Because they spent a lot of time practising meditation, they might have allowed thoughts buried in their subconscious to surface. “Second, because they only had acoustic instruments with them, many of the songs they wrote in Rishikesh had an acoustic, folky flavour, as you can hear on the White Album tracks like Julia, Dear Prudence, Blackbird and Mother Nature’s Son. “First, because they were away from Beatlemania for the first time in five years and away from a hectic work schedule for the first time since 1960, they had less distractions from songwriting," he says on email. US-based music critic and author of The Unreleased Beatles: Music And Film (2006) Richie Unterberger considers the Rishikesh trip to be “very important" to the career of The Beatles. “The quiet of the ashram, the daily meditation, healthy lifestyle and vegetarian food allowed their creativity to blossom and it was possibly the most artistic phase of their career," says Saltzman. Over 30 songs were written during their ashram stay, including Back In The USSR, Dear Prudence, Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and I’m So Tired. The seven-week-long stay at the ashram resulted in The Beatles composing the bulk of the songs for their ninth studio album, The Beatles (more famous as White Album) a phase when, as Lennon described in The Beatles Anthology (2000), he wrote some of his best songs.
“John and Paul were working as equals and the four of them (including George Harrison) were like a family of brothers out there in Rishikesh when I met them."įifty years on, the Rishikesh stint of the Fab Four, as The Beatles were often referred to, stands apart as a cultural signpost, as it marked the entry of Indian music and spirituality in Western mainstream pop culture. But what shone through was the joy infused in their music at that moment," says Saltzman over the phone from Ontario, Canada.
The two of them kept singing the chorus and played around with it. “McCartney told me that those were the only two lines they had so far. Sitting near them, Saltzman’s eyes followed McCartney’s reading from a piece of paper on which was scribbled the refrain: Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, life goes on, brah, La la, how the life goes on. Drummer Ringo Starr hung around in a Nehru jacket and provided rhythm by snapping his fingers while Lennon and McCartney sang and strummed on Martin D-28 acoustic guitars. McCartney, in a white kurta-pyjama, looked at ease in the surroundings. Saltzman happened to be present at the ashram in Rishikesh during the band’s visit. On a crispy cool wintry afternoon in February 1968, film-maker and photographer Paul Saltzman sat near John Lennon and Paul McCartney as The Beatles practised two lines they had just composed of a song. The scribbled line could well encapsulate a 50-year-old tale. Alongside the small flight of three steps leading to the platform, a line is scribbled in red ink: “With every mistake we must surely be learning." It is a throwback to While My Guitar Gently Weeps, a song that Beatle George Harrison had written and composed in 1968 as a comment on the tensions and discord gripping the rock band. While not much signage or information is provided at the ashram, the graffiti has been painted over the years by those who managed to sneak in with cans of spray paint and their love and loyalty for the British band from the small city of Liverpool who won over the world.Ī black and white hand-painted portrait of the Maharishi dominates the centre of the platform from here he would address his disciples. Graffiti in all sizes adorn the walls, lending a colourful character to what fans have christened the “Beatles Cathedral". The hall is airy and spacious with a large platform at one end. Even as the impressive architecture of the buildings along the main walkway is hidden with foliage of plants splitting through the concrete, the giant hall inside, where the Maharishi gave his sermons, is a burst of colour.
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