This 1966 Beatles Song Was Inspired by a “Trip” With a Famous Actor

In 1966, The Beatles released the song “She Said She Said” off their seventh studio album, Revolver. The song narrates a conversation between a man and a woman, in which she makes him feel “like [he’s] never been born.”

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“She said / ‘I know what it’s like to be dead / I know what it is to be sad’ / And she’s making me feel like I’ve never been born.“

Funnily enough, this song was actually inspired by a real conversation. “She Said She Said” came about during an acid trip, in which the Beatles were accompanied by “The Byrds and lots of girls”, as Lennon told David Sheff. Also present was actor Peter Fonda, who would eventually star in the acclaimed film Easy Rider a few years later.

During this particular acid trip, Harrison became overcome with the sensation that he might be dying. To comfort the Beatle, Fonda shared a little bit about his own near-death experience that he’d had at just 11 years old.

“I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was relax,” Fonda later shared of the moment. “I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old, I’d accidentally shot myself in the stomach, and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I’d lost so much blood.”

Apparently, this story was followed by a remark from Lennon, which ended up in the song’s chorus: “You’re making me feel like I’ve never been born. Who put all that s**t in your head?”

‘Revolver’ and LSD

Similar to how the use of marijuana influenced The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album, LSD actually played a bit of a crucial part in Revolver.

In 1965, Lennon and Harrison had LSD for the first time, with their then-wives Cynthia and Pattie Boyd. Harrison described the experience as like “gaining hundreds of years of experience in 12 hours.” Lennon even admitted that he felt pretty stoned for “a month or two” after taking the drug.

When the inspiration for “She Said She Said” struck, it was Lennon and Harrison’s second time taking LSD, and they had convinced McCartney and Starr to try it with them at last. Harrison even told Can’t Buy Me Love that, really, McCartney and Starr’s acid use was crucial to keeping the band unified.

Harrison explained that ever since that first experience, “We couldn’t relate to them on any level, because acid had changed us so much.”

Photo by: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images