"Shapes of Things" backed with "You're a Better Man Than I"

"Shapes of Things" by The Yardbirds is the other candidate for the "first psychedelic rock song, actually released a full month before "Eight Miles High" on February 25, 1966. But most of the aural revolution is contained in one part of the song which raises the question, "can the first ever psychedelic song be one in which only part of that song is psychedelic?"

Lyrics by Keith Relf

The lyrics to this song are wishy washy enough to make a good case for the song to be the first psychedelic song ever. However, lots of folk rock songs had already gone down this road, in terms of vague universal sentiments.

Music by Paul Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarty (and maybe Jeff Beck)

The bass line is apparently inspired by a Dave Brubeck song, which makes the song both stand out as a potential "jazz rock" landmark (though it doesn't sound very jazzy) and also a psychedelic landmark. However the song itself sounds, to my ears, like fairly conventional British blues. It's hard at this remove to hear it as revolutionary, though many listeners at the time claim it was shocking. I think that all comes from the arrangement.

Arrangement and Performance

• Jeff Beck: Electric Guitars
• Chris Dreja: Electric Guitar
• Jim McCarty: Drums, Vocal
• Keith Relf: Vocals
• Paul Samwell-Smith: Electric Bass Guitar

If anything sells this song as the first ever psychedelic record, it's Jeff Beck's guitar playing, mostly in the break but also in the rest of the song. His "fills" (mostly just chords) are distorted from the start, though they are mixed low enough not to draw your attention to much (at least if you are a modern listener). But it's his break, which employs three guitar parts, one of which is just feedback, which makes the song sound absolutely revolutionary. It's hard to listen to the break and not think "this sounds psychedelic."