None of us can ever really understand what being inside one of The Beatles‘ heads was like. They were propelled to fame before they ever really had a chance to understand what fame meant, and it led to each member having unlimited access to every corner of the world. The Earth was in the palm of their hands, and they had no real understanding of what to do with it.
Members tried various methods in an attempt to shut off from Beatlemania. Soul searching became an effort to understand who they were as people outside of the Beatles, and that search took them to India, where they spent time with Hindu guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
However, no matter where in the world the band went, they could never escape their intuition as songwriters, and as such, the time spent in India led to the production of a few different songs that ended up on The White Album. John Lennon wrote two tracks at the location, ‘I’m So Tired’ and ‘Yer Blues’. Lennon later said that both songs were incredibly realistic. The comments shed light on his rather bleak mindset at the time.
Lennon and Paul McCartney had changed the music industry forever with their songwriting ability. And while they worked well as a duo, that didn’t mean the two didn’t have disagreements. In the case of ‘Yer Blues’, Lennon ignored the advice McCartney gave before releasing the song.
“They’re pretty realistic, they were about me,” said Lennon, “they always struck me as – not, what’s the word? Funny… ironic? – that I was writing supposedly in the presence of [a] guru and meditating so many hours a day, writing, ‘I’m So Tired’… songs of such pain such as ‘Yer Blues,’ which I meant.”
He continued explaining how ‘Yer Blues’ was a slight parody of the English blues and a self-conscious song, which is where he and McCartney had minor creative differences. “Yeah, so there’s a self-consciousness about suddenly singing blues,” said John, “Paul was saying, ‘Don’t call it ‘Yer Blues,’ just say it straight.’ But I was self-conscious, and I went for ‘Yer Blues.’ But I think all that is past now because we’ve all got over… that self-consciousness.”
The song was never released as a single, but it did help make up The White Album, one of the band’s best-selling records. It climbed to the top of the Billboard 200 and remained there for 215 weeks. Still, today, people regard it as one of their best.
The Beatles were given the world, and as such, when it came to creating around it, members were always going to have differences. John’s ability to ignore Paul’s advice and carry on to make a truly great song that would contribute to one of their best albums is a testament to his vision and ability as a writer. His work is an interpretation of everything else around him, and people have never stopped loving it.
