Psychedelic Friendship
20 Letters: #17
This is the seventeenth instalment of a series, 20 Letters, where I share letters I wrote and sent via the post, throughout 2020 and 2021, to people in my life. Read more here.
Dear SS,
We just finished a two-hour Zoom call, so perhaps it’s silly to write you a letter, but I have been contemplating this one for a while and I can’t ignore inspiration when it strikes. I think I mentioned to you at some point that one of my many goals for 2020 is to write and send 20 letters. This is letter #17. Nearly all of them have been inspired by songs, directly quoting some lyrics in the letter. I have been struggling to find the right song to match the topic of this letter to you. I tried listening to your “Held” instrumental piece and, brilliant though it is, it didn’t convey or conjure the feeling I was after. There’s a song by Dan Deacon that I’ve been obsessed with for the past month, since discovering it on the German Netflix show Dark. It’s called “When I Was Done Dying” and, if that title wasn’t sufficient proof of its brilliance, the lyrics are wonderfully bonkers. I’m pretty sure it’s describing the journey of a psychedelic drug experience, so the lyrics are a series of random images and actions, rather than a comprehensible narrative. I won’t quote them here because that’s not the point – I am inspired by how the song makes me feel, and how that relates to you, my dear.
