may the cirlce remain unbroken

13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators “May The Circle Remain Unbroken”

Night of the Vampire

Roky Erickson

Roky Erickson, founder of the 13th Floor Elevators and pioneer of Psychedelic Rock.  I’m still working up the nerve to watch You’re Gonna Miss Me, the documentary about his life, because the stories I’ve heard are fucking brutal: he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, locked up in a mental hospital and given forced shock treatments. 

It reminds me of Brian Wilson hiding in his sandbox for twenty years.  Why are the most beautiful records made by people with such fucked-up lives?

Roller Coaster

The 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators “Roller Coaster” (mono / remastered / ripped from vinyl)

From Sundazed.com
For the first time in 40 years, here it is in dangerously powerful MONO, exactly as it was intended: the stupefying debut album by Texas’ heroic psychedelic point-men, the 13th Floor Elevators, on Sundazed’s uncannily accurate high-definition vinyl! The unearthly banshee howl of Roky Erickson, the blistering guitar of Stacy Sutherland and the demented electric jug of Tommy Hall haven’t sounded this scary since their glory days in the third eye of the lysergic hurricane!

Once, somewhere, sometime ago
His eyes were clear to see,
He put his thoughts into my mind,
And gave my self to me
He stopped me from living so unsane,
I could be just what I want to be,
Things appear as they really are,
I can see just what I want to see

Come on, and let it happen to you
I say, I say come on, and let it happen to you
You gotta open up your mind
And let everything come through…
Come on yeah!

Well it starts like a roller coaster ride,
So real it takes your breath away
It slides you through your point of view,
You look back to where you thought you’d stayed
Your ride changes outside view,
While it glides you like a neon ray,
And you find you don’t have to search for words,
For there’s nothing to be said

Come on, you gotta let it happen to you
Hey, come on, and let it happen to you
You gotta open up your mind
And let everything come through…

After you trip life opens up,
You start doing what you want to do
And you find out that the world that you once feared,
Gets what it has from you
No one can ever hurt you
But you know more than you thought you knew
And you’re looking at the world
With brand new eyes,
And no one can ever spoil the view

Come on, and let it happen to you
Hey, hey, hey come on, and let it happen to you
You gotta open up your mind
And let everything come through…

Open up your mind,
Let everything come through…