Beatles Meet Maharishi For The First Time
It was the high summer of love, and the Beatles had just returned from an abortive trip to Greece in search of an island on which they could all live together and build a recording studio; it was John’s idea, but it quickly proved to be honey pie in the sky and they all gradually began to drift home.
Ringo had left early as Maureen was due to have a baby, George and Pattie flew home on 29 July 1967 to prepare to fly to Los Angeles.
Arriving in Los Angeles on 1 August, George rented a house on Blue Jay Way and while he was waiting for Derek Taylor, the Beatles former PR man who had moved to California where he set up his own PR business, to arrive, having got lost in the fog, George wrote a song named after the street, which was included on the Magical Mystery Tour album.
Over the next week George spent time at Ravi Shankar’s Music School, attended his musical mentor’s concert at Hollywood Bowl, and went to a Mamas and the Papas recording session before flying to San Francisco and walking around Haight-Ashbury, which was the centre of the counterculture and Hippies. before flying home to London on 9 August.
Two days after George arrived home, the Beatles were photographed by Richard Avedon for what became the psychedelic posters that seemed to adorn every bedroom, everywhere.
A week later on 19 August Maureen gave birth to her and Ringo’s second child; a boy they named Jason. By way of celebration The Beatles went to No.1 on the American charts with ‘All You Need Is Love’.
Source: udiscovermusic
