Tomorrow Never Knows

This article is about the Beatles song. For the Japanese song, see Tomorrow Never Knows (Japanese song)

Tomorrow Never Knows is a song from The Beatles's Revolver album, from 1966.

John Lennon wrote the song based on his readings of The Psychedelic Experience, which adapted the Tibetan Book of the Dead for use as an LSD "user's manual", intending to give users a kind of religious experience. The song's title came from his bandmate Ringo Starr, who was known for his but insightful comments about life.

Lennon wanted the sound of monks , to complement the Beatles' recording of the song. It was not possible to do this, but Lennon's voice was played through a special speaker (called a Leslie speaker), to give it a sound, like a voice calling from a hilltop. Other sounds on the record came from tape loops, playing over and over, and from a sitar.

The song has also been recorded by other artists. A dance cover version appeared in the 1990s.

Tomorrow Never Knows Media

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  Timothy Leary before a crowd of university students during a lecture tour in 1969. In his lyrics to "Tomorrow Never Knows", Lennon drew from Leary's espousal of LSD as a means to transcend material concerns.

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  A cross-section showing the inner workings of a Leslie speaker cabinet

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  A small gompa (Buddhist monastery) in Ladakh. Lennon sought to capture the mood of Tibetan monks chanting from a mountaintop.

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  A 7-inch reel of audio recording tape, which was the type used to create the song's tape loops

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  The Love project, which combined "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Within You Without You"