My Top 1000 Songs #223: The Good Mr. Square

I suppose I'm "cheating" (for the second time) by going with a medley of sorts, though "The Good Mr. Square" and the adjoining "She Was Tall, She Was High" are properly heard as a single song (checking in at a combined three minutes, just barely). I was tempted to go with a longer swath of the Pretty Things' underappreciated 1970 album Parachute--the record's psychedelic first half makes for a singular suite of music--but figured I'd keep things a little more focused.

As noted in my write-up on the album, Parachute is a fascinating bridge from 60s psych to 70s hard rock, a crazy stylistic pivot from side one to side two. The "Square/Tall" medley perfectly encapsulates the era being left behind--while released in 1970, it feels like a gorgeous crystallization of the Summer of Love just three years prior. I mean, ok, I was only 4 when this came out, but there's something transportive about the music--the harmonies, the little sonic touches, the odd weaving together of two intertwined songs, and the vaguely lysergic lyrics ("she was tall, she was high, lord she almost touched the sky!") that takes you back to an idyllic era already drifting out of sight. 

The song (like the album) doesn't get nearly the same attention as other psychedelic nuggets from the late 60s (or even the Pretty Things' own 1968 epic SF Sorrow), but it deserves the same admiration as many better-known post-Sgt. Pepper classics.

Also... found this on YouTube. Enjoy!