to the music of "Tomorrow Never Knows" as their contribution to the BBC's 40th anniversary tribute to the Beatles' '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' album.


In television and film

The song was parodied, as "L.S. Bumblebee", as part of a satirical sketch on the
Swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London denoted as its centre. It saw a flourishing in ...
phenomenon in the '' Not Only ... But Also'' 1966 Christmas TV special, which included a cameo appearance by Lennon. Sung by comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, both of whom are dressed in Indian clothing, the song evokes the seagull sounds of "Tomorrow Never Knows" through the presence of a bird squawking in the studio, and includes lyrics playing on the sensory contradictions of lines such as "Listen to the colour of your dreams" from the Beatles track. In 1967, Bruce Conner used "Tomorrow Never Knows" as the soundtrack to his LSD-inspired experimental film ''Looking for Mushrooms''. When reworking the film for a 1996 presentation, Conner replaced the song with an instrumental piece by avant-garde composer
Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...
. The title of the song inspired the title of
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
's 1997 adventure ''
Tomorrow Never Dies ''Tomorrow Never Dies'' is a 1997 spy film, the eighteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a screenplay ...
'', when screenwriter Bruce Feirstein, still looking for a title, heard the song on the radio. The original title of the film then was ''Tomorrow Never Lies'', but a typo changed it into the eventual title. "Tomorrow Never Knows" was featured during the final scene of the 2012 '' Mad Men'' episode " Lady Lazarus". Don Draper's wife Megan gives him a copy of ''Revolver'', calling his attention to a specific track and suggesting, "Start with this one". Draper, an advertising executive, is struggling to understand youth culture, but after contemplating the song for a few puzzled moments, he shuts it off. The track also played over the closing credits. The rights to the song cost the producers around $250,000, "about five times as much as the typical cost of licensing a song for TV". The fact that "Tomorrow Never Knows" has been used twice in a non-Apple produced American television program using the original master recording (i.e. master rights) is unique for a Beatles song. Whether it is true or not, ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' reported that Lionsgate claimed the 2012 use of this song marked "the first time a master recording by the Beatles has been licensed for a television show."


Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald: The Beatles *
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
vocals,
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...
,
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
,
tape loop In music, tape loops are loops of magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound when played on a tape recorder. Originating in the 1940s with the work of Pierre Schaeffer, they were used among ...
s *
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
bass guitar, tape loops *
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...
, tambura, lead guitar, tape loops *
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
drums, tambourine, tape loops Additional musician * George Martin tack piano


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
* {{Authority control 1966 songs The Beatles songs Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs published by Northern Songs The Beatles and India Songs about drugs British psychedelic rock songs Buddhism in music Raga rock songs Avant-pop songs Electronic songs