8 India’s Influence on the Beatles and their Music
The Beatles are a widely known group that has transcended time even though they have disbanded since the early 1970s. The band members included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Star. Their music since their initial fame in 1960 has influenced the world of music forever and without them who knows what music would look like today. Even though the Beatles influenced music there have also been a plethora of external factors that have affected the Beatles music as well. We will be looking at one of the major factors that affected the Beatles towards the end of their career throughout this chapter. The factor had such an impact on their music that is completely changed some of their music right down to the essence of what it was. This major factor that changed the Beatles music was with their trip to India which was ushered by the introduction of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This trip then caused the incorporation of Indian Culture into their music and can even be seen when looking at the lyrics of their songs.
By looking at the person who influenced the Beatles we will hopefully get a better understanding of why the Beatles went with the direction of their music. This person is Maharishi Mahesh, Yogi. Maharishi was an Indian guru or spiritual leader who had a normal start before he became the man who helped influence the Beatles. Maharishi “studied physics at Allahabad University, and in around 1939 became a disciple of Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, who from 1941 was the Shankaracharya (spiritual leader) of the Indian city of Jyotir Math”(Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 2008). This article shows us that even Maharishi started out as something different and changed into the spiritual consultant he eventually turned to.
This transformation can also be used later in the chapter to discuss the transformation of the Beatles music. Once Maharishi became Brahmananda’s disciple he worked his way up to them to become his personal assistant and then was given a new name of Bal Brahmachari Mahesh. He eventually began his own spiritual movement and several years after the start of his spiritual movement he came in contact with the Beatles. Maharishi moved his way up to where he was wether by just working his way up through the system or using his position to start his own movement. We may not know but his influence on introducing the Beatles to his culture should not be overlooked. That is why it is important to see where everything started between the two groups of people.
Maharishi was giving a lecture in London’s Caxton hall when George Harrison’s wife Pattie was asked to attend the seminar, this eventually piqued the interest of George himself. Pattie convinced George to attend his series of talks at the London Hilton who in turn was able to acquire the company of two of his band members John Lennon and Paul Mccartney. Once the series was over the Beatles were actually granted an audience with the Mahrishi himself and this is the starting point for the transformation of their music. “He impressed them with his philosophy; the next day they traveled to Bangor, North Wales, to attend a Transcendental Meditation seminar” (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 2008). The Beatles were so affected by Maharishi’s views of the world and spirituality that they up and followed him to attend his next seminar. At this point, they even gave up their use of drugs because they felt so strongly about Maharishi’s teachings.
This itself should have shown the world how much this meant to the Beatles. For someone to give up something that is so precious to them because of someone else and their thoughts is a tremendous gift. Though it could be said that they had a transfer of addictions in a way meaning that they went from drugs to Maharishi. Shortly after this encounter is when the Beatles would make their way to India and learn more about their culture and even some of their music. Though it makes you wonder who was influencing who. Maharishi had tried to use the Beatles influence to try and bring his teachings to the world on a grand scheme. While the Beatles were just trying to get a better understanding of the culture and themselves. Though the Beatles eventually had a falling out with Maharishi which ended with the Beatles leaving the country. Though they did not necessarily leave on happy terms there was still a tremendous amount they learned about music and themselves through their experiences and this even transitioned into their own music.
When the Beatles left they took a lot of the culture and spiritual guidance back to their homes and brought it into their own music. Indian music is almost fundamentally different than the type of music that the Beatles were used to playing. “Indian classical music is often an oral tradition that often involves improvisation, pitch ornamentation, and is devotional in nature” (Keithley). Even though this is a generalization of Indian music it even goes along with some of Maharishi’s teachings of Transcendental Meditation mantra. Maharishi’s teachings involved a lot about learning to devote to your self and become the best version of your self. The Beatles seemed to take this to heart as they Between the teachings of Maharishi and the learning about Indian music itself, they transitioned this into some of there songs and even several of their albums.
The Beatles used their experience in India to expand upon their music and use some of the Eastern cultures they had gained in India. When the Beatles first came back from their trip to India not much changed for them. This would not be surprising as one would not want to change their music drastically due to the effect on the number of listeners they may have. They had gained some knowledge they did not previously have but they had not incorporated much into their music at this point. Though that changed when they released their album “Rubber Soul” in December of 1965. In their song “Norwegian Wood”(2018b) they incorporated an instrument that had rarely been heard outside of eastern culture which was the sitar. “It was into this febrile atmosphere of hero-worship and near-idolatry that the sitar was introduced in a Beatles song… It was inevitable that it would unleash an avalanche of such experiments in the pop world…”(Guerrero et al., 2015).
This instrument even though it is similar to the guitar in many ways had a completely different sound which shocked people. This use of the instrument though was not in any way traditional as they used the instrument to back up the acoustic guitar. During this song though the instrument was used more ironically. Even when listening to the song the use of the instrument is more traditionally what the Beatles have produced in the past. This is not surprising though that this band made us of instruments that were out of their “scope.” “John Lennon became one of the first artists in Britain to acquire a unique new keyboard, the Mellotron”(Woodworth & Ally Jane Grossan, 2015). Even from the start of their career, they had made use of other instruments and aspects of music that were not necessarily in the norm. This song though would be called the starting point for the transition of the Beatles incorporating the use of Indian culture into their music. After this song, they incorporated more than just instruments into the repertoire of their musical skills.
The next album that released called “Revolver” featured even more ties to Indian culture than the previous album had. The Beatles experimented more with their music in this album than they had previously. Now that they had some experience and feedback from the first album they must have felt more confident that this was the route they wanted to take with their music. This album had two songs in particular that incorporated the Indian culture they had gained from their trip. The first song from this album is called “Love You To” (2018) Just like the song mentioned above this song also incorporated the sitar though, with this song the sitar replaced the guitar as the main instrument. This song also incorporates the actual use of Indian classical music which at this point was unheard of in western culture. In this, the Beatles took it upon themselves to be the conductor so to speak to really bringing Indian culture into the forefront of western culture. With this song, they also incorporated the use of the tanpura and the table which up to this point have not been heard of. The Tanpura is a plucked string instrument and the table is a percussion instrument both of them deriving from India. With the incorporation of the three different instruments, they provide the basic framework for virtually all Indian classical music. By completing the song in this fashion they have incorporated Indian culture into the base of their song even if the song would not pass for Indian music. This brings us to the other song mentioned in this album.
The other song in the album “Revolver” which incorporated Indian culture is called “Within You Without You”(2018c) Just like the previous song in this album, it uses the different instruments throughout but they make it a little more complicated than before. Throughout this song, they use a call and response between the “normal” instruments and the Indian instruments. How this was composed is completely unique even when comparing the other songs they made before this with Indian culture in mind. Even when listening to the patterns in the rhythm of the music you can tell the culture is from India. Which at this point would not have come to a huge surprise to their fans because they have heard similar music before even if they were improving. When thinking about there music they had always been at the forefront of change throughout their career when introducing these two cultures it would not be surprising that they would lead the charge. At this point in their career, India has made a place in their heart and is something that has changed them forever whether or not it was the right choice for their career.
Though looking at the rest of their career even if their albums were not heavily influenced by Indian culture it made an appearance from time to time and seemed to be greeted with enthusiasm from their fans. While most of their music actually incorporated Indian instruments which clearly illustrates the use of Indian culture they also incorporated it subtly in other aspects of their music. Which to a person that is not trained in the musical arts would be hard to know exactly what they are looking for even if they knew something was different. When looking at their song “Here Comes the Sun” which was produced 4 years after their first song that incorporated aspects of India. The use of a time signature that was mainly found in Indian classical music also shows the depths of the effects their trip had on them. When something affects you that deeply it is understandable why the fans of the Beatles would enjoy this aspect of their music even if they do not understand it as deeply as the musicians themselves do. That does not seem to be the intention of the band though because they had been so open about everything they had experienced. They even went so far as to incorporate components of different parts of this culture in their lyrics as well.
When the Beatles looked for inspiration to the lyrics to their songs there were many things in Indian culture that have influenced the Beatles. John Lennon even went so far in one of the songs that he based all of the lyrics off of the Tibetan Book of the Dead called “Tomorrow Never Knows”. “Although this song is not considered an “Indian son,” Lennon clearly had Indian music in mind” (Guerrero et al., 2015). It is interesting that even though the instruments and everything but the lyrics do not have Indian culture apart of it but he clearly wanted the lyrics to be apart of the culture. Even in the lyrics, the devotion of the culture that they adopted into their lives is shown throughout this entire song.
Turn off your mind relax and float downstream
Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void
“Yet you may see the meaning of within
That love is all and love is everyone
That ignorance and hate may mourn the dead
But listen to the colour of your dreams
Or play the game “existence” to the end
When looking at these lyrics altogether and not spread apart like in the actual song you can see the use of the Tibetan Book being used throughout this song. It seems that Lennon is trying to use this book to explain how he views death or even how to celebrate it. After each of the lyrics above, there is a repetition of several words that adds even more to the song. These lyrics almost complete the sentence of what Lennon is trying to say. Which is that death and life are a circle or cycle that repeats itself throughout time and is something that we have no control over.
Another song that has lyrics that were inspired by the Beatle’s trip to India is the song “Across the Universe.” Now this song is not as necessarily as deep as “Tomorrow Never Knows” but there is importance in the lyrics that they chose for this song. The constant mention through this song which is part of an Indian Mantra is “Jai guru deva om” or the approximate translation of “hail to the divine guru” (Guerrero et al., 2015). This lyric is sung throughout this song and must have some sort of connection to the rest of the lyrics. It seems that he is trying to remind himself to be patient with himself and others and to try to keep his peace of mind. Now others could interpret this in other ways but by placing the word “Jai Guru Deva, Om” it seems he is placing a reminder for himself to try and remain spiritual even in trying times amongst the things he trying to remind himself of.
In conclusion when looking at the trip to India that the Beatles took they were first influenced by Maharishi which then in turn affected their music and lyrics. After their trip to India, the Beatles placed importance on Indian culture and even adopted it in their personal lives. Once they felt comfortable enough they let the experience of their trip to India seep into their music slowly at first. This allowed them to experiment with both western and eastern culture music and bring eastern music into the mainstream. Without the Beatle’s trip to India, there may not have been an increase in interest in the culture and some of the movements that were brought over shortly after. Even their lyrics were effected by Indian culture even if it was not the main point that they were trying to make. Without this trip who knows what would have happened to the Beatles music would they have taken a different route or would they have suffered without the influx of new experiences. We may never know but we do know that we will forever be grateful for that trip and the music that came after.
References
el pero beatle. (2018a). Love you to – The Beatles (LYRICS/LETRA) [Original] [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mki1p2Fbr28
Guerrero, R., Brewer, C., Eyerly, S., & Seaton, D. (2015). The Role of The Beatles in Popularizing Indian Music and Culture in the West. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ccda/3719d00b17c0a9d96baa310584538221e8db.pdf
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. (2008, March 25). The Beatles Bible. https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/maharishi-mahesh-yogi/
The Beatles. (2018b, June 18). YouTube. Www.Youtube.Com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_V6y1ZCg_8
The Beatles. (2018c). Within You Without You (Remastered 2009) [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsffxGyY4ck
Woodworth, M., & Ally Jane Grossan. (2015). How to write about music : excerpts from the 33 1/3 series, magazines, books and blogs with advice from industry-leading writers. Bloomsbury Academic, An Imprint Of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.