Purple Canteen — “Brains in My Feet”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — November 7, 2025

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,775) Purple Canteen — “Brains in My Feet”

Welcome to the “freaky corner of the room” (instrumental version) (Beverly Paterson, Twist and Shake Magazine, https://psychofthesouth.com/) for this “mindblowing” (instrumental version) (Lost in Tyme magazine #4, https://psychofthesouth.com/) “psychedelic rock/acid rock with hypnotic vocals, use of haunting organ and killer, spacey fuzzy guitars”. (roquecolor, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/purple_canteen/if_you_like_it_that_way___brains_in_my_feet/) “[T]his should be the national anthem of 60’s psych!! F’ing fantastic!!!!” (heterodyne1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFq2q1L86E) “That organ sounds like it’s DEAD. This is, like, the deepest. Holy crap… ” (gwugluud, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjkLc6wlUgI) “Fuzz and organ freak out. Cool.” (balloonfarm5903, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFq2q1L86E) It gives you “a wallop of brain tingling fuzz guitar, then back into the melodic gliding tripping organ-infused segment[. I]t’s so good, you need to hear this”. (instrumental version) (Psych Trail Mix magazine #5, https://psychofthesouth.com/)

Oh, and “Brains” throws in some of the most astounding psychedelic lyrics — ever: “When I woke up this morning, my head was in my shoes” (Band member and writer Terry Taylor says this “was based on a comment from drummer Jim Wheeless…I feel like my head is in my shoes”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFq2q1L86E)) “My backbone dripping blood from my brain Without you here, now, I’ll go insane” OMFG

Streetmouse, sounding very much like Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now, explains it this way:

[H]ands down one of the most amazing psychedelic songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing. It’s a singular number from 1969, from a band who delivered but one seven inch 45 rpm, a song deeply laced with haunting hypnotic droning magic, and has been the source of frustration for most of my life … first because it took me forever to find this gem on wax, and secondly, the magic laid down here on this one hit wonder has set the couch-bound lysergic drenched atmosphere that I can’t seem to get enough of, where this number stands as the beacon to which I compare everything else. It’s . . . so infectious that an entire album should have been built around its shimmering intoxication and ethereal delights. Both lyrically and instrumentally the song is responsible for setting the groundwork for what was to be rediscovered and become so essential to the structure of later low-keyed and morally wasted psychedelic music, that it simply staggers my mind each time I hear these notes ebb from my speakers, where I’m not so much drawn back in time, nor pushed forward, but am face to face with one of the few constants in my life, an eternal singular moment, with a song that is truly timeless, sounding as enchanting today as it did nearly fifty years ago … and if that’s not saying something, then I’ve been on the wrong train for far too long. . . . [A] psychedelic masterpiece.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/purple_canteen/if_you_like_it_that_way___brains_in_my_feet/

Streetmouse tells us of the Purple Canteen:

The group hails from the Jonesboro area and rented a house in the tiny town of Goobertown, Arkansas as a place to practice and hang out. The band’s trailer was shaped like a huge purple coffin inscribed with Purple Canteen to scare the kids. “Brains” nearly mystically sprang from writer Terry Taylor’s head, though the whole group contributed parts, along with production ideas. Wheeless’ name appears in the credits due to the fact that he was the only member who was over eighteen at the time.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/purple_canteen/if_you_like_it_that_way___brains_in_my_feet/

Here is the instrumental version:

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