My Top 1000 Songs #393: 2000 Light Years From Home

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

The Rolling Stones' controversial venture into psychedelia, late 1967's Their Satanic Majesties Request, has evolved in public estimation over the years. Initially derided as a cheesy Sgt. Pepper imitator, more recent reappraisals have begrudgingly acknowledged its gleeful trippiness (or trippy gleefulness). Me, I'm a big fan.

But love the LP or hate it, there's no denying the amazing singles it generated. "She's A Rainbow" is probably the album's catchiest track, baroque psych-tinged pop; but I have a slight preference for "2000 Light Years From Home," the more obvious bid for blissed-out acid-drenched psychedelic cred. The deep space theme, accompanied by some headphones-mandatory stereophonic exploration, helps it stand out as one of the most definitive examples of late 60s UK psych, more Pink Floyd than Beatles.

Animated lyric video:

Obviously never a live staple, but here it is in 1990: