After beating the Americans at their own game with a unique brand of rock and roll, The Beatles began to broaden their horizons. The Fab Four cannot be held solely accountable for the psychedelic rock explosion in the mid-1960s, but they were one of the first rock bands to popularise experimentalism. The first hints of this rebrand arrived in the 1965 album Rubber Soul, which was heavily influenced by cannabis and the man who introduced them to the drug, Bob Dylan.
The folk-rock stylings in Rubber Soul were crucially met with some rather abstract lyrics. These were just the first steps along a strange, enchanted road landmarked by such wonders as Revolver, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the “White Album”. No matter how passionately John Lennon denied that ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ wasn’t a clandestine reference to LSD, the band was dabbling in hallucinogens, and they had a definite impact on creative direction – “kaleidoscope eyes” should be enough of a giveaway.
Unlike some of their fellow psych-rock proponents, The Beatles didn’t dwell on the wonders of LSD for too long. As creatively enhancing and entertaining these psychedelic trips might be, Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett stands as a prominent reminder of the drug’s double-edged sword. The popular alternative to spiritually awakening substances was meditation, which The Beatles embraced vehemently during their famous travels in India.
Although the band first visited the Eastern country in 1966, their return in early 1968 was the most impactful, thanks to a course in spiritual enlightenment under the mentorship of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Beatles were accompanied by several famous friends, including Donovan, The Beach Boys’ Mike Love and sisters Mia and Prudence Farrow.
With George Harrison’s sitar lessons with Ravi Shankar ongoing, the Indian sound had already diversified The Beatles’ catalogue for several years. Still, the so-called “White Album” contained many songs written during and inspired by the 1968 trip to India. For example, Donovan taught Lennon some new guitar picking approaches, which led to ‘Julia’, in switch the Beatle reflected on his late mother, Julia Lennon.
Donovan also helped Lennon write ‘Dear Prudence’, a song inspired by Prudence Farrow. “I was playing guitar constantly, and John looked at me and said, ‘How do you do that guitar picking?’ So I taught John,” Donovan recalled in a 2014 interview with Uncut. “It’s called the clawhammer. It was invented by Ma Carter in the Carter Family in the 1920s.”
Lennon was lyrically inspired by Farrow, who had been absent for a long time. “She had come to the ashram, as we all had, with various problems, and Maharishi kept her locked away in meditation for days on end,” Donovan added. Wondering where Prudence was, Lennon had the idea for a song centred on the literal meaning of “prudence”.
Another of Lennon’s popular songs created during this period was ‘I’m So Tired’, also appearing on the “White Album”. He wrote the track during a bout of insomnia after a long meditation session. The lyrics were inspired partly by his infatuation with Yoko Ono, who had remained in the UK while his then-wife, Cynthia, accompanied him in India. ‘In India again,” Lennon said of ‘I’m So Tired’ in David Sheff’s All We Are Saying. “I couldn’t sleep, I’m meditating all day and couldn’t sleep at night. The story is that.”
Despite being so simple, the song was one of Lennon’s favourites from The Beatles’ catalogue. “One of my favourite tracks,” he added. “I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well.”
Paul McCartney is also proud of Lennon’s work on the song, once describing it as one of the most archetypal Lennon compositions. “It had that very special line, ‘And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid get.’ That’s a classic line, and it’s so John that there’s no doubt that he wrote it,” McCartney said. “I think it’s 100 per cent John. Being tired was one of his themes; he wrote ‘I’m Only Sleeping’. I think we were all pretty tired, but he chose to write about it.”
Listen to The Beatles’ ‘I’m So Tired’ below.
