The Fool on the Hill

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The Fool on the Hill
The Beatles
publication December 8, 1967
length 3 min 0 s
Genre (s) Rock song
Author (s) Lennon / McCartney
Label Parlophone
album Magical Mystery Tour

The Fool on the Hill ( English ; "The Fool on the Hill") is a song by the British band The Beatles from 1967. The song was composed by Paul McCartney , but it is under the Beatles' usual copyright Lennon / McCartney . The song was released for the first time on the double EP Magical Mystery Tour .

background

McCartney composed The Fool on the Hill in 1967 in his father's house in Liverpool . He was inspired by the public perception of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi . Since he giggled a lot, he was not taken seriously and was called a fool . Beatles biographer Hunter Davies reported that McCartney first played the song to John Lennon while they were composing With a Little Help from My Friends .

admission

On September 6, 1967 McCartney recorded a first demo version without the participation of the other Beatles on the piano . This version appeared in 1996 as part of the Anthology series.

The Beatles recorded The Fool on the Hill in 1967 at Abbey Road Studios in London . The producer was George Martin , who was assisted by Ken Scott . On September 25, 1967, the band recorded three takes of the song. At this point the song was still dominated by two harmonica played by George Harrison and John Lennon. This first version was also published in 1996 as part of the Anthology series. On September 26, 1967, most of the recordings from the previous day were discarded. Instead, the piano, guitars, drums, bass and vocals were overdubbed .

The last recordings took place on October 20, 1967. The three flautists Jack Ellory and the brothers Christopher and Richard Taylor played an arrangement composed by McCartney and George Martin.

publication

The Fool on the Hill was released in Great Britain on December 8, 1967 on the double EP Magical Mystery Tour . Two weeks earlier, the song appeared in the United States on the album Magical Mystery Tour . In 2011 an exclusive version was released on iTunes , which is a mashup of The Fool on the Hill, I Am the Walrus , Octopus's Garden and Mother Nature's Son .

For the television film Magical Mystery Tour , McCartney made a film in France for the song, which shows him in the morning light on a hill.

Cover versions

The cover version of Sérgio Mendes reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 . The version by Shirley Bassey from 1970 placed 48th in the UK singles chart. Other interpretations have been published by Eddie Fisher , The Four Tops , Petula Clark , Björk , The Singers Unlimited , John Williams and Aretha Franklin , among others .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Fool On The Hill
  2. ^ Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Chronicle . London, 2006. ISBN 0-600-61001-2