It is typical for you to see colors, but not necessarily hear them, unless you’re a musician in the 1960’s or even the ‘70s. What I’m referencing in hearing colors is two-fold: the tone and sound of the music can be “colorful” so-to-speak, but also the hallucinating effects of LSD or similar substances.
On my way home from work “California Girls” by the Beach Boys came on Apple Radio. I remember reading an article months ago that Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys wrote the song while on LSD. I’ve passively listened to this song dozens of times and didn’t think much of it, but this time I listened more closely. When compared to their previous surf-related songs this one definitely has some unique “color” to it.
Which brings up trippy lyrics in songs written during the classic rock period. Take for instance: “Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain, where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies...” from Lucy in the Sky by The Beatles; or “...with a teenage diplomat in the dumps with the mumps, as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat, with a boulder on my shoulder...” from Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
These are some trippy lyrics. But at the same time it was different. I don’t know what it’s like to hear colors the way these songwriters did, but when you listen to classic rock songs like these more intently it opens your ears to how unique these songs are...to say the least.
I’m by no means condoning drug use, but music would probably sound much different without their substance "experimentation." Instead of writing about rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies, it might have been about rainbows and unicorns. It was the 60’s. Who knows!
Rather than focus on what these musicians were on, I look more at the finished product from whatever substance they were on. The music they wrote was so unique, experimenting with different sounds, especially reverb. Experimenting with new instruments like the sitar and synthesizer. Substance or not, they were music pioneers when it came to colorful sounds. Listen to any surf rock song and there's a lot of reverb. It was unique. Guitarists were distorting their amps...on purpose! That was new during that era.
Next time you’re listening to a song from the ‘60s or ‘70s listen to them with a fresh set of ears. Listen more actively. Listen to the tones, the sounds, or dare I say listen to the colors of the music. They don’t make music like they used to.