How The Beatles Made "Sexy Sadie" | The White Album Sessions

Everything you need to know about The Beatles' "Sexy Sadie." |

Written in a bitter mood during his last hours in Rishikesh, John wrote a song called "Maharishi" about the argument that ended the Beatles' stay there, containing explicit insults. But to avoid a lawsuit, it was rewritten and renamed "Sexy Sadie."

????️ "That was inspired by Maharishi," John said. "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 of everyone...' 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."

This Lennon/McCartney song seems to have been entirely written by John Lennon, with no input from Paul; though George deserves a small credit for coming up with the title. On the lyrical front, though, John's early favorite, "I've Been Good To You," by Smokey Robinson, deserves a small acknowledgement as well because of its opening line, "Look what you've done / you've made a fool of someone." The song started to take shape on April 12, 1968, the day John confronted the Maharishi and started his journey home. By May 29, 1968, the day he performed the song for George at the Kinfauns' house in Esher, Surrey, the song was finished.

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