“Tripmaker”
by The Seeds
1966 song
One of The Seeds’ best, and one of the most delirious songs of 1966 from any artist, was the great "Tripmaker". The references to drugs were getting more and more overt for Sky and the guys; the music more unhinged. "Tripmaker" leaves little to the imagination by its very title alone as to what its subject matter might be. An ode to the underground chemists who concocted the keys to lysergic liberation, "Tripmaker" is an LSD-soaked classic from A Web Of Sound.
Besides the colorful “crystallized powders” that Sky sneers about over the grimy start-stop thrustings of the band, "Tripmaker" is distinguished most of all by its wailing police whistle. This was an effect that Sky stole from Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” from the previous year, and it has largely the same effect here: something noisy and audacious to celebrate the derangement of (if not the rest of the band) Sky Saxon’s senses.
"Tripmaker" was recorded by The Seeds on July 5, 1966, the very first session for the album. ("I Tell Myself" was also done on this date.) Four takes of "Tripmaker" were done, with the final making it to the album after guitar, keyboards, and tambourine were added to it at the same session.
The Seeds vs. The Beatles
Interestingly, The Beatles’ “Dr. Robert”, with its similar subject matter, was issued in the United States just fifteen days before this session, on the album Yesterday And Today. It isn’t known if the Fab Four influenced Sky, but one thing that is certain is that Sky cut out the middleman: The Beatles sing the praises of the dealer, whereas Sky Saxon focuses his attention on the chemist and his mod clothes and his inspired scientific lunacy.
The lyrics of "Tripmaker" are hilarious, painting the tripmaker’s lair in vivid Halloween-spooky terms. In a hidden underground chamber, green moss hanging on the trees outside next to “a thousand signs saying STAY AWAY”, the mad scientist mixes crystallized powders in colorized bottles, causing the Earth to tremble. The shaking of the planet suits the occasion, in Sky’s mind: these potions are going to change things forever.
"Tripmaker" is usually one of the songs shortlisted when people create Seeds compilation albums. It’s hard to take any such album seriously if it doesn’t have "Tripmaker" on it. The song was written by keyboard player Daryl Hooper and Sky Saxon, the latter using his alternate name Marcus Tybalt.
Sky once said in an interview, “‘Tripmaker’ was about staying away from people who sold bad drugs, especially homemade drugs. They were an unproven area, and you had no control over it. I was basically just into smoking marijuana.” This sounds strongly like latter-day revisionism; nothing in the lyrics of "Tripmaker" sounds like anything less than a total celebration of such chemicals.
“Tripmaker” Mono vs Stereo
"Tripmaker" was never issued on a single, but stereo and mono versions of its parent album A Web Of Sound were released. The differences in the two versions of this particular song are very noticeable: the stereo sounds bigger and more inclusive. The mono "Tripmaker" has Sky’s voice much drier, but mixed a bit lower and sounding distant. His words are easier to make out, however.
The 2013 2CD deluxe edition of A Web Of Sound features both versions, as does the 2017 2LP vinyl edition.
Other Released Versions of “Tripmaker”
As Sunlight Sky Saxon and The Dragonslayers, Sky and his band re-recorded "Tripmaker" for their 1990 album Breakin' Through The Doors, even leading off the CD with it. It was retitled, as were most of the CD’s tracks; it’s called "Stay Away Trip Maker/Orange, Green & White Powders". This take does not feature a police whistle, replacing it with Tom Azevedo’s meaty metal guitar instead. Sky sounds much like he did on the original as vocalist, and the band is quite faithful to the original.
In 2019, on the Pushin’ Too Hard Soundtrack CD, a live version of the original Seeds doing "Tripmaker" was included. This rough mono recording, made on April 29, 1967 at the 18,000-seat Hollywood Bowl, is a document from The Seeds’ height of popularity. The band is introduced in a short speech from “Humble Harv” Miller as “Sky and The Seeds” and they launch into a glorious version of the song. Sky even breaks out the police whistle, indulging in some extra-strange trills on it towards the performance’s end.
