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The Beatles and DMT

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Lexx23

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Feb 15, 2016
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So the Beatles have a lot of references to drugs in their songs. They talk about LSD and pot and uppers and downers a lot. They even had the whole meditation thing. But, they never seem to have any songs that reference or speak about DMT. Why do you think that is? I'm sure they tried it.

Now that I think about it, the only reference to DMT in "counterculture"/"Drug culture" music of the 60s I can think of is pink floyd talking about gnomes, or possibly "every good boy deserves favour" by the moody blues album cover. I've seen interviews with Grace Slick where she mentions using it. So why was it not spoken about much?

Sure people were using it, and the creation of the grateful dead bandname was said to have been on DMT with a dictionary, but why wasn't it until the 90's that it became more of a topic of conversation with Terrence McKenna?
 
Pink floyds song the Gnome is not about DMT. McKenna references this to make a point in his description of his experiences.

I dunno about the Moody Blues other than that was a refernce to the anagram for remebering scalars or whatever tbe term is.

Both great songs and albums though. It probably did not enter their music even if they used the drug because to most people it was unknown.
 
Psychedelic culture is much more streamlined nowadays thanks to technology - specifically the internet.
Remember that the amount of time between the Beatles trying LSD and breaking up was only about 5 years - and a lot of our modern understandings of psychedelia are framed within the work of artists like the Beatles.
I don't remember ever reading of the Beatles taking DMT, but i wouldn't be surprised if they never come across it, as the psychedelic underground - and the knowledge contained within it - was much less accessible, and more secretive and exclusive than drug culture is these days.
On the other hand - the Beatles were pretty high up in the psychedelic world (as it existed in the 1960s) - so i would be equally unsurprised to hear that they had taken DMT.
...but just because you've had a drug experience, doesn't mean it will necessarily show up obviously in the songs you write.

I think a lot of the the mythological/fairytale aesthetics of psychedelic art generally are more a reflection of the child-like wonder of the psychedelic experience than any depiction of mckenna-esque elf phenomena.
 
LSD was and is far more common than DMT, and it's kinda hard to explicitly write about DMT as well in my opinion. Too much going on! LSD is more often an influence than a subject, and if the same goes for DMT, it would be hard for us to know when it is being referenced. Other than the song Divine Moments of Truth, lol ("L S D, DO D M T" as a lyric...)
 
SirTophamHat said:
LSD was and is far more common than DMT, and it's kinda hard to explicitly write about DMT as well in my opinion. Too much going on! LSD is more often an influence than a subject, and if the same goes for DMT, it would be hard for us to know when it is being referenced. Other than the song Divine Moments of Truth, lol ("L S D, DO D M T" as a lyric...)
Click to expand...
Sphongle. Respect.

Not sure the Beatles ever tried dmt..never seen any mention of it anywhere and you would think if they had of tried it they would have said something to someone. DMT is like that...its like WTF! There is nothing quite like it. The knowledge about DMT is spreading and its so easy to make it is kind of unstoppable now. Pandora's box has been opened and noone can shut that lid now.
 
I thought about DMT the first time I heard The magical mystery tour..
Roll up, Roll up for D Mystery Tour.
:)
 
I strongly guess, dmt wasn't really available and popular back then, as it is nowadays. Its popularity is based a lot on the internet, providing trip reports, extraction techs and vendors for raw material.
 
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1967/04/04/paul-mccartney-flies-to-san-francisco/

The Beatles got together for the record just 20 days after Paul met with Jefferson Airplane who smoked dmt.
According to Wikipedia, the album is inspired bu Pauls visit to the hippie west coast that year.

As far as I know, DMT where around in the underground hippie movement in the sixties. Terrence McKenna tried it first in 65.
So I reckon, if you are the biggest name in the world, and you want the best thing - the probably did have access.
 
DMT wasn't that well known until our boy McKenna came onto the scene (I have heard of rare cases of its use in the 60s but it wasn't everywhere like acid)
 
I dunno, DMT is mentioned in at least 2 songs from the 60s i can think of;

This, by the genius Shel Silverstein (which wasn't ever officially released, and only saw light of day after he died - fucking amazing recording if you ever come across it)
[video=youtube_share;muRTBDuJRdY]http://youtu.be/muRTBDuJRdY"]http://youtu.be/muRTBDuJRdY[/video]

And this, by David Peel - who incidentally, released his third album The Pope Smokes Dope on the Beatles' Apple Records label - which was even produced by John Lennon, who was a friend and admirer.
[video=youtube_share;Xx4QkxBzUjI]http://youtu.be/Xx4QkxBzUjI[/video]

But as far as proving the Beatles ever took - or were inspired by - DMT? We may never know.
 
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