Sexy Sadie (song)
Encyclopedia
"Sexy Sadie" is the name of a song by The Beatles
, written by John Lennon
in India and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
's request. Lennon was disillusioned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
had allegedly made a sexual advance at one of the female members attending the course the Maharishi was teaching at his ashram. (Harrison, Paul McCartney
, and Cynthia Lennon later said that they thought the story, which had come from Alexis Mardas
, had been fabricated.) Lennon once said of the song: "That was inspired by Maharishi. I wrote it when we had our bags packed and were leaving. It was the last piece I wrote before I left India. I just called him, 'Sexy Sadie,' instead of (sings) 'Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool...' I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt. I was leaving the Maharishi with a bad taste. You know, it seems that my partings are always not as nice as I'd like them to be."
After returning from India, Lennon scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title "Maharishi". The recorded version changed only after Harrison insisted that if the song was used he wanted the name changed and persuaded Lennon to change the title to "Sexy Sadie". Harrison recounts the event in the directors cut of the anthology film
. Derek Taylor
remembered Lennon fiddling about scratching the wood in the Apple offices
. The wood ended up in the possession of Maureen Starkey
and was ultimately sold to a Beatles' collector.
According to Mark Lewisohn
's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions
, an early outtake of "Sexy Sadie" features Lennon demonstrating the song's original working lyrics to the rest of the band: "Maharishi, you little twat/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Oh, you cunt."
In a 1969 interview, Lennon stated one of his favourite songs was "I've Been Good To You
" by Smokey Robinson
& The Miracles
. The Miracles song begins with the line Look what you've done / You made a fool out of someone, compared to Sexy Sadie's What have you done? / You made a fool of everyone.
's Helter Skelter
, Charles Manson
took the title of this song as a reference to Manson Family member Susan Atkins
, who was nicknamed Sadie Mae Glutz, prior to the release of the White Album. The song inspired one of the characters' names in the 2007 Beatles-themed film Across the Universe
, Sadie, played by Dana Fuchs
. The band Sexy Sadie
took their name from this song. Jet's
song "Look What You've Done
" contains the line, "Look what you've done/You've made a fool of everyone." The main piano riff in the Radiohead
song "Karma Police
" is inspired by the piano in this song.
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, written by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
in India and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
Composition
Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Maharishi", but changed the title to "Sexy Sadie" at George HarrisonGeorge Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
's request. Lennon was disillusioned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
had allegedly made a sexual advance at one of the female members attending the course the Maharishi was teaching at his ashram. (Harrison, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, and Cynthia Lennon later said that they thought the story, which had come from Alexis Mardas
Magic Alex
Yanni Alexis Mardas , better known as Magic Alex, the name given him by The Beatles when he knew the group between 1965 and 1969, is a self-styled electronics wizard and one-time head of The Beatles' Apple Electronics.Mardas arrived in England in 1965, exhibiting his Kinetic Light Sculptures at...
, had been fabricated.) Lennon once said of the song: "That was inspired by Maharishi. I wrote it when we had our bags packed and were leaving. It was the last piece I wrote before I left India. I just called him, 'Sexy Sadie,' instead of (sings) 'Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool...' I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt. I was leaving the Maharishi with a bad taste. You know, it seems that my partings are always not as nice as I'd like them to be."
After returning from India, Lennon scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title "Maharishi". The recorded version changed only after Harrison insisted that if the song was used he wanted the name changed and persuaded Lennon to change the title to "Sexy Sadie". Harrison recounts the event in the directors cut of the anthology film
The Beatles Anthology (film)
The Beatles Anthology is a documentary series on the career of The Beatles. It was broadcast on television in six abridged parts between November and December 1995. An eight volume VHS set and an 8 disc Laserdisc set were released on 5 September 1996...
. Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor was an English journalist, writer and publicist, best known for his work as press officer for The Beatles...
remembered Lennon fiddling about scratching the wood in the Apple offices
Apple Corps
Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year...
. The wood ended up in the possession of Maureen Starkey
Maureen Starkey
Maureen "Mo" Starkey Tigrett, née Mary Cox, was the first wife of The Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr. She met Starr at The Cavern Club, where The Beatles were playing, when she was a trainee hairdresser in Liverpool. Starr proposed marriage at the Ad-Lib Club in London, on 20 January 1965...
and was ultimately sold to a Beatles' collector.
According to Mark Lewisohn
Mark Lewisohn
Mark Lewisohn is an English author and historian, regarded as the world's leading authority on the English rock band The Beatles.-The Beatles and related subjects:...
's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions is a book by Mark Lewisohn, first published in 1988 by Hamlyn , and executive produced by Norman Bates for the record company EMI...
, an early outtake of "Sexy Sadie" features Lennon demonstrating the song's original working lyrics to the rest of the band: "Maharishi, you little twat/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Oh, you cunt."
In a 1969 interview, Lennon stated one of his favourite songs was "I've Been Good To You
I've Been Good To You
"I've Been Good To You" is a 1961 R&B song by The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. It was released as the B-side of their Billboard Top 40 hit, "What's So Good About Goodbye", and was included on their album I'll Try Something New the following year. This sad, melancholy ballad charted #103...
" by Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
& The Miracles
The Miracles
The Miracles are an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation . Their single "Shop Around" was Motown's first million-selling hit record, and the group went on to become one of Motown's signature...
. The Miracles song begins with the line Look what you've done / You made a fool out of someone, compared to Sexy Sadie's What have you done? / You made a fool of everyone.
Influence
As described in Vincent BugliosiVincent Bugliosi
Vincent Bugliosi is an American attorney and author, best known for prosecuting Charles Manson and other defendants accused of the Tate-LaBianca murders. His most recent books are Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy , The Prosecution of George W...
's Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter (book)
Helter Skelter is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. The subject of the book is the 1969 Manson Family murders and Bugliosi's own prosecution of Charles Manson and his followers....
, Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
took the title of this song as a reference to Manson Family member Susan Atkins
Susan Atkins
Susan Denise Atkins was a convicted American murderer who was a member of the "Manson family", led by Charles Manson. Manson and his followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969...
, who was nicknamed Sadie Mae Glutz, prior to the release of the White Album. The song inspired one of the characters' names in the 2007 Beatles-themed film Across the Universe
Across the Universe (film)
Across the Universe is a musical romantic drama film directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film's plot is centered around songs by The Beatles. It was released in the United States on October 12, 2007. The script is based on an original...
, Sadie, played by Dana Fuchs
Dana Fuchs
Dana Fuchs is an American singer, songwriter, actress and voice over talent most famous for her performance in the 2007 film Across the Universe, in which she played the role of Sadie.-Early life:...
. The band Sexy Sadie
Sexy Sadie (band)
Sexy Sadie was a Spanish pop rock group from the island of Majorca. They sang in English. They released five full albums, plus one album of cover songs, one of rare tracks, and one of remixes....
took their name from this song. Jet's
Jet (band)
Jet are an Australian rock band formed in 2001 while attending St Bede's College Mentone in Melbourne, . The band consists of lead guitarist Cameron Muncey, bassist Mark Wilson, and brothers Nic and Chris Cester on vocals/rhythm guitar and drums respectively...
song "Look What You've Done
Look What You've Done
"Look What You've Done" is the third single by the Australian rock band Jet, from their 2003 album Get Born.-History:The single was released in 2004 worldwide, and in 2005 in the US...
" contains the line, "Look what you've done/You've made a fool of everyone." The main piano riff in the Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
song "Karma Police
Karma Police
"Karma Police" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead from their 1997 third studio album OK Computer. The song's title and lyrics derive from an in-joke among the band, referring to the Hindu theory of retributive enforcement, known as karma....
" is inspired by the piano in this song.
Personnel
- John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
– lead and harmony vocals, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
, Hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard... - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
– lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, backing vocals - Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
– leslieLeslie speakerThe Leslie speaker is a specially constructed amplifier/loudspeaker used to create special audio effects using the Doppler effect. Named after its inventor, Donald Leslie, it is particularly associated with the Hammond organ but is used with a variety of instruments as well as vocals. The...
pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals - Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
– drums, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....