The Fool On The Hill

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The Fool On The Hill is a song off The Beatles' 1967 album Magical Mystery Tour. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

[edit] Writing

The song was composed at Paul's father's house on the piano. Paul, on some occasions, has recalled the song as being about an incident when walking his dog with Alistair Taylor. They were on Primrose Hill, when they saw a man in a raincoat come out of nowhere and say "What a wonderful view!." Paul looked away for a second, and when he turned back, the man was gone! Alistair Taylor recalls, "We both felt a weird sensation that something special had happened. We sat down rather shakily on the seat and Paul said ‘What the hell did you make of that? He was there, wasn’t he? We did speak to him?’" Normally, they'd blame it on drugs, but they claim they had only had a couple of cups of tea and some whiskey. As Paul remembers in his official biography, Many Years From Now, "The Fool On The Hill was mine and I think I was writing about someone like Maharishi. His detractors called him a fool. Because of his giggle he wasn't taken too seriously. It was this idea of a fool on the hill, a guru in a cave, I was attracted to." In The Beatles' 1968 authorized biography by Hunter Davies, he recalls seeing when they wrote With a Little Help from My Friends. During this writing session, Paul previewed this song to John. "Paul then went back to his guitar and started to sing and play a very slow, beautiful song about a foolish man sitting on the hill. John listened to it quietly, staring blankly out of the window, almost as if he wasn't listening. Paul sang it many times, la la-ing words he hadn't thought of yet. When at last he finished, John said he'd better write the words down or he'd forget them. Paul said it was OK. He wouldn't forget them. It was the first time Paul had played it for John. There was no discussion."

[edit] Recording

On September 6, 1967, Paul recorded a solo demo on piano, which appears on Anthology 2. The formal, full-group, recording began on September 25, when three takes of the basic track were recorded. John and George played harmonicas. Onto that, they overdubbed McCartney's vocals and recorded, as well as Starr's drums. Take three with these overdubs appears on Anthology 2. On September 26, several more overdubs were recorded, replacing the earlier overdubs. The ones recorded on this date include piano, acoustic guitar, drums, bass, and a new lead vocal. The next day, more vocal parts were recorded. Work was completed on the song on October 20, when three flautists, Jack Ellory, Christopher Taylor, and Richard Taylor played parts scored by George Martin.

[edit] Recording Sessions


[edit] In The Film Magical Mystery Tour

Paul went to a hilltop near Nice in France to shoot this song's sequence for the film Magical Mystery Tour on October 29, 1967. He took with him only Mal Evans and cameraman Aubrey Dewar. Even though he had no money or passport, he was able to get past customs. It was filmed shortyly after sunrise. Paul recalls in his official biography, "I just ad-libbed the whole thing. I went, 'Right, get over there: let me dance. Let me jump from this rock to this rock. Get a lot of the sun rising. Get a perfect shot and let me stand in front of it.' I just had a little Philips cassette to mime to and roughly get the feeling of the song. There was no clapper because there was no sound... It was very spontaneous, as was the whole of Magical Mystery Tour. Later, when we came to try to edit it all, it was very difficult because I hadn't sung it to synch. We shouldn't have really had just one cameraman, it was anti-union. That was another reason to go to France. The unions wouldn't have allowed it in Britain, nor probably in France, but they didn't know we were doing it."

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Guest Musicians

[edit] Production

[edit] Cover Versions

  • Bjork
  • Greg Hawkes
  • Gino Marinello Orchestra
  • Sergio Mendes
  • Helen Reddy
  • Tom Scott
  • Sonderbar
  • John Williams

[edit] Source

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