![]() There might have been occasions that Paul’s fellow Mop Tops wondered if it was really McCartney’s double who composed “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” which John called “more of Paul’s granny music” or “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” a song that Ringo called “the worst track we ever had to record. ![]() The shocking story, including that there was a double of Paul in the Beatles, was broken by Russ Gibb, a Detroit DJ whose source for these tall tales were stoned sleuths who claimed that proof of Paul’s untimely death could be found in Beatles’ records when they were played backward. McCartney soon followed while Lennon and Harrison left in April.Paul McCartney was rumored to have perished in a car accident around the same time John met Yoko: November 1966. The first Beatle to leave India was Ringo, who returned to London in early March. Wild Honey Pie was a sing-along that also emerged in Rishikesh. Paul McCartney later said he got the idea to Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? in India, where he had seen two monkeys copulating in the road. They did indeed go tiger hunting, just like the song suggests. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill was about a college graduate named Richard Cooke III who visited the Rishikesh community because his mother Nancy was staying there. After having stayed in India for a while, Lennon lost trust in Maharishi, apparently because of a rumor that the guru had made sexual advances to a female member of the course. Sexy Sadie was originally called Maharishi after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the meditation guru. Other songs written or inspired by the stay in India were Lennon’s The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill and Sexy Sadie, plus McCartney’s Why Don’t We Do It In The Road and Wild Honey Pie. In the end Lennon and George Harrison had to convince her to come out and join the others: Dear Prudence, won’t you come out and play? Prudence, however, preferred to meditate in solitude in her chalet. The song is really about Prudence Farrow, sister of actress Mia Farrow, who also stayed at Rishikesh. ![]() Dear Prudence is actually about a specific incident that occurred at the Rishikesh meditation camp. ![]() Just listen to the songs Julia and Dear Prudence, both penned by John Lennon. Paul was of course not the only Beatle who was inspired by Donovan’s guitar technique. The lyrics, meanwhile, are said to have been influenced by a lecture given by meditation guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a central figure at the camp. Also here Donovan’s influence is obvious. The Beatles had often used the acoustic to play rhythm guitar, which of course worked brilliantly, but the Donovan finger-picking style added yet another dimension their music.Īnother of Paul’s songs, Mother Nature’s Son, also took shape in India. Listen how elegantly Paul picks the strings and how the guitar pattern supports the lead vocal brilliantly.Īcoustic guitars had arguably not sounded quite as sophisticated as that on previous Beatles recordings, perhaps with a few exceptions, such as Paul’s I’ve Just Seen A Face from 1965 and Lennon’s Girl from 1966. It was written in India, and it’s a prime example of how Donovan’s guitar-technique was applied by the Beatles. Take Paul McCartney’s Blackbird, for example. Between the meditation classes, he taught John, Paul, and George a special finger-picking guitar style which can be traced on many of the songs on The White Album. One reason for this was the fact that Donovan was there. Many of the songs that would later feature on the Beatles’ 1968 album entitled The Beatles, also known as The White Album because of its white cover, emerged during the group’s stay in India. There were several other westerners present at the Rishikesh camp too, including Mike Love of the Beach Boys. Donovan (Donovan Philips Leitch) was a friend of the Beatles, and when the group traveled to Rishikesh in India to study Transcendental Meditation in February 1968, Donovan came along.
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