Text · Motif

Drugs

References to recreational substances or altered states.

songs

It turns up in fifteen of their lyrics, from 1964 to 1969. 'She's a Woman' opens the run and 'Come Together' closes it. It turns up most in 1966 and 1967, nine of the fifteen between them, and only four come after, the last of them 'Come Together'. The lead vocal is John's on seven of the fifteen, four for Paul, and the two of them together on two, with George on one and Ringo on one. On 'Fixing a Hole' it is McCartney later linked the song to LSD imagery. On 'I Am the Walrus', Lennon cited LSD trips as partial inspiration. Of those, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is one of five of their recordings with tack piano.

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Beatles songs with 'Stream of consciousness' also have 'Drugs' about 5.6x as often as the catalogue average (5 of 13, vs an overall rate of 15 in 217 songs).

Stream of consciousness

Analysis

By Year

Song count per year

By Songwriter

% of each member's catalogue with this tag (by writing credit)

By Era

Early1 · 7%

Mid-period10 · 67%

Late4 · 27%

By Album

Revolver4

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band3

Past Masters3

Magical Mystery Tour2

The Beatles (The White Album)1

Yellow Submarine1

Abbey Road1

Let It Be1

Book

Revolution in the Head

Ian MacDonald

Book

The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics

Alan Aldridge

Sheet music

Musicnotes – Beatles Piano/Vocal/Guitar

Musicnotes

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Songs(15)

Year

Album

Writer

Lead vocal(s)

#	Title	Year	Album	Lead Vocal(s)	Notes
1	She's a Woman	1964	Past Masters	Paul	'Turn me on' - first Beatles drug reference per McCartney
2	Day Tripper	1965	Past Masters	John, Paul	'Day tripper' = casual/weekend acid user
3	Tomorrow Never Knows	1966	Revolver	John	LSD/psychedelic experience as subject
4	Doctor Robert	1966	Revolver	John	'Take a drink from his special cup'
5	She Said She Said	1966	Revolver	John	LSD trip with Peter Fonda, August 1965
6	Got to Get You into My Life	1966	Revolver	Paul	McCartney confirmed song is about marijuana
7	Strawberry Fields Forever	1967	Magical Mystery Tour	John	LSD-inflected dissociation

8	With a Little Help from My Friends	1967	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	Ringo	'Get high' read by many as drug reference
9	A Day in the Life	1967	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	John, Paul	'Had a smoke and went into a dream'
10	Fixing a Hole	1967	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	Paul	McCartney later linked the song to LSD imagery
11	I Am the Walrus	1967	Magical Mystery Tour	John	Lennon cited LSD trips as partial inspiration
12	Happiness Is a Warm Gun	1968	The Beatles (The White Album)	John	'I need a fix 'cause I'm going down'
13	It's All Too Much	1969	Yellow Submarine	George	Written about LSD experience
14	Get Back	1969	Let It Be	Paul	'California grass'
15	Come Together	1969	Abbey Road	John	'Shoot me' read as heroin reference