Legend of a Mind

Timothy leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, he's outside looking in.
Timothy leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, he's outside looking in.
He'll fly his astral plane,
Takes you trips around the bay,
Brings you back the same day,
Timothy leary. timothy leary.

He'll take you up, he'll bring you down,
He'll plant your feet back on the ground.
He'll fly so high, he'll swoop so low.
Timothy leary.

He'll fly his astral plane.
He'll take you trips around the bay.
He'll bring you back the same day.
Timothy leary. timothy leary.
Timothy leary. timothy leary.
Timothy leary.

MOODY BLUES

This song has been stuck in my head for three days now. I have tried singing it aloud. I have listened to it repeatedly. It is all to no avail; the song swims in my gray matter endlessly. I hear it now. Maybe writing about it will help.

When I was in college I read Timothy Leary's autobiography. It was self-aggrandizing bullshit, the showman, the hype, the "look at me now swagger" of a twelve year old. That was Leary to the end, making a buck off of his trademark phrase "Tune in, Turn on and Drop out".

Leary will be forever known for his advocacy for psychedelic drugs, the poster boy for liberal leftist hippies. He was flown in as a special guest to Woodstock. He was a friend of Abbie Hoffman, Jack Kerouac and others.

The amazing thing about Leary was that in spite of his love for acid, for the image of the 60's godfather, he was an unabashed capitalist. He had no qualms making a buck touring with his one time nemisis -- G. Gordan Liddy (the first prosecutor to arrest Leary for drug crimes). He made money off his books. Some say he was a paid CIA informant. In the end Leary was unabashed Liberatarian:

Many modern liberals, I now suggested, might agree with him about certain aspects of his pro-liberty philosophy and not others. He was aggressively dismissive of such people. "That's basically socialist, communist, totalitarian. The so-called liberal is totalitarian. Even more so now. [Even] back in the '60s, so-called liberal left-wing magazines were very opposed to psychedelics."

He sure knew who the enemy was didn't he? Whatever you think about Timothy Leary, he sure is dead now, his ashes sent to space along with Gene Roddenberry. In any event that damn song remains pounding in my brainpan.