Mermen we should turn to be

Listening to a Jason Pierce interview I was interested to hear his view that Slippin' And Slidin' by Buddy Holly is the most psychedelic recording ever made. It seemed unlikely, but I checked it out and sure enough 30 seconds in thought to myself "What the fuck is he on about?". It might be a contender for one of the catchiest songs ever perhaps and, after the quick Everly Bros intro, certainly goes into a very Thirteenth Floor Elevators descending riff. But no, not what I would deem psychedelic.

Slippin' And Slidin'

But then quite recently I heard this version and, of course, the desiccated one knows his eggs.

Slippin' And Slidin'

So just what is it that makes a track psychedelic? I've grappled briefly with the question before, the last time it cropped up here was in reference to the guitar solo in Tame Impala's It Is Not Meant To Be, which, if you remember, I dubbed sub-aquatic. And that, in a nutshell, covers many aspects of the psychedelic experience: the air seems denser, the pressure seems higher, vision may be susceptible to wave-like, shimmering distortion. Stuff like that.

Oh, and this can be U.S.A. part 2. You know, in the around the world thing.