Norbert
2024-05-19 11:26:09 UTC
Any fans of Timothy Leary here? As a young person, when I learned that
Lennon's lyrics for "Tomorrow Never Knows" were based on Timothy Leary's
The Psychedelic Experience (which was itself based on the Tibetan Book
of the Dead), I found a copy of it -- but could find nothing interesting
about it.
I learned from a Rolling Stone article that Leary had written two
memoirs, the better of which is entitled Flashbacks. I browsed it, but
found it a disjointed mess. Leary had worked, for a time, with some
real scientists, but he didn't write anything about them.
Leary can be seen among the group at Lennon's bedside while John and
Yoko were being ridiculed by Al Capp. Leary appears to have found the
event hysterically funny (whose side was he on, anyway?).
Leary appeared on William Buckley's Firing Line once to promote LSD, but
he looked and acted too weird (e.g., giggling inappropriately, like a
nut) to be taken seriously.
Finally, I used to hear Leary on KPFA fairly regularly. He'd "debate"
people like Gordon Liddy. Again, he was too incoherent to take
seriously.
The best thing Leary did, as far as I know, was ask Lennon for a
campaign slogan while he was running for CA. governor. The song
eventually became "Come Together" -- I believe it's great largely
through McCartney's contributions. Lennon's version of the song, I
suspect, was too obviously based on Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me."
Lennon's lyrics for "Tomorrow Never Knows" were based on Timothy Leary's
The Psychedelic Experience (which was itself based on the Tibetan Book
of the Dead), I found a copy of it -- but could find nothing interesting
about it.
I learned from a Rolling Stone article that Leary had written two
memoirs, the better of which is entitled Flashbacks. I browsed it, but
found it a disjointed mess. Leary had worked, for a time, with some
real scientists, but he didn't write anything about them.
Leary can be seen among the group at Lennon's bedside while John and
Yoko were being ridiculed by Al Capp. Leary appears to have found the
event hysterically funny (whose side was he on, anyway?).
Leary appeared on William Buckley's Firing Line once to promote LSD, but
he looked and acted too weird (e.g., giggling inappropriately, like a
nut) to be taken seriously.
Finally, I used to hear Leary on KPFA fairly regularly. He'd "debate"
people like Gordon Liddy. Again, he was too incoherent to take
seriously.
The best thing Leary did, as far as I know, was ask Lennon for a
campaign slogan while he was running for CA. governor. The song
eventually became "Come Together" -- I believe it's great largely
through McCartney's contributions. Lennon's version of the song, I
suspect, was too obviously based on Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me."