Slim Slow Slider

The last piece of the album Astral Weeks, Slim Slow Slider, encapsulates a particular atmosphere. The lyrics are said to evoke the feeling of being lost in a big city, like London, or even under the influence of a substance. For some, it serves as a bridge between the references to Belfast and America that appear in other songs on the album. The lyrics seem to describe how the agitation of themes like Cyprus Avenue translates to urban settings, transforming streets of Notting Hill into desert beaches in the mind of someone who is trapped. There is a return to the rawness of T.B. Sheets, with a twelve-bar blues and an artist's laugh that is perceived as somber. The song concludes abruptly, with a guitar strum.

This piece was recorded on October 15, 1968, at Century Sound Studios in New York City, being the last take of the final session for the album Astral Weeks. The producer of the recording was Lewis Merenstein, and the sound engineer was Brooks Arthur. Saxophonist John Payne, who participated in this song, mentioned that an extended instrumental part, lasting between five and ten minutes, with jazz elements and a semi-baroque style, was removed from the final cut. The album Astral Weeks, released by Warner Bros. Records, fuses folk, blues, jazz, and classical music styles, marking a difference from the artist's previous pop hits, like Brown Eyed Girl. The song Slim Slow Slider was also part of the live recording Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl, released in 2009, forty years after the album's original release. In this live version, the song was relocated and its duration and content were expanded. The album Astral Weeks was released in November 1968.