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, avant-garde composition and electro-acoustic sound manipulation. It features an Indian-inspired modal backing of tambura and sitar 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 loops prepared by the band were overdubbed "live" onto the rhythm track. Part of Lennon's vocal was fed through a Leslie speaker cabinet, normally used for a Hammond organ. The song's backwards guitar parts and effects marked the first use of reversed sounds in a pop recording, although the Beatles' 1966 B-side "Rain", 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 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. Pitchfork placed the track at number 19 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s", and Rolling Stone ranked it at number 18 on the magazine's list of the 100 greatest Beatles songs.
Background and inspiration
Timothy Leary before a crowd of university students during a lecture tour in 1969. In his lyrics to "Tomorrow Never Knows", Lennon drew from Leary's espousal of LSD as a means to transcend material concerns.
John Lennon 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 later stated that the idea for the lyrics came from Leary, Alpert and Metzner's book. Paul McCartney 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" experienced under the influence of LSD and other psychedelic drugs 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 (a state of being totally aware of the present moment; a one-pointedness of mind).[citation needed] Harrison questioned whether Lennon fully understood the meaning of the song's lyrics:
Basically [the song] is 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's malapropisms. 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 album in June. "The Void" is cited as another working title, but according to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, 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."
Tomorrow Never Knows
The Beatles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It is not dying
It is not dying
Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void
It is shining
It is shining
That you may see the meaning of within
It is being
That love is all and love is everyone
It is knowing
It is knowing
That ignorance and hate may mourn the dead
It is believing
It is believing
But listen to the color of your dreams
It is not living
It is not living
Or play the game "Existence" to the end
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
The Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows is a psychedelic classic that still holds a place in popular culture. The song has a hypnotic, dizzying quality to it, and the lyrics themselves invoke images of spiritual awakening and a journey into the unknown. The song is a meditation on the impermanence of life, the power of love, and the mystical quality of existence.
The lyrics themselves are a series of psychedelic mantras, urging the listener to turn off their mind, surrender to the void, and float downstream. The song embodies a philosophy of transcendence, urging the listener to let go of their thoughts and surrender to the present moment. The refrain "It is not dying" suggests that death is not an end, but rather a continuation of the cycle of life.
The middle section of the song emphasizes the power of love, and states that love is all and love is everyone. This suggests an interconnectedness between all things and that love is the ultimate form of transcendence. The lyrics urge the listener to listen to the color of their dreams to suggest that the journey towards enlightenment is deeply personal and subjective.
Line by Line Meaning
Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream
Clear your head of all thoughts and simply go with the flow
It is not dying
This experience may feel intense, but it's not the end of your life
It is not dying
This experience may feel intense, but it's not the end of your life
Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void
Let go of your mind and embrace the emptiness
It is shining
The void is not scary or dark, but rather a bright, positive force
It is shining
The void is not scary or dark, but rather a bright, positive force
That you may see the meaning of within
By embracing this emptiness, you can gain a deeper understanding of yourself
It is being
The meaning of life is simply to exist
It is being
The meaning of life is simply to exist
That love is all and love is everyone
Love is the universal force that connects all of us
It is knowing
By embracing this love, you can gain a true understanding of the world
It is believing
Even when faced with ignorance and hate, we should hold onto our belief in love
But listen to the color of your dreams
Pay attention to your subconscious and use your dreams to gain insight
It is not living
Life is more than just going through the motions of daily living
It is not living
Life is more than just going through the motions of daily living
Or play the game 'Existence' to the end
Approach life as a game, knowing that eventually it will come to an end
Of the beginning
Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings
Of the beginning
Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings
Of the beginning
Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings
Of the beginning
Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings
Of the beginning
Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings
Of the beginning
Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings
Of the beginning
Life is a cycle of beginnings and endings
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@paparazzidoax510
Turn off your mind
Relax and float down stream
It is not dying
It is not dying
Lay down all thoughts
Surrender to the void
It is shining
It is shining
That you may see
The meaning of within
It is being
It is being
That love is all
That love is everyone
It is knowing
It is knowing
That ignorance and hate
May mourn the dead
It is believing
It is believing
But listen to the colour of your dream
It is not living
It is not living
All play the game
Existence to the end
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
Of the beginning
@Arbes_
I don't think you or your children are ready for this, but your grandchildren will love it.
@axelh425
And this can go on for decades and generations...
@johnmarshall2722
Top comment!
@melchiorvonsternberg844
@@johnmarshall2722 Pretty clever stolen... What do you think, Doc Brown?
@thomasfisher5742
this was recorded then remixed at 1.74 JIGAWATTS LOL
@zaziou711
Marty McCartney
@Missjunebugfreak
The fact that this song is 56yrs old and it still sounds bold and inventive is a ridiculously impressive feat. It's like a prediction of what the future of music would be.
@pimposki6232
56, isn't it? i agree though; you can hear traces of the chemical brothers, radiohead, and countless other bands here, and all over revolver and the later albums. using the radiohead comparison, the first section of happiness is a warm gun and the john lennon bits of a day in the life basically sound like proto radiohead. not to mention she's so heavy predating black sabbath with an ending that's doomy as hell, or the distinctly psychedelic proto-indie/alt rock sounds of strawberry fields. i can't think of a single act which casts as long a shadow as the beatles. not even elvis, michael jackson, or anybody else. maybe miles davis?
@beatlecristian
@@pimposki6232 in one way or another, someone is directly or indirectly influenced by the Beatles.
Panther was influenced by Metallica, Metallica was influenced by Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath was influenced by The Beatles.
@Russ-gy7tx
June, 66 or 56 years old, we knew what you meant.