The fool on the hill

According to McCartney, the prototype of the main character of the song was Maharishi Mahesh Yogi :

“Fool on the Hill” I composed and wrote this song, as I believe even now, about someone like Maharishi. Slanderers called him a fool. Because of his giggling, he was not taken completely seriously ... I once sat at the piano in my father's Liverpool house and played the D6 chord, and suddenly composed the Fool on the Hill ^[3] .

Original Text (Eng.)

"Fool on the Hill" Maharishi. His detractors called him a fool. I was sitting up at the giggle and I made up "Fool on the Hill".

Alistair Taylor in the book "Yesterday" ( eng. Yesterday ) mentions the following unusual event, which also inspired McCartney to write the song. Once Taylor and McCartney walked on the hill of Primroses and reasoned about the existence of God; at that moment, a stranger approached them and immediately disappeared ^[5] .

McCartney sang "The Fool on the Hill" to Lennon during the recording of " With a Little Help from My Friends ", and Lennon advised him to record the song of the song. McCartney refused, believing that he would not forget her ^[3] . In 1980, in an interview with Playboy, Lennon said about “The Fool on the Hill”:

And this is Paul. Another good piece. Shows that he can compose songs entirely himself ^[4] .

Original Text (Eng.)

Now that's Paul. Another good lyric. Shows he's capable of writing complete songs.

The first version of the song Paul McCartney recorded September 6, 1967 ^[6] (it can be found on the collection Anthology 2 ) ^[7] .

On September 25, ^[8] three doubles of the base track were recorded, followed by overlapping. By the end of the session, the recording included two pianos, drums, an acoustic guitar, recorders and lead vocals. Then an intermediate mix was made, numbered as double four. By the end of the session, which ended at 03:00, a monomix was made. The result at this stage can be heard on Anthology 2 . The session was also attended by two Japanese journalists: a reporter Rumiko Hoshika and a photographer Koh Hazeb from Music Life magazine. Many photographs at work were subsequently published, and rehearsals of the song and interviews were recorded.

On the evening of September 26, ^{[9] the} band re-started recording backing tracks. This remake, which was called double five, was obtained from the fourth mix intermediate mix recorded on the previous day, but most parts were re-recorded, including Paul McCartney's piano on the first track, Starr's drums and cymbals on the other, acoustic guitar and maracas on the third. The fourth track contained overlaid celesta, an additional piano and recorder. At this stage, the length of the song was increased from 3:50 to 4:25, but during the final mix it was reduced to 2:57. All these tracks were combined into one intermediate mix, called double six, to which McCartney added lead vocals, recorded dalb-tracking, and solo on a recorder. Lennon and Harrison filled the fourth track with bass harmonics. The slow loop tape loop was also added to the fourth track; it can be heard immediately after the final line: " And the eyes of the world see the world spinning round ".

The song was completed on October 20, 1967 with the addition of three flute parts ^[10] . They were recorded on a separate tape and mixed using two machines running in sync. Producer George Martin was unavailable for this session, so his role was played by a balance engineer ^{[ what? ]} Ken Scott.

The key in D major and D minor in the song alternate. This effect is borrowed from Cole Porter , who also alternates in C major and C minor in the song “Night and Day” ( Russian Night and Day ) ^[11] .

^{[12] [13] [14]} participated in the recording of the song:

• Paul McCartney - lead vocals, piano , acoustic guitar , recorder , bass guitar , whistle
• John Lennon - harmonica , harp
• George Harrison - harmonica, acoustic guitar
• Ringo Starr - drum set , sagat , maracas
• Christopher Taylor - Flute
• Richard Taylor - Flute
• Jack Ellory - flute

Richie Anterberger , a critic with Allmusic , argued that "The Fool on the Hill" is the best song on the album, except for " I Am the Walrus " ^[15] . Tom Riley with National Public Radio , on the contrary, was unhappy with the song and compared it with the songs of Shakespeare's jesters. He wrote:

This song is unusually overestimated. It has become the most unworthy symbol of The Beatles since the days of Michelle ^[16] .

Original Text (Eng.)

The possibility of this song being the most unworthy Beatles standard since "Michelle".

The Beatles didn’t perform with regular concerts when “The Fool on the Hill” was recorded, so they never sang it together at concerts. The first concert performance of the song took place in 1979 , when Paul McCartney and Wings arrived in the UK ^[17] . Also “The Fool on the Hill” was performed by McCartney during his concert tour in 1989–1990 ^[18] . Recording a version of a song from this tour was included in the album Tripping the Live Fantastic ^[19] .

The Fool on the Hill has the following cover versions ^[20] :