The Beatles Get Their “Hippie” On!
Fifty seven years ago, on April 12, 1967 – Paul McCartney was photographed on a journey back from the world of hippies, which would lead to one of the band’s great albums!
This is Paul in the US those fifty+ years ago, and thanks to a terrific book, we know how this date in Beatles’ history led to the album “Magical Mystery Tour!”
The book is titled “The Beatles 365 Days” by Simon Wells – I was given it as a gift, and it has been a terrific book to dip into at any time…
It takes a day by day look at their lives, their recordings, their every move – tied to a specific day. Here is what happened on April 12, 1967 – 57+ years ago!
As the book details:
“Paul arrived at London’s Heathrow airport, after spending eight days in the US. The book points out that he was in Denver to see his girlfriend, Jane Asher, who was celebrating her 21st birthday in Denver, since she was performing on stage there.”
Paul was returning from his trip to the US, which included a party in Denver for Asher’s birthday on April 6.
However, Paul was always thinking about music, so he was also doing this on his US trip, according to the book:
“Paul would take off in various directions along the West Coast, visiting Jefferson Airplane in Haight Ashbury and recording with the Beach Boys during sessions for their controversial album “Smile.”
Here’s a shot of Paul and Brian from almost a decade later, when Paul celebrated the Beach Boys’ birthday:
According to the book, this trip in 1967 sparked something in Paul:
“It was during this brief sojourn into the hinterlands of California hippiedom that Paul, feeding off the residual energy left by Ken Kesey’s band of psychic trailers, would form ideas that would later see light in the group’s project “Magical Mystery Tour.”
At this time, San Francisco was engulfed in “flower power”, the “free love” era that included the iconic intersection of Haight and Asbury:
It was a fascinating time, but it didn’t last long – see more about this era here:
I love that Paul was a supporter of the “hippie” movement. I guess you could see it in some of his apparel – very of the “moment”:
Paul is quoted as saying at the time:
“I really wish the people that look at the ‘weeds’ at the ‘happenings’, at the psychedelic ‘freak-outs’ would, instead of just looking with anger, just look with nothing; with no feeling, be unbiased about it.”
As always, Paul was open to everyone and everything.
Of course, Paul went on to lead his band on a merry journey of their own, which resulted in an album AND a TV special:
Here is the official Apple trailer for the “Magical Mystery Tour” film:
While it includes two songs recorded during the “Sgt. Pepper” sessions (“All You Need Is Love” and “Baby You’re A Rich Man”), it is a terrific snapshot of the sound of the band at that time…with instant classics like the title track, “I Am The Walrus” and “Fool On The Hill”…
So that was a look at April 12, 1967 – fifty-seven years ago in the life of The Beatles.
I took a look at another of the band’s masterpieces:
Here is a look at the album that some consider to be their greatest achievement, which I profiled on its 50th anniversary in 2016:
Of course, there are those who feel that this is the greatest album in rock history:
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is as iconic as its album cover..here’s a look at the music inside:
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Categories: Art, Books / Media, Classic Rock, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, Music, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, The Beatles
johnrieber 
I will never tire of these Beatles stories. Even back in the days of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, Paul and the rest were always forward thinking and setting the stage for new music.
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Great comment!
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Thank you!
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Fascinating information, John. I didn’t know this.
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Both great albums. The hippie phase passed me by as I was a bit young, but I do remember 10 year old me walking about with a cow bell around my neck.
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Loved the album I wore out 2 LPs…..chuq
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I never knew what inspired the album, I had chalked it up to them all being in a psychedelic hippie phase, now it makes a lot of sense.
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Magical Mystery Tour was a lot of fun to watch. It was released in a different format here: a double EP with just the six songs from the film, packaged in hard cover book format with loads of great photos. It had pride of place in my collection 😊
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That sounds like a collectors item..here in the US they made an album out of it with leftover songs!
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It sold well here. It was about twice the price of a single but still got a high chart placing. Mine is long since lost, I’m afraid. We got that album version in 1976, but it didn’t chart all that well.
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We have a very obscure link to Jane Asher. Julie’s (gay) uncle John (now deceased) was a lomg time personal friend of Jane’s. She later became famous as a baker and published books about cakes, giving John signed copies. Since he died, she occasionally keeps in touch with the family.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks for sharing that Pete!
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