In 1964 music journalist Al Aronowitz introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles. The encounter influenced the musical development of both parties; after witnessing the pandemonium of a Beatles concert, Dylan bought an electric guitar and began exploring the idea of combining folk music with rock and roll. Dylan's comment to John Lennon that the Fab Four's songs "weren't about anything" also had a significant effect. The next two Beatles albums—Revolver and Rubber Soul—were in many ways responses to that charge; the boy-meets-girl lyrics of the early period dwindled and were replaced by subject matter that was more reflective, abstract, and poetic, embracing a wider spectrum of styles. The music was also different; it was more harmonically complex and richer, and it employed more tone colors and electronic effects. The change in the music was the work of the Beatles' producer, George Martin, who became more involved in the creative process as the group shifted their focus from touring to the studio.
Society, too, was changing. Under the influence of its new status as the pop kingdom of the world, London was transforming into "Swinging London," a place where cutting-edge fashion, art, and music combined to create the most happening place on earth. Drugs, too, were becoming more common, particularly an experimental substance touted by psychiatrists as a way to confront repressed memories and reduce anxiety and neuroses. D-lysergic acid diethylamide, (LSD25) was at that time legal, and the hipster set in London employed the drug for its consciousness-expanding properties. John Lennon and George Harrison were surreptitiously given the drug at a dinner party. Thereafter both became more involved in Eastern phenomena: both explored Buddhism and meditation, Harrison studied Indian music, and John Lennon's lyrics became more fanciful, impressionistic, and philosophical. The words of "Tomorrow Never Knows" are taken directly from the book The Psychedelic Experience, an analysis of the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Harvard professor and LSD proponent Timothy Leary. The song was the most heavily produced Beatles effort to date; George Martin wanted the vocals to sound like "the Dalai Lama sitting on a hilltop," and five tape loops, fuzz tone, and backtracking (George Harrison's guitar solo was actually recorded backward) were employed to replicate the psychedelic experience and the circular nature of much Eastern philosophy.
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"Norwegian Wood"
