"Eight Miles High" as written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn and David Crosby....
Eight miles high and when you touch down
You'll find that it's stranger than known
Signs in the street that say where you're going
Are somewhere just being their own
Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town known for its sound
In places small faces unbound
Round the squares huddled in storms
Some laughing some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes and black limousines
Some living some standing alone
You'll find that it's stranger than known
Signs in the street that say where you're going
Are somewhere just being their own
Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town known for its sound
In places small faces unbound
Round the squares huddled in storms
Some laughing some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes and black limousines
Some living some standing alone
Lyrics submitted by magicnudiesuit
"Eight Miles High" as written by Gene Clark Daivd Crosby
Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
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mentioned an interest in LSD - then Eight Miles High was
written, and the Byrds were taken to task for it - automatically
it was deemed a drug song, even with the London trip
connotations - the Byrds were called "America's answer to
the Beatles" in some publications, and their tour of England
was rough
contributed
When I hear this song, I think of a depressed person attempting suicide, probably through inhaling gas like nitrous oxide that might at first induce a "high." When the gas is starting to reach dangerous levels and the user is nearly unconscious, the lyrics describe the faint visions that are just beginning to take shape in the suicidal person's mind, perhaps mere hallucinations (they certainly seem fragmented enough to be the inventions of an oxygen-starved mind!) perhaps distant memories, or perhaps remote visions of heaven, hell, or glimpses of an afterlife too strange for the living mind to comprehend.
Whatever these visions are, the dying individual can only wonder whether those "shapeless forms" will become tangible and he will at last "touch down" in this foreign land when he closes his eyes to sleep (and to die) or whether they will simply fade as the last of his thoughts slip away. This could frighten him and inspire second thoughts, although he knows he cannot turn back; that could cover the "Nowhere is there warmth to be found/Among those afraid of losing their ground" stanza.
Sorry if that seemed unnecessarily morose, but I've always found this offbeat interpretation beautiful in its own strange way. If I'm ever in a situation where I know I'm near the end, I'll put on this song, or maybe the Leo Kottke version.