“The Trip” is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Kim Fowley. It first appeared on the A-side of Fowley’s debut single as a solo artist, which was released in early 1965 on Corby Records. Anticipating the surreal essence of psychedelia, and his early work with the Mothers of Invention, “The Trip” remains one of Fowley’s most experimental compositions of his recording career. Lyrically, the song is regarded as one of the earliest recordings to explicitly make references to LSD. (More from Wikipedia)
One of Kim Fowley’s best known songs is “The Trip”, the first single to be released under his own name; it was included in the soundtrack for the 2008 Guy Ritchie film RocknRolla. The song is included on the album that started the garage rock/psychedelic rock revival that began in the 1970’s and continues to this day, Pebbles, Volume 1. In his review of the Pebbles series for Allmusic, Richie Unterberger comments: “Though 1972’s Nuggets compilation reawakened listeners to the sounds of mid-’60s garage rock, it only focused on the tip of the iceberg. Behind those forgotten hits and semi-hits lurked hundreds, if not thousands, of regional hits and flops from the same era, most even rawer and cruder. . . . More than any other factor, these compilations [in the Pebbles series] were responsible for the resurgence of interest in garage rock, which remains high among collectors to this day.”
“The Trip” is a monologue about the psychedelic experience with an appropriate musical accompaniment. The single was released in 1965; according to popsike.com, a copy of the original US pressing on Corby Records of the 45 sold at auction on eBay in 2007 for $185.
The liner notes by Nigel Strange on Pebbles, Volume 1 (the CD that is) says of Kim Fowley: “What more can be said about this writer/singer/producer/hustler who’s had his hand in everything from ‘Alley Oop’ by the Hollywood Argyles, to Helen Reddy, to the Dead Boys, to Guns N’ Roses. . . . This song, released at the onset of teenage freakout mania, was something of a sensation in L.A. at the time and was covered by others including Thee Midniters and disc jockey Godfrey. A real classic.”
A cover of “The Trip” by a band called the Fire Escape is included on Kim Fowley’s 1980 album Hollywood Confidential that also features songs by the Runaways, Venus and the Razorblades, and the Seeds.
Kim Fowley’s follow-up single to “The Trip” was a cover of the bizarre novelty song “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” that made the charts.
(January 2015/1)
