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and/oraddressissuesofgeneralsocialandpoliticalsignificance.
2
Atthesame
timetheirowntestimonysupportsthesuggestionthatdrugs,andinparticular
LSD,alsohadaroleinchangingtheiroutlookontheworld.Thisisnottosay,
however,thatthistransitionshouldbeunderstoodsimplyintermsofthe
combinedeffectofthesetwoinfluences,forthereareotherfactorsthatneedto
betakenintoaccount.Oneoftheseisthesimplefactthatcircumstances,suchas
theincreasinglynightmarishexperienceoftheirpublicperformances–inwhich
theycouldnolongerhearthemselvesplaybecauseofthenoiseoftheaudience–
togetherwiththedeathofBrianEpstein,forcedthemtochangewhetherthey
wantedtoornot.Butthentheywerealsonolongertheimmatureteenagersthat
theyhadbeenwhentheyfirststartedplayingtogether.AsPaulputit,“youcan’t
besingingfifteen-year-oldsongsattwentybecauseyoudon’tthinkfifteen-year-
oldthoughtsattwenty”.Inadditionthestruggletosurvivetheenormous
pressuresofworld-widefameandsuccessalsohelpedtoforcethemtomature.
Theseweresuchthat,asJohnrecalled,“wehadtobemorethanfourmop-heads
uponastage.Wehadtogrowuporwe’dhavebeenswamped”(Friedman1968:
48).FinallyitisimportanttonotethattheBeatleshadactuallyachievedtheir
life’sambition.Thishadbeentobecomethebestrock‘n’rollbandintheworld
or,intheirwords,tobe“biggerthanElvis”.By1966-67thisisindeedwhat
theyhadbecome,althoughtheywerestillveryyoungmen,anditwasprobably
this,morethananyothersinglefactor,thatpromptedtheirsubsequentmetamor-
phosis.
ItisclearthatitwasduringthisperiodthattheBeatlesbegantoexperience
adegreeofself-doubtandconsequentlybegantoaskthemselvessomeessen-
tiallyphilosophicalquestions.ForalthoughtheBeatlesmayhavetakenan
essentiallyworking-classmalemusicalform,rock‘n’roll,asthemedium
throughwhichtogiveexpressiontotheirgenius,theywerefarfrombeing
uneducatedworkingclassyouths.IndeedRingocouldbesaidtobetheonlyone
ofthefourwithatrulygenuineworking-classbackground,whileJohn,Pauland
Georgehadallshownevidenceofintellectualandartisticinterestsfromanearly
age.Now,havingattainedtheirlife’sambition,theproblemtheyconfronted
was,quitesimply,whatnext?HowcouldtheBeatlesfindanewgoal,copewith
theproblemsoffame,andyetremainloyaltotheirpast?Or,asHunterDavies,
theirofficialbiographer,putit:“whenthetouringhadtostoptheirconcernwas
withthemselves,whatwasthepointofitall”(1969:233).“Whatwasthepoint
ofitall”embracedsuchquestionsas“Whatisthemeaningofsuccess?”,“Who
amI?”and“Whatisthemeaningofloveandlifeitself?”Theanswersthatthey
foundtothesefundamentalquestionsareoftenseenasderivingfromtheir
dabblinginEasternmysticism,courtesyoftheMaharishiMaheshYogi,reinforced
2
Thereisevidencethatinthewinterof1965theycomparedtheirlyricswithhisand
foundthemwanting,consequentlydecidingthattheywouldtryharderinfutureto“tell
itlikeitis”(Fast,1968:192).
