"Legend of a Mind" is a song by the British progressive rock band The Moody Blues, and was written by the band's flautist Ray Thomas, who provides the lead vocals. "Legend of a Mind" was recorded in January 1968 and was first released on the Moody Blues' album In Search of the Lost Chord. It was the first song recorded for the album.

The original promotional black-and-white film for the song was filmed on location at Groot-Bijgaarden Castle near Brussels in Belgium.

The song's lyrics are about 1960s LSD icon Timothy Leary. Leary was an advocate for the use of LSD, enjoying its "spiritual" benefits, with one of his catchphrases being "Turn on, tune in, drop out."

The song is perhaps best known for its opening lines: "Timothy Leary's dead / No, no, no, no he's outside looking in"^[1], which allude to Leary's use of eastern mysticism (most notably the Tibetan Book of the Dead) to frame the psychedelic experience. ^[2]

The song's lyrics describe both Leary and the effects of LSD, such as:

He'll fly his astral plane
Takes you trips around the bay
Brings you back the same day^[3]

as well as:

He'll take you up,
He'll bring you down.
He'll plant your feet back firmly on the ground.
He flies so high,
He swoops so low.
He knows exactly which way he's gonna go.^[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_a_Mind

Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs such as LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison Experiment and the Marsh Chapel Experiment. Both studies produced useful data, but Leary and his associate Richard Alpert were fired from the university.

Leary believed LSD showed therapeutic potential for use in psychiatry. He popularized catchphrases that promoted his philosophy, such as "turn on, tune in, drop out", "set and setting", and "think for yourself and question authority". He also wrote and spoke frequently about transhumanist concepts involving space migration, intelligence increase and life extension (SMI²LE), and he developed the eight-circuit model of consciousness in his book Exo-Psychology (1977).

During the 1960s and 1970s, Leary was arrested regularly and was held captive in 29 different prisons throughout the world. President Richard Nixon once described Leary as "the most dangerous man in America".^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary

He was dangerous alright. Anyone who causes you to think is dangerous. Long may they wail...

Taking my cue here from Ralph Waldo Emerson's classic essay "Self-Reliance":  

If you would be an authentic complete self-realized self-actualized human being you must add being a non-conformist to the mix. 

Then take plenty of drugs...by which I mean the ones you feel most comfortable with; dare I add, the ones that have spurred the expansion of your mind the most...kick back, get naked, make plenty of love, make beautiful music together, get a bonfire going...

Hey...Sometimes conformity is okay. Very interesting...

Legend of A Mind

Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
He'll fly his astral plane,
Takes you trips around the bay,
Brings you back the same day,
Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.

Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
He'll fly his astral plane,
Takes you trips around the bay,
Brings you back the same day,
Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.

Along the coast you'll hear them boast
About a light they say that shines so clear.
So raise your glass, we'll drink a toast
To the little man who sells you thrills along the pier.

He'll take you up, he'll bring you down,
He'll plant your feet back firmly on the ground.
He flies so high, he swoops so low,
He knows exactly which way he's gonna go.
Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.

He'll take you up, he'll bring you down,
He'll plant your feet back on the ground.
He'll fly so high, he'll swoop so low.
Timothy Leary.

He'll fly his astral plane.
He'll take you trips around the bay.
He'll bring you back the same day.
Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.
Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.
Timothy Leary.

--song written by Ray Thomas