- Chapter 2 Part 5/5 -
Revolution Nr. 9
That in this particular summer, my own fortune would also run another unknown path, was not clear to me. That George Harrison maintained a loving brotherly relationship with the Krishna monk Syamasundara Prabhu, realizing music specials together with him since the beginning of that year, wasn't really clear to me in summer 1969, not to say, it rather was completely unclear ... I also knew little about the lifestyle of my beloved Fab Four, the music was it that casted its spell over me. The year had started all right, after the Magical Mystery Tour went on television at Christmas 1968, then January 1969, the double-EP came on the market, fascinating all who somehow were living the psychedelic phase anyway. Then on 30.1.1969 there was the live performance of the Beatles on the roof of their Apple company in Savile Row in London, which caused a sensation and was understood all over the world as the new beginning of the life Beatles. In April of that year the single "Get Back" was released by the Beatles, for 7 weeks staying on the top position in the UK charts, the same in the United States one month later. In June came the ballad of John and Yoko, reaching everywhere, even here in Germany, the top position in the charts.
(Beatles "Get Back" rooftop at YouTube)
At that time, we young people of 17 years were stocked rather well with hits of our heroes. Everything was influenced by this music around you. Then in the summer there came "Give Peace A Chance" onto the market, and we had the feeling that the Beatles draw on a fountain of eternal musical knowledge. This kind of spiritual revolution the Beatles had in their minds, a revolution should not be done with the former Maoist Bible in hand, but with the flower in the hair and a soul oriented towards God and his praise, this New Age song by the Beatles should conquer the world. They wanted to accomplish the spiritual revolution of the free, happy, singing people.
(John Lennon "Give Peace A Chance" / YouTube)
Of course, the year 1969 was the year of great individualisation of the Beatles, Paul McCartney's attempt to push a Get Back into a Come Back of the Beatles failed thoroughly, partly because he did not hit the right tone for the other band mates, which we can experience very nice in the film "Get Back", where Paul plays the engine and leader, to let everything look well.
Unfortunately, the film also shows the emerging internal discord of the band, musical and personal, so John, George and Ringo came to the conclusion, better to follow their own plans.
John Lennon & Yoko went more and more on their own artistic paths anyway. They wanted to contribute to world peace and its defenders, they were politically active and prepared the ground for Greenpeace, the Green Party and for the Legalise It motion.
George Harrison, by his turning to yoga, meditation and Hinduism, also showed little desire for a come back of the old band, but had all along believed that it would be better to let the whole thing gently fade away with Let It Be, his personal message was well known anyway, All Things Must Pass.
Ringo Starr had found his great joy in acting andis the only one to show good acting skills, which were immediately recognized by the Beatles' old friend Peter Sellers, from a crazy idea through to a finished idea, it was often just as long as a party. How Peter Sellers knew to interprete the Beatles songs, we already may have experienced above, his humor really knew no bounds.
No limits did also mean, humor and satire to the pain threshold of good taste.
(Peter Sellers "She Loves You / German version" at YouTube)
Good cooperation should occure between Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr as early as spring 1969, when both went in front of the camera for the film project "The Magic Christian". Ringo Starr says in the Beatles Anthology about this meeting as follows:
"In February, the filming of the movie Magic Christian began, in which I play along with Peter Sellers. I had read the script (by Terry Southern), and the starting shot was actually when I went to Peter Sellers and told him, 'Let's make this film.' It took Sellers only three phone calls to make, and we had the money together already. Yes, so he was. You could turn the whole day working with him and still going out in the evening with him, and usually they left the restaurant laughing because he was so hilarious.
But if you met him the next morning and said 'Hi Pete', one was allowed by him to start all over again. Sometimes we were even asked to leave the set. So Peter Sellers was likewise, there was absolutely no continuity in him. With Terry Southern I got along well right away. He got the dressing room next to me, and we became good friends. The producers have called all these potential actors or, when they were in town, just looked them up and dragged them to the set.
Working with Peter Sellers was wonderful, and we laughed a lot. He really has an incredible sense of humor. Some takes we had to stop because we both got a hysterical laughing fit. One only needed to open one's mouth, and everything was already too late. This was not so rare.
Peter had taught me many a trick. In the film there is a scene in which I have to speak a lot of text. Peter stands to my right and drilled in the nose. If one sees the movie in the cinema, you can track how all spectators are turning away from me to him and think, 'Oh, he picks his nose'. Another time he tells me: 'Watch your eyes, Ringo. It depends on your eyes. You know, on the screen they are twenty feet tall. "
John worked with Yoko, I made films, which indeed shows very clearly that the Beatles drifted apart. I've already said before: The energy of the Beatles disappeared gradually. We used to mind a thousand percent, but that was long time ago. Meanwhile, there was only: 'Oh God, we really need to go there? I'm working on this thing, and John is busy, and George is occupied with this or that....' We all had family now, and our energy was scattered, because we had to do other things.!"
("Magic Christian" trailer 1969 at YouTube)
Be Yourself
Precisely by the statements made by Ringo Starr we see that laughing and acting with Peter Sellers gave a lot of strength to him, brought great joy, and that he slowly was missing just this feeling on the joint work of the Beatles, but the acting gave him back the lightness of being. Even the wise forefathers knew that even though all the flowers are rooted and grow in the same soil, yet each one exhaustes other forces and juices from it and develops its own way. Equally, all we people come from the same divine origin, are intrinsically the same nature, but each rises to other gifts and powers, and produces other benefits and successes. It is up to each individual, what and how much of the unique nature of his being he derives from the divine ancient force field, and what he makes of it.
So the ancient wisdom of all nations tells us,
thus be yourself.!
As labor is the product of force and way according to a physical law, so success is the product of attitude and work according to a psychodynamic law.
For our life remains a product of non-knowledge and self-seeking and therefore is fulfilled by anxieties and fears, uncertainties and suffering, until we learn to harmonize ourselves with the laws of fate.
This means that we replace the egoism by altruism and let our thinking and acting being determined by our immortal self instead of transient self. In this extent, our own destiny will be self-determined by us.
Yes, from this example we can see that each of the Beatles had found his own playing field, in all of the four the seed of love had risen, but anyone has drawn other powers and juices from it.
Meanwhile, by his friendship with Krishna monks, and in particular to Syamsundara Prabhu and Mukunda Prabhu, Sir George had meanwhile taken his personal Yogic steep flight, on his way back home back to godhead, and was well on the way to mutate from the legendary working class hero into a neo-Franz List of Assisi.
I will try to illuminate this chapter of his friendship with the Krishna-yogis with some details, since the year 1969 had only virginlike started in the spring season, but, as we see, quite a lot had happened in the first months of this year, and really great events already announced themselves on the horizon of the Beatles universe.
Copyright © A. H. Manusya
