49 reasons

[Robin Landseadel]

In advance of later postings for The Crying of Lot 49, I'm re- 
presenting present this "6 degrees" theory concerning the Paranoids.

I'm a big fan of the Byrds, have been from the moment I first heard  
them. There's a good chance that I heard them the moment they "broke."  
I was plugged into a 12 transistor "Viscount" portable radio via  
earphone for most of 1965 and spent long hours purposefully listening  
to top 40 from KHJ, KFWB & KRLA. The Byrds sounded/felt like the  
Beatles in many way, having one of the top pop countertenors in David  
Crosby and George Harrison inspired guitar work from Jim [soon to be  
Roger] McGuinn. 1965 is the year when Dylan "broke" as well. "Like a  
Rolling Stone" raised a lot of consternation from old-timers, like my  
Dad—"You call that singing!!! That's not singing, that's awful, turn  
it off!!!"—and excited giggles among freaks, like my Mom. Later, 8  
Miles High came out and then was withdrawn from the top ten due to  
widespread news reports that the song was a about—had to be about, I  
mean listen to those weird intervals, that atonal solo—LSD. 8 Miles  
High was about a jet flight, but it Sounded like LSD. And there you are.

In any case, any of you who have looked over "Positively 4th Street"  
by David Hajdu:

http://www.amazon.com/Positively-4th-Street-Farina-Richard/dp/0374281998

. . . understand that there's these connections between Dylan & Baez &  
Richard and Mimi Farina and Pynchon, enough that Pynchon actually  
contributed to the book. So I'm going to hazard a guess that OBA knew  
about this really young group called "The Jet Set" that sang Dylan  
songs and had a batch of super-sensitive ballads by the skinny,  
disturbed-looking one. He might have noticed their attempt at Beatle  
haircuts. Maybe he knew about those sessions out at World Pacific, by  
then called the "Beefeaters" and making demos back in 1964.

CoL49 concerns itself with the moment just before revelation and LSD  
figures into it heavily. The opening  credits of the film of "49"  
should be "Have You Seen Her Face", a 1967 attempt at top 40 that  
didn't quite make it. Paranoid Pop at its finest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A28Ldqa2pAs

Anyway, back to the LSD theme, here's the Monterey Pop audio—sounds  
like David Crosby convinced the sound man to turn his mike way up in  
the mix— of "Have You Seen Her Face" with an interesting intro from  
the troublemaker of the group:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWcnYoB_Ykc

The Paranoids [Gene Clark was afraid of flying on Jets, Roger McGuinn  
loves it] reappear at the Fillmore as Zoyd moves to Vineland. And of  
course Mucho and Zoyd talk about LSD.