The first time I watched this movie, I literally laughed out loud at many scenes as I couldn't believe what I was seeing! People shouldn't really compare this to a 'normal' movie by looking for a plot, because there isn't one! I've watch it multiple times and it does get better and make more sense over time but really, just sit back and let the madness wash over you while enjoying the absolutely brilliant soundtrack.
James needs to take some LSD and stop taking things so seriously. This was never intended or made to be a movie! Why do people still fail to understand this? It wasn't even released in cinemas! It was an arty, made for TV film and it's not Pauls fault it was first shown on BBC 2 in black and white. It was shown in colour shortly afterwards which Frost actually references seeing in the interview. People like the film and it has some great music, stop being so critical. And the beatles got better after the drugs. Lighten up.
I've always loved this movie. I had listened to the album for years. I was a Beatles purist as very small child. The rest of my family didn't listen to music. At least I had good taste. Roll up
One of my favorite Christmases as an adult is when I got the Magical Mystery Tour Blu Ray box set, and showing it to people who hadn't seen it yet throughout the season
I didn't know there was a Blu-Ray Box Set! Assumed it was going to be a bog standard DVD of the film or 1 option with added commentary i'd see for sale. Box Set sounds like it'll be better & now is what I'm going for. (Never seen the beeb film, i only have the L.P. but always loved it. One of my much more played albums of 2K'ish L.P.s from 45'ish yrs collecting fave's, most heard around friends with good stereos when pre W.W.W.
Whether u like the movie or not, the SONGS ARE CLASS!!!!! "I am the Walrus" is arguably one of their best songs in terms of musical complexity and imaginative lyrics. "Strawberry Fields Forever" ,is on my copy of the album, and it's up there as one of the best songs ever written. These guys were on ANOTHER LEVEL!!!!
Strawberry Fields forever is not part of the film, it was released as a double A side with Penny Lane. However I agree about it's brilliance. In the UK there was never an album for Magical Mystery Tour at the time it was a double ep and book, plus Pepper and Strawberry field were all still in the charts, what a time for popular music.
@@roberttreborable Well, I did say it was on my copy of the album. Thought that was self explanatory. In any case the album version has now become accepted as part of their canon and catalogue of official albums.
Strawberry Fields does not belong to the album. It was recorded during the Pepper's sessions and published as a single prior to Sgt Pepper. It has been put on the US version by capital to make an album from the original double EP so they could charge more. Technically, chronologically and aesthetically does not belong to the project. I actually do not like the mess they did with that, it makes the album sketchy and confused. I also hate all these remixes... it's like taking fluo paint to "correct" the Mona Lisa.
@@za-music No shit Sherlock. SFF is a CLASSIC and could be on virtually any album from that period. For me, it fits perfectly well in the psychedelic madness and imaginative free form art music that the Beatles were producing at the time.
@@theselector4733SFF is a classic SINGLE record coupled with Penny Lane. I like the Beatles discography AS THEY INTENDED IT. Not as some big major like Capitol chopped them to scam their fans putting on it 1 year old singles. It does not belong, it does not fit (It was recorded one year prior and it disrupts the quirky atmosphere of the original tracks). Production style does not fit either, that's why I hate every Capitol album with tracks completely devoided of context. The Beatles themselves hate them too, there must be a reason. If you think you know better than they did when they complained about it calling it a SCAM, go with it with your Fluo painted version, I rather like the originals. AS THEY WERE INTENDED BY THE GUYS. There was an ethical reason behind non album singles and an artistic reason too. I think we should start listening to them for what they were, not for what we would have liked them to be. Capitol Records sucks. MMT Capitol version is a mess of a compilation, not the masterpiece double EP that they published.
i would put it on eternal repeat loop on a small TV in my kitchen for a week or two at a time so that you would catch random fragments of it whenever zipping into or thru the kitchen...made the kitchen into an otherworldly place
Hahaha! Boss comments chaps and I’m bang into this flick too, forget about all that early cashing in on their popularity movies, they reek of those awful Elvis Presley movies that the Colonel exploited but by this film they are doing wtf they want and it’s peerless to me! Best wishes folks 👍☘️
Brilliant analysis! I'm so glad I viewed this. I must tell you, I am a musician/writer myself and have experienced people like yourself, analyzing my work, and arriving at conclusions far greater and in depth than I ever had in mind while writing. They made my work better than it was when I wrote it. In truth, they (and you) become partners in the creation of an artwork. i don't know if the Beatles had all in mind that you detail here or not. But you have improved my experience of Magical Mystery Tour to a level I never thought it could achieve. Well done.
You are right. The audience is an artistic partner. It's ironic that John Lennon wrote I Am the Walrus in response to learning that academics were analysing his lyrics and he wanted to shove it to them by writing something meaningless. But, of course, it's not meaningless. Choices were made to include references to Lewis Carroll and a schoolyard rhyme etc. There is meaning in those choices; it wasn't random. And he was wrong to dismiss the role of literary criticism. Art can't exist without an audience. Art is the relationship between form and audience, of whom the artist is only one member. (I don't believe in the "authority" of the author.) Yoko's conceptual art is the purest example of this, since her art couldn't exist without someone to "get it". This is something that Paul understands. While I find it frustrating how coy he can be about his art, it belies this belief. He would rather deny meaning than impose meaning. He WANTS us to draw our own interpretations. Yeah, right, he didn't know that Venus ands Mars were the gods of love and war. Yeah, right. I think James is spot on here, maybe not to the extent he posits, but it is clearly the intended framework. If we do it, the truth will somehow present itself in the art. And I guess it succeeded despite the poor planning.
MMT was the apotheosis of their psychedelic wanderings. Having had boat loads of Acid meself, something very strange happens after a certain ' tipping ' point. The first year is deep immersion into the utter fantastic changes occurring, within you, then you move into the evangelical phase, when you've mastered it, where you want to share it and shout about it from the rooftops , then it begins to get super out there weird, when you realise it's still full of surprises and can have the power to still shock you to your very core. MMT is definitely that moment where you can see Acids darkly comic aspects made manifest. It's a just like a trip. Bewildering, fun, weird and un- pindownable. In a most English manner.
Your Beatles content is always amazing. Genuinely groundbreaking content when it comes to Beatles RUclipsrs and just Beatle fans in general. Thanks James.
I guess people weren't ready for that. This goes to show the genius of the Beatles. They didn't just write words that went with a melody at this stage, they must have spent quite some time agonising over the meaning of every word and thinking about double meanings, hidden meanings and, in case of this film, every image you see on screen. Even the new single Now and Then is chock full of little things that convey meaning, it's not just something they threw together. That is what I love about the Beatles, they put so much effort into everything they did and after being a fan since I was a child in the 70s I'm still discovering new things in their music every time I have yet another Beatles phase. They are so much more than just a band.
I’m delighted that they had enough artistic freedom and courage to throw this movie out there. After the cringy early nonsense films culminating with Help I think it’s kudos to them for doing this. I am sure they were well aware that the majority of the people who appeared in it would be complete strangers to all but us North West English people so sod the rest of the world, this one was just a nod to their own people and I love it. #FourLads
Well done. I've never had a problem with Magical Mystery Tour. Entertaining and progressive at the same time. The way you peeled the layers away is the next level to understanding this film. Again nice job.
Victor Spinetti as Sarge, Ivor Cutler & the Bonzo's were worth the price of admission. The Beatles bits weren't bad either. John's turn as a waiter in Aunt Jessie's dream was side splittingly funny doing the Yes M'Lady in a made up Greek accented parody of Parker from Thunderbirds. Paul's video of Fool On The Hill was brilliant, especially as it was Just him and a cameraman that filmed it. I even like the magician bits. "Spent four hours looking for the sugar". It's a great little film, especially if you're zooted
Excellent review of this dusty gem of a film. If you're a Beatles fan you appreciate the little details and nuances of this performance. Yes I laughed hysterically at John's quirky mannerisms and humor especially the wizard scenes hahaha. MMT was the first and my favorite album I ever listened to. In my household my older brother and sister had 2 Beatles album..MMT and the White album. That's why it's so engrained in my brain more than the other albums and have warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings about it.
This is extremely interesting. The first time I saw this movie, it was at a small town city festival, and completely out of synch, but I absolutely loved it. It turned me into a huge fan of Vivian Stanshall and Bonzo Dog. The songs were absolutely incredible, even though I was a teenager (drug fueled in the 70's) You're right though, I've seen it many times since now (in my 60's) I understand all of it. "Flying" was an absolutely fabuluous sequence.
I saw this as a teenager in the 80's. We had a copy of it on video. I actually liked the movie. I like weird things as well as mainstream movies. So I was not disappointed in it. It was basically 20 years old when I saw it and to me it represented an art house psychedelic time capsule of a bygone era so to me it was a bit of history to me.
Finally, a film i really love had a proper defense in the internet!! Yes, an art film following the Fellini influence, and all the things that you teach un your analisis are simply beathifull and genius. At last, justice for a film that it's really genius and inspiring.
Paul says a lot of things. He's had a lot of years to create narratives. Whether they are true or not. No one is around to dispute them. MMT was an art film. No meaning. He was anxious to keep the band working after Brian died. He feared they'd drift apart. He made a pie chart as a sort of framing of the film. Each of them would write a 'bit" like John feeding the spaghetti to the fat woman, etc. And they'd make some songs and try to tie it all together. It had no meaning. It was an amateur attempt to create something. It failed. Of course today it's legendary. I love it. I've loved it since day one. I mean, we get to see a performance of "Death Cab For Cutie", complete with a burlesque stripper bit. We get to see a live, (well sort of), performance of I Am The Walrus. We get to see Paul's little film he did in France to Fool On The Hill. And the really corny big stage show with Your Mother Should Know. And Victor Spinetti doing the military bit....GOLD. It's a good fun film. No meaning. Just an amateur attempt at a film that is laced together with Gems.
Yes. And Paul's "circular script' was nothing more than dividing the segments by using a clock face to represent the 1 hour running time of The TV special. It's also foolish to conflate coincidence with causation. Coach trip"Mystery tours" were actually an established tradition in mid century England. Lennon would write Glass Onion a year later as a jab at those who would seek hidden messages in their work. These kind of specious theories would achieve critical mass with the "Paul is dead," and Manson family's " HelterSkelter." What we have here is basic Conspiracy 101, where the narrator skips over relevant facts and obsessess over cherry picked coincidences, ostensibly to "prove" his thesis.
My take on this video and now the Beatles film has me doing a rethink on what it was about and from what has been said -it now makes sense so it might not be that weird after all. I absolutely enjoy the album and it still has my ear 56 years later. The Beatles were the most remarkable band of the 20th century and are still beloved my millions of people 53 years after they broke up and that truly is Magical! Excellent video,James.
I remember Ian Macdonald in revolution in the head stating something along the lines of the British psychedelic experience being altogether safer and warmer than the confrontational and edgy American experience (think it was his write up of Its All Too Much) comparing Magical Mystery Tour with Ken Kaseys Merry Brand of Pranksters brought this to mind
I love this movie. There are no rules in film. If someone is stuck in a straitjacket about what a film should be, they'll never like it or anything like it.
I saw the Boxing Day movie. I was 11 at the time. It has always been my absolute favourite, and still is. I’m now 67. Astounding research, James! Much respect from Western Australia 🇦🇺
Wow. It’s exciting to even read a comment from someone who say it the day it aired. Do you remember anything in particular about watching it for the first time?
@@profile2047 Yes I do remember watching it with a bunch of my cousins and we all couldn't believe that such a trippy show was actually on BBC TV. Three years later I decided to become a bass player at the tender age of 14. And I have been playing bass in various rock and prog bands ever since.
Hey James, love the channel for long time now! The posters on the wall are of the Thelemic adaptation of 'The Rosy Cross". Used by many occult schools, such as the Rosicrucians, Golden Dawn, & Crowley's OTO (* check AIWASS & the scene of Paul 'Major McCartney' at the desk w the sign reading "I was") Can't help but wonder if "The Eyes of Man" isn't a reference to the Isle of Man & Gerald Gardner 'father of modern Wicca'...bit of a stretch?? idk. But the stuff on the wall is definitely a Crowley ref....multiple layers/meanings right? Love job you did on the 'Just' video!!! Mystery Solved!! Plz keep up the phenomenal work....SPLENDID!!!
Ahhhh right, that's why I didn't know what they were! Figured they'd be something mystical / esoteric Thanks for the info Chris, and glad you enjoyed the vid sir
In many ways, this film (and the Beatles themselves, particularly Lennon) were Monty Python before their time. The scene with the waiter loading the rather large woman's plate with Spaghetti was incredibly similar both visually and in tone to the Mr. Creosote scene in _Monty Python's meaning of Life_ --- so much so that it must have been an influence.
l'd guess you're American if you think British surreal humour begins and ends with Monty Python. lt has a long history, going back before Alice in Wonderland, so to say the Beatles were Monty Python before their time is quite insulting.
Here we go again, another unfounded generalization about Americans. I can only say in response, that yes, *_despite_* suffering from the *_handicap_* of being an *_American,_* I was well aware when I made my comment, of the wondrous and surreal works of Lewis Carroll and other European writers prior to The Beatles and Monty Python. I was also well aware of Carroll's influence on Lennon (Alice in Wonderland, The Walrus and the Carpenter etc.). I am and have always been an anglophile and love English literature and film. No need to be insulted friend, life is too short. I was simply pointing out, in a friendly (but not uninformed manner, as you seem to be implying) that there were similarities in approach between John Lennon's surreal and sometimes dark humor to that of Python's. I love them both --- *_despite_* being an *_American._*
George Harrison was a Pythons fan, befriended to Eric Idle and on Idles request to help, he funded the whole movie The Life Of Brian (with $ 4 Mio.). Otherwise the Phytons would have been forced to skip the project. Nobody else was interesed in this sensitive religious subject. That might light up a bit how different actors from MMT popped up again in Phyton's productions. Even before, a whole bunch of famous rockbands like Led Zeplin, Genesis (of course) and Pink Floyd sponsored already the Holy Grail.
@@Hernal03 l never suggested your comment was uniformed, in fact l don't even know what that means, but so many Americans compare any surreal humour to Monty Python as that's the only British comedy they are aware of. The Beatles were more influenced by the Goons, as were a whole generation.
I've never seen somebody analyze MMT like this. It does add up, I don't know how long you worked on this theory but it's very well done. I'm going to subscribe right now. Even if others don't believe all you've come up with, your effort and imagination to explain MMT movie is about so should definitely be respected. I really enjoyed this and wasn't expecting anything much.. Bravo James and Thank you. Goodnight-sue
Thanks Sue! In answering your question on how long it took to script and finish this beast - two weeks non-stop. I am so tired now hahahahaha The edit alone took 5 days. Which was just absolute murder. I am very much enjoying a few days off now with my Mrs! Glad you enjoyed the vid 👍👍
Wow! Great analysis of what is to me an enjoyable but baffling film. I saw it when first broadcast at age 11(now 67) with my brother and parents. I thought it silly and funny; the others thought it completely bizarre. Your breakdown really does help. Thank you.
If you watch something like Ken Anger's My Demon Brother or Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, MMT begins to make more sense. The slide overlay sequences are truly inspired, The Beatles and Paul must have been watching Anger's stuff.
When it talks about 4 or 5 wizards\tourers\etc it is because YOU, the audience member can choose to be one of the wizards. You can choose to take the ride and to be one of the magical makers. It even has you in front of a chemistry set of your own.
Hello James, Once again you have managed to analyze perfectly an impossible work of art. I wonder what the music insiders or those in the Beatles' camp would say about this amazing interpretation. I have recently started watching Fellini Films again and MMT plays out very much in the same vibe. Thanks for allowing me to understand and appreciate this work of art.
I'm not sure if "Your Mother Should Know" was one long continuous shot, but it sure looks like it. The choreography and everything about that scene is a masterpiece
this is the best channel for beatles and oasis fans. if u both like me you are in the right place.. please keep with this content james and thank you for all work to gather all the information all around the world you gotta spread the word , d'you known what i mean? the word is LOVE , the first step for a revolution
The Beatles were beyond other bands, trying to rhyme was with cuz, or baby and crazy; because the Beatles distilled so much from culture into their concepts and songs.
19:52 the drumming Aunt Jessie wasn't 'behind the scenes footage', it was part of the work print (leaked on the HMC bootleg) where the booklet cartoon and story was ultimately based on.
I was born in 1959. I grew up listening to The Beatles. They influenced my musical desires for the rest of my life. I consider The Beatles to be my favorite band and greatest music ever. All bands I enjoy are measured by The Beatles. I love British music. From Uriah Heep, Jade Warrior, Yes, ELP, Gentle Giant, and so many more. I wish The Beatles would have preformed some Jazz like Klaus Doldinger's Passport...
A very interesting video and interpretation. About first view of "Magical Mystery Tour" ... I had read so many places, that it was rubbish, that I didn't expected much. I bought the DVD simply as a collectors item. But of course I watched it. And it brought me in such a cheerful mood. And so - well, if something makes you happy, it's impossible to call it rubbish. So that's what it has been for me: something merry and joyful. Never thought much about hidden meanings in it. But I guess you got a point. It all makes sense.
thank you, Jim. well, I never thought there was much to this film, but I guess I was wrong. I'm even more convinced now, that if it'd been broadcast in color, it would've gone over better. drug trip references being clear only to a few 'insiders'.and appreciating graphic art the way I do, I have to mention how brilliant the lettering which appeared on the front of the LP, 'BEATLES' drawn w/ stars was/is. their best cover, regardless of 'Pepper.'
I wonder if Paul Weller's introduction at the start of "Happy Together" was a tip of the hat to the OG showing ("And now for those of you watching in Black and White, this one is in color"). The Jam's final album The Gift was a hint at Weller's breaking away into The Style Council, who also had their own MMT with Jerusalem to support The Cost of Loving.
Really great video. I remember seeing the Blue Jay Way scene when I was about 10 years old and I was simultaneously frightened and intrigued. Love this ridiculous film.
Yes, at first watch, it strikes most everyone as silly, trivial, chaotic, undisciplined, and bla, bla, bla. But, when the dust settles after a number of viewings, you cease to look at what's missing and just enjoy what's there. And, what's there is pure Beatles. It's pure Beatle creativity, energy, experimentation, imagery, imagination and music. And it's wonderful! At this point, the *only* thing I don't like about it, is that it's less than an hour and it comes to an end much too soon.
Wow you make it seems like the Beatles were deep philosophers and mystics. It could explain their world wide crazy popularity. I grew up in that time but in a different language and different culture. I didn’t speak or understood English. Never saw their movies. So the Beatles were for me like the Eiffel tower is to an American: just a symbol of a foreign culture that anyone can identify. Never thought there was any depth to their music but nevertheless I enjoyed it. Your analysis really opens up a lot of boxes in the understanding of the end of the xxth century. Very interesting thank you.
That photo of John with the line "the best way to go is by mdc" always creeped me out. The UK ep was released the 8th of December 1967. We all know what happend exactly 13 years later.
I like how the Beatles cast British comedic actor Nat Jackley probably in the hopes that he'd come up with funny bits...but he was just as confused as everyone else involved in the movie!
Paul wasn’t as much into acid as John and George were. John (he was said to have taken acid 1,000 times!) read Leary’s book and incorporated bits of it into Tomorrow Never Knows (“turn off your mind, surrender to the void, etc). I doubt Paul ever read any of this stuff, and I think the film was totally random with some symbolism, but nothing this deep. John insisted until his death that the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds had nothing to do with LSD. It was simply a drawing that his son Julian did of his school friend Lucy. When John asked what it was, Julian said “It’s Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. Certainly the song has psychedelic lyrics. I think the comparison with Fellini is right on the nose. The Psychedelic bus was certainly influenced by Ken Kesey. There were actual bus trips in England at the time called Mystery Tours which had bus trips to random locations. I think like the show Seinfeld, which they said in an episode was “a show about nothing”, the film is a lot of random music videos strung together with a story and has nothing to do with Leary’s ideas or the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a guide to the Psychedelic experience. If anything it’s a surrealist film, which was already a conventional approach dating back to Dali and Brunel dating back to 1929 (Un Chien Andalou and L’Age d’Or). If you want to analyze the symbolism in both these early films, be my guest.
Fantastic presentation and analysis of a very complex work… As with your analysis of “Sgt Pepper”, you’ve lifted the veil of vague dismissal that The Beatles often dealt to anyone asking questions and uncovered great meaning… There was a 50th anniversary BBC documentary about MMT in 2017 during which Ringo admitted that their purpose in making the movie was to let those who knew and loved them, privately or publicly, that they had moved on into a new kind of life… I used to think and say that the best thing about this movie, so to speak, was that it gave something of a green light to the eccentricity of “Monty Python”… that’s still true but your interpretation definitely got me thinking that there’s more to consider… Btw George’s “Two Wives and a kid to support” Prophetic, much? 😂
First off, love this video. Brilliant explanation. But i do remember seeing this on TV when i was around ten . The " I am the Walrus" scene was very memorable and probably sparked my love for the weird and esoteric.
Great deep dive! I noticed someone already got the "Rosy Cross" reference, so I'll just comment that I hope that there are others who did as well. It's apparent that the film's harshest critics were never "on the bus", but then again "The Fool" never cared for real reasons ("So we boobed!" while the film continued to be a major influence).
It's not a conspiracy. They absolutely, without doubt, put those things in there, and it's all throughout their history. Go to the Death Cab for Cutie scene, where the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band are playing for George and John, accompanied by an exotic dancer. The song of course speaks of someone killed in an accident. You'll see John nudging George throughout the scene, and at one point he yells out what seems to be nonsense. Play it backwards. He says Paul's Dead. ON FILM. So all that bullshit he said in the 1970's that they weren't doing any of it, is bullshit. Because there he is on film saying it. The War scene and the Death scene in Magical Mystery Tour work like bookends. They are on opposite sides of the film, both running around the same length, and starting with a certain amount of time passed, or coming, that's the same. If you get me. They're bookends. Now going through the Death scene audio reversed resulted in John's nonsense turning into something. I have not gone through the War scene's audio reversed, and there is a lot of stuff there to be heard. I'd need a whole bunch of time to dedicate to that, and showing that Paul Is Dead, is not conspiracy whatsoever, and that it had an aim, and a purpose, takes time. It also takes people realising that a Beatle disappearing off the face of the earth, while centered in the heart of London, where no photos of him are taken, no interviews given for TWO ENTIRE MONTHS - ----- is impossible. Whether he was dead or not. For a Beatle to completely go off grid WHILE HIS BAND IS BEING QUESTIONED BY EVERY NEWSPAPER IF THEY'RE BREAKING UP, OR IF THEY'RE LEAVING BRIAN EPSTEIN CONSTANTLY, is IMPOSSIBLE. THEY ARE STILL IN THE THROES OF BEATLEMANIA. Their contract with Epstein had not yet been renegotiated by September 1966, and that is all the newspapers wanted to report on. Go look. Any article you see about them in the period between September thru November 1966 is about THAT. And are they breaking up. In February 1967, in KRLA BEAT magazine out of Los Angeles, McCartney would announce his intentions of breaking up The Beatles. And pretty much after Epstein died, that's what he did. He drove that band into the ground working on projects that were ill-advised, poorly planned, had schedules that were impractical and impossible to achieve. Magical Mystery Tour was seen as their first failure. Do you think Give My Regards to Broad Street would have won them any new fans? Or the James Paul McCartney Special. When these were released, they were seen as outright failures, and that McCartney should stick to music, and music only. They followed Lennon to Spain to ask him. They knew Starr joined him there. They followed Harrison to India. All asking this question. McCartney? TWO ENTIRE MONTHS WITHOUT A SINGLE PHOTO OR INTERVIEW. NOTHING. How does a Beatle accomplish this LIVING IN LONDON. They didn't even get in contact with him when Allen Klein, in November 1966 announced he had two of The Beatles as clients. He'd announced he wanted them back in June 1966. And when that contract renegotiation with Epstein hadn't happened yet, the sharks were circling. Klein's announcement of his new clients made the newspapers. And a mysterious "Third man" in the negotiations deals. Epstein, Lennon, Harrison and Starr ALL DENIED HIS CLAIMS. THEY SAID HE WAS TALKING BULLSHIT. So I'm not sure why Paul McCartney makes some kind of noble gesture saying "I knew he was bad news, so I was trying to save the guys." in 1969. Um, THEY KNEW he was bad news back in November 1966. WHERE WERE YOU????? Paul Is Dead is not a conspiracy. And when you get what occurs in September 1966 in Pepperland, where close friends, associates start dropping like flies, one after the other, either from car accident, suicide, overdose or straight out murder, it gets into the world of "people are getting wacked here." Their lawyer was dead a year after their manager, and HE TOLD PEOPLE SOMEONE WAS OUT TO KILL HIM. So it's not is Paul Dead that's your question. You want to pay attention to those who started dying around The Beatles, and that absolutely kickstarts in September 1966. The first death is Alma Cogan. By August 1967, you already have ten people who are close associates of The Beatles GONE. Not acquaintances. Not other people in the music industry. Friends. Colleagues. Business Associates. By 1970, the number has started getting so high that it defies the laws of probability that that many people would die of unnatural causes so quickly in succession. When his never a father in law Richard Asher committed suicide, they couldn't find him for 3 days. I don't know why. HE WAS IN HIS HOUSE. Unless that house has secret tunnels and alcoves, I'm not sure how they missed him being home for his act. And when people start dropping like flies where the probability says the chances of that many people dying of unnatural causes in succession like that, brings you into the trillions of grain of sand AGAINST its possibility, then they are being gotten rid of for a reason. Something is being covered up, or something has gone wrong, and now loose ends need to be tied. That's the only reason people start getting wacked. And I point to that Moped Accident of the 26th December, 1965, where he said a Full Moon distracted him, while it's a New Moon Phase England has just entered into. And he drops this Full Moon into every telling of this tale of crashes and chipped teeth and split lips. Even though no Full Moon is present to be distracted by. And his brother and he can't seem to agree on the story and who stitched him up. But nevermind! When journalists and paparazzi caught him coming out of a club at the end of December 1965, NOT ONE OF THEM TOOK A PHOTO OF A BASHED UP BEATLE. THE CUTE ONE NO LESS. How many newspapers do you think that would sell in BEATLEMANIA ERA . Paul McCartney, the cute one, all busted up. No pictures?? I mean it makes the newspapers of course, but no photo??? Is that a media blackout? A pay off? It must be, because by September this guy can completely disappear from public view for weeks upon weeks, and not one person in the newspaper world bats an eye. But they'll follow Lennon to Spain! And they know Starr goes there too! And they'll follow Harrison to India! HOW many Pauls there are, is really your question. I have an answer to that, but people ain't ready for that kind of game. It'd make everything they thought just fall apart. Paul Is Dead had mission and purpose. And it was deliberate, and very planned. The Moped Accident is a fabrication to produce an identifying "marker." So that there's no confusion anymore. And it seems anyone that may have caught onto that, just better get as far away from that band as soon as possible.
I scoured the comments to see if anyone gets it. Yours was the only one. I wonder if comments that mention the elephant in the room are getting removed. The only way to make sense of the movie is to be aware of the things you mentioned because that is what the film mainly alludes to, among other occulted knowledge the 'profane' as they call us are unaware of
You got it. ;) It's the Death & Resurrection Show for The Teenage Wasteland. You can see the basic strategy in a movie called "Privilege" (1967). @@df5295
Wow!!! Just watched this analysis. GREAT!! Haven't seen "Magical Mystery Tour" the movie since on videocassette in the '80s. I'm going to have to watch it again. I've never taken acid, but the "circle of life" analogy and the "seven layers" seems to make sense. Feel like I was on a "trip" watching this!!! The ancients wrote of this, in the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" which you mentioned, and also in the Hindu vedic scripts of the Mahabharata, also the ancient Egyptians etc. Timothy Leary was very interesting too. I don't think drugs are the answer, but I do think enlightened awareness is. Thanks for this great video analysis. Finally, it all (almost) makes sense!! Took some of us nearly 56 years to get it!!! And I'm only just 61!!
There’s a really great fan-edit of this that reorganizes the scenes and makes it a bit more of a standard travelogue adventure. It’s still a trip, but it’s honestly more watchable!
Having seen MMT a few times (I videotaped it off of Disney around the time of the Anthology TV airings, along with a Sgt. Pepper making of documentary), my take was that they were lost after losing Brian, and were just trying to keep busy to not really think about it.
I have to second that! All four Beatles have said basically the same thing many time i n interviews and books...are we analying and putting too much into this film here? Putting it on a higher pedestal than it deserves? I think so. And I am an extreme Beatles Fanantic.
...And a difficult film to "decode", indeed! I loved the album; I was 13 years old when it was released and I played it to death. The photos in the enclosed booklet intrigued me (John shoveling spaghetti, for example!). Fast forward to 1982 and I finally saw it -on the big screen at a midnight showing. After that, I had to say...well...I still love the album! In closing, I will say that, despite its lack of continuity, it is a good example of how The Beatles continually 'pushed the envelope' against convention; they were always evolving. Thanks for this in-depth analysis of MMT, James.
Wow. That was just brilliant. Subscribed. I had always viewed the film as a visual album, so the absence of a plot had never bothered me. I had always suspected that it tied into their explorations into magic and the occult. I had also suspected that Sgt Pepper was a herald for Magical Mystery Tour, certainly all the supposed backmasked messages seem to be pointing to MMT. But this dissection you had made ties it all up and explains it so succinctly. Of course, you are right. Why didn't I see it before? I also agree with your assessment about Paul's grief. He has said that he wanted to plough ahead with MMT, because he felt that the group would fall apart if they didn't. They would give into their grief and split. Brian's death wasn't the inspiration -- it was already in the works, at least conceptually -- but it was the driving force behind it and it shaped how it was fleshed out. I don't know why Paul feels compelled to be so coy about his art -- always pretending that things don't mean what they mean, or playing around with their origin stories. He's so obsessed with the hidden.
Wow, that was a fantastic analysis. So well researched and logically laid out. What a joy to watch. Magical Mystery tour is the most seminal and favorite album in my life and I love the movie. Thanks !
Interesting I saw the film when first broadcast on the BBC TV (unfortunately in black and white), at that age I didn't get it but loved the Music. Fool on the Hill resonated with me, "He never listens to them, he knows that their the fools" to me, it saying do your own thing, don't follow the crowd, if your not into something. Perhaps that's why I never smoked although my friends did... I am the Walrus, brilliant reminds me of Lewis Carol nonsense poems, so English. I now love this film, I take from it the message be yourself whatever that is... P.S although I saw the film on release, I never thought about a Hippy bus in America, it was always a bus tour.... I think Dewsbury was just a place which came to mind, I don't think they thought about Leeds, or Paul would have said it's near Leeds .
James, you blew my mind with this analysis! It goes contrary to many of the comments from McCartney and Lennon themselves over the years, such as people trying to interpret too much meaning into their lyrics. And yet, so much of what you posit makes sense! Lennon and McCartney have contradicted themselves in some statements, but that may have been because some have been lies. I don’t want to believe what you're suggesting - but I fear you may be right! I'd rather go on enjoying the music, and the "music videos" from the film, and ignore the rest as meaningless rubbish. Thanks very much, keep up the good work!
Incredible exploration of a genius work of art. I never understood it, but now it all falls into place. You really need to know what the Beatles were doing in their lives at the time they were making something. Personal evolution, death of a loved one, them getting into abstract and symbolic art, drugs, teachings of Leary... I also get the Lennon line 'I buried Paul' now at the end of Strawberry Fields... It's about ego-death... The Beatles at that time were so far ahead of everyone... combining all these artforms and getting into esoteric teachings... But of course, like everyone involved into deep spirituality and esoteric teachings: how do you tell the masses? They probably won't understand; and they never do. Esoteric teachings always have two sides: the beautiful outside (the song, the sculpture, the book with lovely stories...) and then the hidden meaning underneath. 99,9 % of the people only see the outside. While the outside is just the cardboard box around the jewel inside. I knew the Beatles were geniuses. But I didn't realize up to what level. After your docu I watched the movie again, and well, it's impossible to understand the meaning behind it if you haven't been filled in on beforehand, if you haven't got the 'translation'. There must be a thousand hidden symbols and meanings everywhere. Just take the flowers on the 'wizard' Paul's hat and coat: he's the only one with a golden flower with 7 petals on hat and coat. Ringo and George have 14 petals on the hat and no flowers on the coat... Just saying... 😀 And that has always been the trouble with esoteric texts. People don't get it, mostly because it was made impossible to get. Take the bible, also an esoteric book, really no one understands. They just take it litterally, which is absurd. I think at this time, Paul must have known this would be the effect the movie would have on the audience. But I suppose when you wake up after a trip and you 'know the meaning of life' the only thing you want to do is share it, no matter what. And the Beatles were about the only band to do that at that time. The movie also gives a real insight on 'what goes on inside the head of a Beatle', because you're actually looking throught their eyes looking at the movie. I don't believe what the general idea is from the public that this is a failed movie, that preparations were bad, that filming was chaos... When you look at all the details (and I'm sure we still miss about 9/10 of what really is in this movie!), this must have been so meticulously planned... It is a work of art, maybe even of a higher level than Pepper, because you don't only have the music, you also need to make a movie. (and face it: the music alone is already the best of the best...) And all this 14 days after the death of Epstein... those guys were totally unbelievable... There will never be another Beatles. Impossible.
MMT was an enormous influence on the great 70s independent film directors. 1 George Lucas the Cantina scene in Star Wars adapted from the I am the Walrus scene in MMT .2 David Lynch in Blue Velvet with the aging go-go dancer on the hood of the car dancing to ''Candy Colored Clown'' by Roy Orbison is inspired by the aging stripper performing with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in MMT.3 Woody Allen's Stardust Memories throughout was shot in a Fellini paradigm style with many scenes adapted from the same technique in MMT starting with the train scene in the beginning compared to the passengers at the start of the MMT bus and at the celebratory end of the MMT bus trip, the aliens, magicians and circus type performers in the field at the alien convention, the sight gag of the Indian guru jacketed meditation instructor with the New Jersy housewives at Woody's sister's house and the newsreel screen with the fold out wooden deck chairs at the end are all influenced by MMT scenes . Mia Farrow was in India with the Beatles framing the Maharishi for sexual harassment well before she attempted to frame Woody Allen for child molestation. They hooked up after Stardust Memories was cast but before it was shot. 4. The dancing bobbies in MMT is also more than reminiscent of Dennis Potter's Singing Detective/Pennies from Heaven and the other big influence of MMT and the Beatles generally is Monty Python humour that adapts Beatles humour that in turn was adapted by the Beatles particularly John Lennon from the Goons. ''Now for something completely different'' is a line by the coach bus driver in MMT that became the opening tag line for all Monty Python programs.
Spielberg says it was a classic taught in art schools. Scorse said the moving camera was ahead of it's time. I was lucky enough to see at my friends colour TV. Loved it at the age of 15 and still love it. US wake up !
Yes!!! What a video to comment first on. Nice one James!!! 😊😉 Was all I watched in 97 lol so starved in those days of Beatles video just Iam the Walrus,Fool on the hill and Blue Jay way and the 'spaghetti dream' I absolutely loved it 😊😊😊
It's all in the name: "Magical Mystery Tour" ✨️ 🎉 🕉 🌟 How about if the movie was just a "bit" of fun?! Funny, stupid, trippy, colorful, happy 😊 🎉 Not to mention it is another great album of Beatles music. Enjoy the music 🎶 as you watch. It's about transformation. 🕉
Astounding perception James, I do believe you have cracked this. I have always thought that there simply MUST have been an explanation behind what appeared to be random filming. Well done & thank you. I can now understand this with more reasoning. {Clever lads them Beatles} - And you !
Very well done analysis. We need to help history re-frame the film not as a senseless mess, but as The Beatles -- especially Paul -- taking the psychedelic piss out of all of us.
I saw this movie on Boxing Day in 1967, in black and white, we didn't have a colour television. I was 17 years old and i thought that it was brilliant. very clever with enormous charm prcisely because it was not rehearsed. I watch now and it's still brilliant.
A nice piece of work, delving into this...anybody into yoga and mysticism will know about the 7 energy centres/chakras, which correspond to the 7 'Halls' in the KaBaLaH...Paul's touching on it was through delving into collective consciousness/memory, perhaps, even if via, ahem, 'pot'!
James you are a frequent guest in my home ala RUclips, and you are quite a great story teller man! Thanks for the company and the forever interesting videos on my favorite bands!! Happy hollidays
It is so much fun and rewarding to speculate on the meaning of this movie. How about this? Paul is playing with us to see what he can get away with. If you are famous and rich like the Beatles, you can do this. It is what it is, a zany movie. Just enjoy it. . If you want to interpret a movie, try Yellow Submarine. Who WERE those apple droppers and why were they so tall? And mean?
There are a few references that I get (I'm a lot older than you) that a younger person who hasn't lived through the 1940s and 50s will not get. For example, "The eyes of man..." is a direct reference to a Goonshow script by Spike Milligan where the Goons are exploring a jungle and actual words are "To go where the hand of man has never set foot". Paul has also said in more than one interview that the Fool on the Hill is the Maharishi. There are also references to transcendental meditation and Hindu and Bhuddist religions...Circle of Life, reincarnation, etc. Incidentally, the cow which appeared earlier makes another appearance in the restaurant scene. And the cow is sacred in Hinduism.
I thought that everyone knew "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was about John's son Julian's drawing of his schoolmate Lucy. I have seen the drawing. Lucy was a real person who died somewhat recently. Nobody would believe her when she said the song was about her, and I suspect this video will go a long way towards furthering that. Also, "I Am the Walrus" was (after the first couple of lines were written) generally a reaction to teachers at Quarry Bank High School analyzing Beatles lyrics. John intended to put a stop to that by deliberately writing nonsense lyrics. With the aid of Pete Shotton he included lines from an old poem from his school days intended to disgust people.
Alright. I thought the Sgt. Pepper video was a bit much. But this is pretty brilliant. I can't help thinking you're giving Paul too much credit, but your take on all this is very creative and awesome. Nice work.
Ok i love this video. I've always thought pepper's and mmt as a lost double album. Plus 3 the yellow submarine 67 songs. W the 27 songs arranged differently to flow as a plot. Band takes people on a trip that's Sgt Pepper's Magical Mystery Tour.
My very favorite Beatles album is Magical Mystery Tour. For both music and art. Often heard it slammed, but I cherish it as best Beatles of 67 because Sgt. Pepper gets all the love but doesn't do it for me as a whole. The movie itself, I can take it or leave it.
When the movie was first released on vhs i bought a copy .. In several places throughout, it left me with the feeling they had no idea where it was headed thus a camera was left running in case something interesting, unplanned , or candid happened along the way .. Unfortunately, not much happened other than the intentional sets, subtle drug references, and bits of pre-Python-ish humor about private issues society doesn't openly discuss.. Overall it was bizarre, bewildering as to real meaning, and an overall an adventure to nowhere .. But maybe that was the intent all along, and if so, I never understood why, and I surely didn't "get it." And now postscript after watching this youtube vid , James' analysis makes perfect sense and confirms what many of us assumed however unsure, as it being "a trip." But it's much more than that... James does a fine bang-up job presenting facts showing the film is a symbolistic metaphor on the parallels between the circle of life into reincarnation and an LSD trip
The reference "expert textbert choking smokers don't you think the joker laughs at you" relates to the fact that many marijuana smokers get "delusions of reference" when they are stoned, so they would look at the joker on the rolling paper and think somehow he knew what they were doing and is laughing at them. Similar to the double meaning in "I've got a feeling... that everybody knows". Paul is stoned and he thinks everyone who looks at him knows it.
Paul & John at that time were 25 & 27 and spent the time of their adulthood in touring, recording, interview, tv specials etc. Where did they find the time to become so proficient with psichedelia and occult? Evidently they have been manovoured from powerful forces which kept hidden
I didn't get to see this film until about 20 years after it's release. To say I was confused is an understatement. However, no matter my confusion I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe not as much as A Hard Days Night or Help! but still was entertained by it. Back to the confusion, your interpretation of the film has cleared that up completely and now I'm scrambling to get my hands on a copy because now I'm sure it'll make sense. A little sidenote that wasn't mentioned but in the 90's(I think)there was a band named Deathcab For Cutie. Another project for me as I have no idea what their music is like. Anyway, thanks mate for your insightful post.
Whoa ! Great work, dude! Not having the vinyl in hand like the old days, I was still able to appreciate many of the references to specific songs and images. I have been a slave to the wonderful power of music 🎶 ever since 1965; my first dj assignment. Granny started it. We wore the first Temptations records out. Ever since then I actually listen to lyrics and let it all become a great experience. Air guitar star if there ever was one! All of your insights were eye opening and have fleshed out a skeleton of an idea. I will quite likely be hearing from you again. Thank you 😊
The first time I watched this movie, I literally laughed out loud at many scenes as I couldn't believe what I was seeing! People shouldn't really compare this to a 'normal' movie by looking for a plot, because there isn't one! I've watch it multiple times and it does get better and make more sense over time but really, just sit back and let the madness wash over you while enjoying the absolutely brilliant soundtrack.
Absolutely.
💯
yeah its like a Warhol movie that way but with a brilliant soundtrack.
James needs to take some LSD and stop taking things so seriously. This was never intended or made to be a movie! Why do people still fail to understand this? It wasn't even released in cinemas! It was an arty, made for TV film and it's not Pauls fault it was first shown on BBC 2 in black and white. It was shown in colour shortly afterwards which Frost actually references seeing in the interview. People like the film and it has some great music, stop being so critical. And the beatles got better after the drugs. Lighten up.
Bang on here, if you’re not British then you’re not likely to recognise any of the cast either 😂😂😂
I've always loved this movie. I had listened to the album for years. I was a Beatles purist as very small child. The rest of my family didn't listen to music. At least I had good taste. Roll up
step right this way!
Roll up...🤔...🙄😒...🚬...😮... 🚭
Yeah, I always liked it, and the album too. Don’t know what the haters are talking’bout.
Congrats
No music at all??
One of my favorite Christmases as an adult is when I got the Magical Mystery Tour Blu Ray box set, and showing it to people who hadn't seen it yet throughout the season
I didn't know there was a Blu-Ray Box Set! Assumed it was going to be a bog standard DVD of the film or 1 option with added commentary i'd see for sale. Box Set sounds like it'll be better & now is what I'm going for. (Never seen the beeb film, i only have the L.P. but always loved it. One of my much more played albums of 2K'ish L.P.s from 45'ish yrs collecting fave's, most heard around friends with good stereos when pre W.W.W.
Whether u like the movie or not, the SONGS ARE CLASS!!!!!
"I am the Walrus" is arguably one of their best songs in terms of musical complexity and imaginative lyrics.
"Strawberry Fields Forever" ,is on my copy of the album, and it's up there as one of the best songs ever written. These guys were on ANOTHER LEVEL!!!!
Strawberry Fields forever is not part of the film, it was released as a double A side with Penny Lane. However I agree about it's brilliance. In the UK there was never an album for Magical Mystery Tour at the time it was a double ep and book, plus Pepper and Strawberry field were all still in the charts, what a time for popular music.
@@roberttreborable Well, I did say it was on my copy of the album. Thought that was self explanatory.
In any case the album version has now become accepted as part of their canon and catalogue of official albums.
Strawberry Fields does not belong to the album. It was recorded during the Pepper's sessions and published as a single prior to Sgt Pepper. It has been put on the US version by capital to make an album from the original double EP so they could charge more. Technically, chronologically and aesthetically does not belong to the project. I actually do not like the mess they did with that, it makes the album sketchy and confused. I also hate all these remixes... it's like taking fluo paint to "correct" the Mona Lisa.
@@za-music No shit Sherlock. SFF is a CLASSIC and could be on virtually any album from that period.
For me, it fits perfectly well in the psychedelic madness and imaginative free form art music that the Beatles were producing at the time.
@@theselector4733SFF is a classic SINGLE record coupled with Penny Lane. I like the Beatles discography AS THEY INTENDED IT. Not as some big major like Capitol chopped them to scam their fans putting on it 1 year old singles. It does not belong, it does not fit (It was recorded one year prior and it disrupts the quirky atmosphere of the original tracks). Production style does not fit either, that's why I hate every Capitol album with tracks completely devoided of context. The Beatles themselves hate them too, there must be a reason. If you think you know better than they did when they complained about it calling it a SCAM, go with it with your Fluo painted version, I rather like the originals. AS THEY WERE INTENDED BY THE GUYS. There was an ethical reason behind non album singles and an artistic reason too. I think we should start listening to them for what they were, not for what we would have liked them to be. Capitol Records sucks. MMT Capitol version is a mess of a compilation, not the masterpiece double EP that they published.
I was obsessed with this movie at one point.. I watched it probably 15 times in the span of a few weeks
i would put it on eternal repeat loop on a small TV in my kitchen for a week or two at a time so that you would catch random fragments of it whenever zipping into or thru the kitchen...made the kitchen into an otherworldly place
Hahaha! Boss comments chaps and I’m bang into this flick too, forget about all that early cashing in on their popularity movies, they reek of those awful Elvis Presley movies that the Colonel exploited but by this film they are doing wtf they want and it’s peerless to me! Best wishes folks 👍☘️
Brilliant analysis! I'm so glad I viewed this.
I must tell you, I am a musician/writer myself and have experienced people like yourself, analyzing my work, and arriving at conclusions far greater and in depth than I ever had in mind while writing.
They made my work better than it was when I wrote it. In truth, they (and you) become partners in the creation of an artwork.
i don't know if the Beatles had all in mind that you detail here or not. But you have improved my experience of Magical Mystery Tour to a level I never thought it could achieve.
Well done.
You are right. The audience is an artistic partner.
It's ironic that John Lennon wrote I Am the Walrus in response to learning that academics were analysing his lyrics and he wanted to shove it to them by writing something meaningless. But, of course, it's not meaningless. Choices were made to include references to Lewis Carroll and a schoolyard rhyme etc. There is meaning in those choices; it wasn't random. And he was wrong to dismiss the role of literary criticism. Art can't exist without an audience. Art is the relationship between form and audience, of whom the artist is only one member. (I don't believe in the "authority" of the author.) Yoko's conceptual art is the purest example of this, since her art couldn't exist without someone to "get it". This is something that Paul understands. While I find it frustrating how coy he can be about his art, it belies this belief. He would rather deny meaning than impose meaning. He WANTS us to draw our own interpretations. Yeah, right, he didn't know that Venus ands Mars were the gods of love and war. Yeah, right.
I think James is spot on here, maybe not to the extent he posits, but it is clearly the intended framework. If we do it, the truth will somehow present itself in the art. And I guess it succeeded despite the poor planning.
MMT was the apotheosis of their psychedelic wanderings. Having had boat loads of Acid meself, something very strange happens after a certain ' tipping ' point. The first year is deep immersion into the utter fantastic changes occurring, within you, then you move into the evangelical phase, when you've mastered it, where you want to share it and shout about it from the rooftops , then it begins to get super out there weird, when you realise it's still full of surprises and can have the power to still shock you to your very core. MMT is definitely that moment where you can see Acids darkly comic aspects made manifest. It's a just like a trip. Bewildering, fun, weird and un- pindownable. In a most English manner.
And the booklet makes an excellent children's book. I wonder who actually wrote it?
Your Beatles content is always amazing. Genuinely groundbreaking content when it comes to Beatles RUclipsrs and just Beatle fans in general. Thanks James.
Cheers Bobby, much appreciated 🍻🍻
HIs commentary on pepper totally changed my thoughts on it. I listened to it anew, and holy crap.
@@SmokeslikelightningbandI completely agree. Such a well thought out and creative analysis. This is what it’s all about!
"IT WAS A FAKE MUSTACHE"@@Smokeslikelightningband
I guess people weren't ready for that.
This goes to show the genius of the Beatles. They didn't just write words that went with a melody at this stage, they must have spent quite some time agonising over the meaning of every word and thinking about double meanings, hidden meanings and, in case of this film, every image you see on screen.
Even the new single Now and Then is chock full of little things that convey meaning, it's not just something they threw together.
That is what I love about the Beatles, they put so much effort into everything they did and after being a fan since I was a child in the 70s I'm still discovering new things in their music every time I have yet another Beatles phase.
They are so much more than just a band.
Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and others in the film industry have praised ‘Magical Mystery Tour. I agree!
Spielberg once said it was his greatest inspiration to become a director.
not surprising snce they are all in the MAGICK PYRAMID
@@PaulFormentosruclips.net/user/shorts1LwxXhj7jCo?si=5EcvhUX-_DEavNlo
Best documentary 👌ruclips.net/video/VRT4IN0ymZk/видео.htmlsi=IOC2IQbf-C_ha5OE
I’m delighted that they had enough artistic freedom and courage to throw this movie out there. After the cringy early nonsense films culminating with Help I think it’s kudos to them for doing this. I am sure they were well aware that the majority of the people who appeared in it would be complete strangers to all but us North West English people so sod the rest of the world, this one was just a nod to their own people and I love it. #FourLads
Well done. I've never had a problem with Magical Mystery Tour. Entertaining and progressive at the same time. The way you peeled the layers away is the next level to understanding this film. Again nice job.
Victor Spinetti as Sarge, Ivor Cutler & the Bonzo's were worth the price of admission. The Beatles bits weren't bad either. John's turn as a waiter in Aunt Jessie's dream was side splittingly funny doing the Yes M'Lady in a made up Greek accented parody of Parker from Thunderbirds. Paul's video of Fool On The Hill was brilliant, especially as it was Just him and a cameraman that filmed it.
I even like the magician bits. "Spent four hours looking for the sugar".
It's a great little film, especially if you're zooted
Excellent review of this dusty gem of a film. If you're a Beatles fan you appreciate the little details and nuances of this performance. Yes I laughed hysterically at John's quirky mannerisms and humor especially the wizard scenes hahaha. MMT was the first and my favorite album I ever listened to. In my household my older brother and sister had 2 Beatles album..MMT and the White album. That's why it's so engrained in my brain more than the other albums and have warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings about it.
There was a rumour that, in the Fool on The Hill segment that Paul's trouser fly was un-done and he inadvertedly exposed his privates!
The Fabs as wizards. Ringo pulls it off best.
It's "Paul", or should I say Billy playing Viv in that scene.
"...a wafer-thin mint..."
This is extremely interesting. The first time I saw this movie, it was at a small town city festival, and completely out of synch, but I absolutely loved it. It turned me into a huge fan of Vivian Stanshall and Bonzo Dog. The songs were absolutely incredible, even though I was a teenager (drug fueled in the 70's) You're right though, I've seen it many times since now (in my 60's) I understand all of it. "Flying" was an absolutely fabuluous sequence.
Just finished the whole thing. Great video. Great analysis. Great channel. Can't wait for more
I dunno. I'm only 6 minutes in and I wish I could get him to get to the point! (I thought I was much further in.)
The video ,and analysis are a sterling piece of work .
@404TVfr He tried to look for sense , and found it .
@404TVfr Well , not Elvis . Freddie Garrity on a piece of stoneground - now your talking .
I saw this as a teenager in the 80's. We had a copy of it on video. I actually liked the movie. I like weird things as well as mainstream movies. So I was not disappointed in it. It was basically 20 years old when I saw it and to me it represented an art house psychedelic time capsule of a bygone era so to me it was a bit of history to me.
Finally, a film i really love had a proper defense in the internet!! Yes, an art film following the Fellini influence, and all the things that you teach un your analisis are simply beathifull and genius. At last, justice for a film that it's really genius and inspiring.
Paul says a lot of things. He's had a lot of years to create narratives. Whether they are true or not. No one is around to dispute them.
MMT was an art film. No meaning. He was anxious to keep the band working after Brian died. He feared they'd drift apart.
He made a pie chart as a sort of framing of the film. Each of them would write a 'bit" like John feeding the spaghetti to the fat woman, etc. And they'd make some songs and try to tie it all together.
It had no meaning.
It was an amateur attempt to create something.
It failed.
Of course today it's legendary.
I love it.
I've loved it since day one.
I mean, we get to see a performance of "Death Cab For Cutie", complete with a burlesque stripper bit.
We get to see a live, (well sort of), performance of I Am The Walrus.
We get to see Paul's little film he did in France to Fool On The Hill.
And the really corny big stage show with Your Mother Should Know.
And Victor Spinetti doing the military bit....GOLD.
It's a good fun film.
No meaning.
Just an amateur attempt at a film that is laced together with Gems.
Yes. And Paul's "circular script' was nothing more than dividing the segments by using a clock face to represent the 1 hour running time of The TV special. It's also foolish to conflate coincidence with causation.
Coach trip"Mystery tours" were actually an established tradition in mid century England. Lennon would write Glass Onion a year later as a jab at those who would seek hidden messages in their work. These kind of specious theories would achieve critical mass with the "Paul is dead," and Manson family's " HelterSkelter."
What we have here is basic Conspiracy 101, where the narrator skips over relevant facts and obsessess over cherry picked coincidences, ostensibly to "prove" his thesis.
@@tawnieriekena7 Thank you!
What a depressing glass half empty lot you mob are
Everything they did had tons of meaning. And was scripted years before by societal planners. Denial of that probably gives sheep some comfort, though.
My take on this video and now the Beatles film has me doing a rethink on what it was about and from what has been said -it now makes sense so it might not be that weird after all. I absolutely enjoy the album and it still has my ear 56 years later. The Beatles were the most remarkable band of the 20th century and are still beloved my millions of people 53 years after they broke up and that truly is Magical! Excellent video,James.
I remember Ian Macdonald in revolution in the head stating something along the lines of the British psychedelic experience being altogether safer and warmer than the confrontational and edgy American experience (think it was his write up of Its All Too Much) comparing Magical Mystery Tour with Ken Kaseys Merry Brand of Pranksters brought this to mind
I love this movie. There are no rules in film. If someone is stuck in a straitjacket about what a film should be, they'll never like it or anything like it.
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. Great interesting work.
I saw the Boxing Day movie. I was 11 at the time. It has always been my absolute favourite, and still is. I’m now 67.
Astounding research, James!
Much respect from Western Australia 🇦🇺
... and from Queensland.
Many thanks mate :)
Wow. It’s exciting to even read a comment from someone who say it the day it aired. Do you remember anything in particular about watching it for the first time?
Perth
@@profile2047 Yes I do remember watching it with a bunch of my cousins and we all couldn't believe that such a trippy show was actually on BBC TV. Three years later I decided to become a bass player at the tender age of 14. And I have been playing bass in various rock and prog bands ever since.
Hey James, love the channel for long time now!
The posters on the wall are of the Thelemic adaptation of 'The Rosy Cross". Used by many occult schools, such as the Rosicrucians, Golden Dawn, & Crowley's OTO (* check AIWASS & the scene of Paul 'Major McCartney' at the desk w the sign reading "I was")
Can't help but wonder if "The Eyes of Man" isn't a reference to the Isle of Man & Gerald Gardner 'father of modern Wicca'...bit of a stretch?? idk.
But the stuff on the wall is definitely a Crowley ref....multiple layers/meanings right?
Love job you did on the 'Just' video!!! Mystery Solved!!
Plz keep up the phenomenal work....SPLENDID!!!
Ahhhh right, that's why I didn't know what they were!
Figured they'd be something mystical / esoteric
Thanks for the info Chris, and glad you enjoyed the vid sir
Do what thou wilt
BRAVO😁👍
😎✌👍❤🖖
Billy could be ole Crowely's son@@fuzzyd2121
@@fuzzyd2121 I AM HE
In many ways, this film (and the Beatles themselves, particularly Lennon) were Monty Python before their time. The scene with the waiter loading the rather large woman's plate with Spaghetti was incredibly similar both visually and in tone to the Mr. Creosote scene in _Monty Python's meaning of Life_ --- so much so that it must have been an influence.
During the same sequence, Neil Innes plays the piano in "Death Cab for Cutie". He was with the Pythons in "Holy Grail" and on numerous other occasions
l'd guess you're American if you think British surreal humour begins and ends with Monty Python. lt has a long history, going back before Alice in Wonderland, so to say the Beatles were Monty Python before their time is quite insulting.
Here we go again, another unfounded generalization about Americans. I can only say in response, that yes, *_despite_* suffering from the *_handicap_* of being an *_American,_* I was well aware when I made my comment, of the wondrous and surreal works of Lewis Carroll and other European writers prior to The Beatles and Monty Python. I was also well aware of Carroll's influence on Lennon (Alice in Wonderland, The Walrus and the Carpenter etc.). I am and have always been an anglophile and love English literature and film. No need to be insulted friend, life is too short. I was simply pointing out, in a friendly (but not uninformed manner, as you seem to be implying) that there were similarities in approach between John Lennon's surreal and sometimes dark humor to that of Python's. I love them both --- *_despite_* being an *_American._*
George Harrison was a Pythons fan, befriended to Eric Idle and on Idles request to help, he funded the whole movie The Life Of Brian (with $ 4 Mio.). Otherwise the Phytons would have been forced to skip the project. Nobody else was interesed in this sensitive religious subject. That might light up a bit how different actors from MMT popped up again in Phyton's productions.
Even before, a whole bunch of famous rockbands like Led Zeplin, Genesis (of course) and Pink Floyd sponsored already the Holy Grail.
@@Hernal03 l never suggested your comment was uniformed, in fact l don't even know what that means, but so many Americans compare any surreal humour to Monty Python as that's the only British comedy they are aware of. The Beatles were more influenced by the Goons, as were a whole generation.
I've never seen somebody analyze MMT like this. It does add up, I don't know how long you worked on this theory but it's very well done. I'm going to subscribe right now. Even if others don't believe all you've come up with, your effort and imagination to explain MMT movie is about so should definitely be respected. I really enjoyed this and wasn't expecting anything much.. Bravo James and Thank you. Goodnight-sue
Thanks Sue!
In answering your question on how long it took to script and finish this beast - two weeks non-stop.
I am so tired now hahahahaha
The edit alone took 5 days. Which was just absolute murder.
I am very much enjoying a few days off now with my Mrs!
Glad you enjoyed the vid 👍👍
Well Deserved!@@JamesHargreavesGuitar
This was great! I've been watching this movie for many years, and now it has a whole different meaning.
Wow! Great analysis of what is to me an enjoyable but baffling film. I saw it when first broadcast at age 11(now 67) with my brother and parents. I thought it silly and funny; the others thought it completely bizarre. Your breakdown really does help. Thank you.
Quality. He does it over Sgt Pepper and he does it again over Magical Mystery Tour . Bravo. Really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Very welcome :)
If you watch something like Ken Anger's My Demon Brother or Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, MMT begins to make more sense. The slide overlay sequences are truly inspired, The Beatles and Paul must have been watching Anger's stuff.
Yes, Paul WAS watching Anger's stuff.
When it talks about 4 or 5 wizards\tourers\etc it is because YOU, the audience member can choose to be one of the wizards. You can choose to take the ride and to be one of the magical makers. It even has you in front of a chemistry set of your own.
Hey I'm very interested in this comment's meaning, can you explain further.
Hello James, Once again you have managed to analyze perfectly an impossible work of art. I wonder what the music insiders or those in the Beatles' camp would say about this amazing interpretation. I have recently started watching Fellini Films again and MMT plays out very much in the same vibe. Thanks for allowing me to understand and appreciate this work of art.
You're welcome!
And thanks for your kind comments :)
I think somehow it really should be made aware to "music insiders or those in the Beatles' camp" as well...
How about a little Sslvador Dali on the side...?😉
😎✌👍❤🖖
I'm not sure if "Your Mother Should Know" was one long continuous shot, but it sure looks like it. The choreography and everything about that scene is a masterpiece
My favorite scene
this is the best channel for beatles and oasis fans. if u both like me you are in the right place.. please keep with this content james and thank you for all work to gather all the information
all around the world you gotta spread the word , d'you known what i mean?
the word is LOVE , the first step for a revolution
The Beatles were beyond other bands, trying to rhyme was with cuz, or baby and crazy; because the Beatles distilled so much from culture into their concepts and songs.
19:52 the drumming Aunt Jessie wasn't 'behind the scenes footage', it was part of the work print (leaked on the HMC bootleg) where the booklet cartoon and story was ultimately based on.
I was born in 1959. I grew up listening to The Beatles. They influenced my musical desires for the rest of my life. I consider The Beatles to be my favorite band and greatest music ever. All bands I enjoy are measured by The Beatles. I love British music. From Uriah Heep, Jade Warrior, Yes, ELP, Gentle Giant, and so many more. I wish The Beatles would have preformed some Jazz like Klaus Doldinger's Passport...
A very interesting video and interpretation.
About first view of "Magical Mystery Tour" ...
I had read so many places, that it was rubbish, that I didn't expected much. I bought the DVD simply as a collectors item. But of course I watched it. And it brought me in such a cheerful mood. And so - well, if something makes you happy, it's impossible to call it rubbish.
So that's what it has been for me: something merry and joyful. Never thought much about hidden meanings in it. But I guess you got a point. It all makes sense.
thank you, Jim. well, I never thought there was much to this film, but I guess I was wrong. I'm even more convinced now, that if it'd been broadcast in color, it would've gone over better. drug trip references being clear only to a few 'insiders'.and appreciating graphic art the way I do, I have to mention how brilliant the lettering which appeared on the front of the LP, 'BEATLES' drawn w/ stars was/is. their best cover, regardless of 'Pepper.'
I wonder if Paul Weller's introduction at the start of "Happy Together" was a tip of the hat to the OG showing ("And now for those of you watching in Black and White, this one is in color"). The Jam's final album The Gift was a hint at Weller's breaking away into The Style Council, who also had their own MMT with Jerusalem to support The Cost of Loving.
TheJAM is one of my favorite bands@@raleighbronkowski4224
Mystery Tours were popular in the UK throughout the 50's & 60's especially with the working classes before foreign holidays were affordable.
Really great video. I remember seeing the Blue Jay Way scene when I was about 10 years old and I was simultaneously frightened and intrigued. Love this ridiculous film.
Many Thanks for another beautiful, insightful analysis! It all makes sense now. Brilliant!
Yes, at first watch, it strikes most everyone as silly, trivial, chaotic, undisciplined, and bla, bla, bla. But, when the dust settles after a number of viewings, you cease to look at what's missing and just enjoy what's there. And, what's there is pure Beatles. It's pure Beatle creativity, energy, experimentation, imagery, imagination and music. And it's wonderful!
At this point, the *only* thing I don't like about it, is that it's less than an hour and it comes to an end much too soon.
I enjoy your explanations of these kinds of things - you do great work! You’ve earned another subscriber
Wow you make it seems like the Beatles were deep philosophers and mystics. It could explain their world wide crazy popularity.
I grew up in that time but in a different language and different culture. I didn’t speak or understood English. Never saw their movies. So the Beatles were for me like the Eiffel tower is to an American: just a symbol of a foreign culture that anyone can identify. Never thought there was any depth to their music but nevertheless I enjoyed it. Your analysis really opens up a lot of boxes in the understanding of the end of the xxth century. Very interesting thank you.
I loved the movie! it was fun and the music was GREAT!
That photo of John with the line "the best way to go is by mdc" always creeped me out. The UK ep was released the 8th of December 1967. We all know what happend exactly 13 years later.
I like how the Beatles cast British comedic actor Nat Jackley probably in the hopes that he'd come up with funny bits...but he was just as confused as everyone else involved in the movie!
Paul wasn’t as much into acid as John and George were. John (he was said to have taken acid 1,000 times!) read Leary’s book and incorporated bits of it into Tomorrow Never Knows (“turn off your mind, surrender to the void, etc). I doubt Paul ever read any of this stuff, and I think the film was totally random with some symbolism, but nothing this deep.
John insisted until his death that the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds had nothing to do with LSD. It was simply a drawing that his son Julian did of his school friend Lucy. When John asked what it was, Julian said “It’s Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. Certainly the song has psychedelic lyrics.
I think the comparison with Fellini is right on the nose. The Psychedelic bus was certainly influenced by Ken Kesey. There were actual bus trips in England at the time called Mystery Tours which had bus trips to random locations.
I think like the show Seinfeld, which they said in an episode was “a show about nothing”, the film is a lot of random music videos strung together with a story and has nothing to do with Leary’s ideas or the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a guide to the Psychedelic experience. If anything it’s a surrealist film, which was already a conventional approach dating back to Dali and Brunel dating back to 1929 (Un Chien Andalou and L’Age d’Or). If you want to analyze the symbolism in both these early films, be my guest.
Fantastic presentation
and analysis
of a very complex work…
As with your analysis of
“Sgt Pepper”,
you’ve lifted the veil of vague dismissal that The Beatles
often dealt to anyone asking questions and uncovered great meaning…
There was a 50th anniversary BBC documentary about MMT in 2017 during which Ringo admitted that their purpose in making the movie was to let those who knew and loved them, privately or publicly, that they had moved on into a new kind of life…
I used to think and say that the best thing about this movie, so to speak, was that it gave something of a green light
to the eccentricity of
“Monty Python”…
that’s still true but your interpretation definitely got me thinking that there’s more to consider…
Btw
George’s
“Two Wives and a kid to support”
Prophetic, much?
😂
First off, love this video. Brilliant explanation. But i do remember seeing this on TV when i was around ten . The " I am the Walrus" scene was very memorable and probably sparked my love for the weird and esoteric.
Great deep dive! I noticed someone already got the "Rosy Cross" reference, so I'll just comment that I hope that there are others who did as well. It's apparent that the film's harshest critics were never "on the bus", but then again "The Fool" never cared for real reasons ("So we boobed!" while the film continued to be a major influence).
That's the only Beatles film I've not seen yet. Help is my personal favourite. Brilliant deep dive like the others! :)
It's not a conspiracy. They absolutely, without doubt, put those things in there, and it's all throughout their history.
Go to the Death Cab for Cutie scene, where the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band are playing for George and John, accompanied by an exotic dancer. The song of course speaks of someone killed in an accident.
You'll see John nudging George throughout the scene, and at one point he yells out what seems to be nonsense.
Play it backwards. He says Paul's Dead. ON FILM. So all that bullshit he said in the 1970's that they weren't doing any of it, is bullshit. Because there he is on film saying it.
The War scene and the Death scene in Magical Mystery Tour work like bookends. They are on opposite sides of the film, both running around the same length, and starting with a certain amount of time passed, or coming, that's the same. If you get me. They're bookends.
Now going through the Death scene audio reversed resulted in John's nonsense turning into something.
I have not gone through the War scene's audio reversed, and there is a lot of stuff there to be heard. I'd need a whole bunch of time to dedicate to that, and showing that Paul Is Dead, is not conspiracy whatsoever, and that it had an aim, and a purpose, takes time.
It also takes people realising that a Beatle disappearing off the face of the earth, while centered in the heart of London, where no photos of him are taken, no interviews given for TWO ENTIRE MONTHS - ----- is impossible. Whether he was dead or not. For a Beatle to completely go off grid WHILE HIS BAND IS BEING QUESTIONED BY EVERY NEWSPAPER IF THEY'RE BREAKING UP, OR IF THEY'RE LEAVING BRIAN EPSTEIN CONSTANTLY, is IMPOSSIBLE. THEY ARE STILL IN THE THROES OF BEATLEMANIA. Their contract with Epstein had not yet been renegotiated by September 1966, and that is all the newspapers wanted to report on. Go look. Any article you see about them in the period between September thru November 1966 is about THAT. And are they breaking up. In February 1967, in KRLA BEAT magazine out of Los Angeles, McCartney would announce his intentions of breaking up The Beatles. And pretty much after Epstein died, that's what he did. He drove that band into the ground working on projects that were ill-advised, poorly planned, had schedules that were impractical and impossible to achieve. Magical Mystery Tour was seen as their first failure.
Do you think Give My Regards to Broad Street would have won them any new fans? Or the James Paul McCartney Special. When these were released, they were seen as outright failures, and that McCartney should stick to music, and music only.
They followed Lennon to Spain to ask him. They knew Starr joined him there. They followed Harrison to India. All asking this question. McCartney? TWO ENTIRE MONTHS WITHOUT A SINGLE PHOTO OR INTERVIEW. NOTHING. How does a Beatle accomplish this LIVING IN LONDON.
They didn't even get in contact with him when Allen Klein, in November 1966 announced he had two of The Beatles as clients. He'd announced he wanted them back in June 1966. And when that contract renegotiation with Epstein hadn't happened yet, the sharks were circling. Klein's announcement of his new clients made the newspapers. And a mysterious "Third man" in the negotiations deals.
Epstein, Lennon, Harrison and Starr ALL DENIED HIS CLAIMS. THEY SAID HE WAS TALKING BULLSHIT. So I'm not sure why Paul McCartney makes some kind of noble gesture saying "I knew he was bad news, so I was trying to save the guys." in 1969. Um, THEY KNEW he was bad news back in November 1966. WHERE WERE YOU?????
Paul Is Dead is not a conspiracy. And when you get what occurs in September 1966 in Pepperland, where close friends, associates start dropping like flies, one after the other, either from car accident, suicide, overdose or straight out murder, it gets into the world of "people are getting wacked here." Their lawyer was dead a year after their manager, and HE TOLD PEOPLE SOMEONE WAS OUT TO KILL HIM.
So it's not is Paul Dead that's your question. You want to pay attention to those who started dying around The Beatles, and that absolutely kickstarts in September 1966. The first death is Alma Cogan. By August 1967, you already have ten people who are close associates of The Beatles GONE. Not acquaintances. Not other people in the music industry. Friends. Colleagues. Business Associates. By 1970, the number has started getting so high that it defies the laws of probability that that many people would die of unnatural causes so quickly in succession. When his never a father in law Richard Asher committed suicide, they couldn't find him for 3 days. I don't know why. HE WAS IN HIS HOUSE. Unless that house has secret tunnels and alcoves, I'm not sure how they missed him being home for his act.
And when people start dropping like flies where the probability says the chances of that many people dying of unnatural causes in succession like that, brings you into the trillions of grain of sand AGAINST its possibility, then they are being gotten rid of for a reason. Something is being covered up, or something has gone wrong, and now loose ends need to be tied. That's the only reason people start getting wacked.
And I point to that Moped Accident of the 26th December, 1965, where he said a Full Moon distracted him, while it's a New Moon Phase England has just entered into. And he drops this Full Moon into every telling of this tale of crashes and chipped teeth and split lips. Even though no Full Moon is present to be distracted by. And his brother and he can't seem to agree on the story and who stitched him up. But nevermind! When journalists and paparazzi caught him coming out of a club at the end of December 1965, NOT ONE OF THEM TOOK A PHOTO OF A BASHED UP BEATLE. THE CUTE ONE NO LESS. How many newspapers do you think that would sell in BEATLEMANIA ERA . Paul McCartney, the cute one, all busted up. No pictures?? I mean it makes the newspapers of course, but no photo??? Is that a media blackout? A pay off? It must be, because by September this guy can completely disappear from public view for weeks upon weeks, and not one person in the newspaper world bats an eye. But they'll follow Lennon to Spain! And they know Starr goes there too! And they'll follow Harrison to India!
HOW many Pauls there are, is really your question. I have an answer to that, but people ain't ready for that kind of game. It'd make everything they thought just fall apart. Paul Is Dead had mission and purpose. And it was deliberate, and very planned. The Moped Accident is a fabrication to produce an identifying "marker." So that there's no confusion anymore. And it seems anyone that may have caught onto that, just better get as far away from that band as soon as possible.
I scoured the comments to see if anyone gets it. Yours was the only one. I wonder if comments that mention the elephant in the room are getting removed. The only way to make sense of the movie is to be aware of the things you mentioned because that is what the film mainly alludes to, among other occulted knowledge the 'profane' as they call us are unaware of
The pic of "Paul" with the sign I WAS .....AIWASS@@DAVIDE-bk8by
Maybe they didn't mean Paul was literally dead, but reborn.
You got it. ;) It's the Death & Resurrection Show for The Teenage Wasteland. You can see the basic strategy in a movie called "Privilege" (1967). @@df5295
There was a movie made in 1967 called Privilege.
Take a look at it if you can find it. It kinda sums up what may be at play. @@df5295
I always knew it was about taking a LSD trip for the longest time, but this takes it to a whole new level.
Will forever be my fave. Brilliant video!
It's about PID and Billy's arrival as well
Wow!!! Just watched this analysis. GREAT!! Haven't seen "Magical Mystery Tour" the movie since on videocassette in the '80s. I'm going to have to watch it again. I've never taken acid, but the "circle of life" analogy and the "seven layers" seems to make sense. Feel like I was on a "trip" watching this!!! The ancients wrote of this, in the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" which you mentioned, and also in the Hindu vedic scripts of the Mahabharata, also the ancient Egyptians etc. Timothy Leary was very interesting too. I don't think drugs are the answer, but I do think enlightened awareness is. Thanks for this great video analysis. Finally, it all (almost) makes sense!! Took some of us nearly 56 years to get it!!! And I'm only just 61!!
It's entertaining and has great songs. Not a movie, just a 1 hour B&W TV Special. Looks way better in color !!
My mom got me this album for my 5th birthday. Gotta love it!
This analysis is just astonishing. lol I don't know where you find the time for these videos, but deeply appreciated, mate. lol
My new favorite channel. Really amazing and in-dept look at this piece of art. I learned a lot. Thank you.
There’s a really great fan-edit of this that reorganizes the scenes and makes it a bit more of a standard travelogue adventure. It’s still a trip, but it’s honestly more watchable!
Having seen MMT a few times (I videotaped it off of Disney around the time of the Anthology TV airings, along with a Sgt. Pepper making of documentary), my take was that they were lost after losing Brian, and were just trying to keep busy to not really think about it.
I have to second that! All four Beatles have said basically the same thing many time i n interviews and books...are we analying and putting too much into this film here? Putting it on a higher pedestal than it deserves? I think so. And I am an extreme Beatles Fanantic.
You and the other Fab lovers are better off "Living with eyes closed"@@thomastimlin1724
...And a difficult film to "decode", indeed! I loved the album; I was 13 years old when it was released and I played it to death. The photos in the enclosed booklet intrigued me (John shoveling spaghetti, for example!). Fast forward to 1982 and I finally saw it -on the big screen at a midnight showing. After that, I had to say...well...I still love the album!
In closing, I will say that, despite its lack of continuity, it is a good example of how The Beatles continually 'pushed the envelope' against convention; they were always evolving.
Thanks for this in-depth analysis of MMT, James.
How bout the pic with John and the sign that says "The best way to go is by MDC"
Wow. That was just brilliant. Subscribed. I had always viewed the film as a visual album, so the absence of a plot had never bothered me. I had always suspected that it tied into their explorations into magic and the occult. I had also suspected that Sgt Pepper was a herald for Magical Mystery Tour, certainly all the supposed backmasked messages seem to be pointing to MMT. But this dissection you had made ties it all up and explains it so succinctly. Of course, you are right. Why didn't I see it before?
I also agree with your assessment about Paul's grief. He has said that he wanted to plough ahead with MMT, because he felt that the group would fall apart if they didn't. They would give into their grief and split. Brian's death wasn't the inspiration -- it was already in the works, at least conceptually -- but it was the driving force behind it and it shaped how it was fleshed out. I don't know why Paul feels compelled to be so coy about his art -- always pretending that things don't mean what they mean, or playing around with their origin stories. He's so obsessed with the hidden.
Wow, that was a fantastic analysis. So well researched and logically laid out. What a joy to watch. Magical Mystery tour is the most seminal and favorite album in my life and I love the movie. Thanks !
Interesting I saw the film when first broadcast on the BBC TV (unfortunately in black and white), at that age I didn't get it but loved the Music. Fool on the Hill resonated with me, "He never listens to them, he knows that their the fools" to me, it saying do your own thing, don't follow the crowd, if your not into something. Perhaps that's why I never smoked although my friends did... I am the Walrus, brilliant reminds me of Lewis Carol nonsense poems, so English. I now love this film, I take from it the message be yourself whatever that is... P.S although I saw the film on release, I never thought about a Hippy bus in America, it was always a bus tour.... I think Dewsbury was just a place which came to mind, I don't think they thought about Leeds, or Paul would have said it's near Leeds .
As a kid I absolutely loved it. Later in life I loved it too for a while😊
James, you blew my mind with this analysis! It goes contrary to many of the comments from McCartney and Lennon themselves over the years, such as people trying to interpret too much meaning into their lyrics. And yet, so much of what you posit makes sense! Lennon and McCartney have contradicted themselves in some statements, but that may have been because some have been lies. I don’t want to believe what you're suggesting - but I fear you may be right! I'd rather go on enjoying the music, and the "music videos" from the film, and ignore the rest as meaningless rubbish. Thanks very much, keep up the good work!
That's the thing to do, dig the music and forget the myth
Incredible exploration of a genius work of art.
I never understood it, but now it all falls into place.
You really need to know what the Beatles were doing in their lives at the time they were making something.
Personal evolution, death of a loved one, them getting into abstract and symbolic art, drugs, teachings of Leary...
I also get the Lennon line 'I buried Paul' now at the end of Strawberry Fields... It's about ego-death...
The Beatles at that time were so far ahead of everyone... combining all these artforms and getting into esoteric teachings...
But of course, like everyone involved into deep spirituality and esoteric teachings: how do you tell the masses?
They probably won't understand; and they never do.
Esoteric teachings always have two sides: the beautiful outside (the song, the sculpture, the book with lovely stories...) and then the hidden meaning underneath.
99,9 % of the people only see the outside. While the outside is just the cardboard box around the jewel inside.
I knew the Beatles were geniuses. But I didn't realize up to what level.
After your docu I watched the movie again, and well, it's impossible to understand the meaning behind it if you haven't been filled in on beforehand, if you haven't got the 'translation'. There must be a thousand hidden symbols and meanings everywhere.
Just take the flowers on the 'wizard' Paul's hat and coat: he's the only one with a golden flower with 7 petals on hat and coat.
Ringo and George have 14 petals on the hat and no flowers on the coat... Just saying... 😀
And that has always been the trouble with esoteric texts. People don't get it, mostly because it was made impossible to get.
Take the bible, also an esoteric book, really no one understands. They just take it litterally, which is absurd.
I think at this time, Paul must have known this would be the effect the movie would have on the audience.
But I suppose when you wake up after a trip and you 'know the meaning of life' the only thing you want to do is share it, no matter what.
And the Beatles were about the only band to do that at that time.
The movie also gives a real insight on 'what goes on inside the head of a Beatle', because you're actually looking throught their eyes looking at the movie.
I don't believe what the general idea is from the public that this is a failed movie, that preparations were bad, that filming was chaos...
When you look at all the details (and I'm sure we still miss about 9/10 of what really is in this movie!), this must have been so meticulously planned... It is a work of art, maybe even of a higher level than Pepper, because you don't only have the music, you also need to make a movie. (and face it: the music alone is already the best of the best...)
And all this 14 days after the death of Epstein... those guys were totally unbelievable...
There will never be another Beatles. Impossible.
MMT was an enormous influence on the great 70s independent film directors. 1 George Lucas the Cantina scene in Star Wars adapted from the I am the Walrus scene in MMT .2 David Lynch in Blue Velvet with the aging go-go dancer on the hood of the car dancing to ''Candy Colored Clown'' by Roy Orbison is inspired by the aging stripper performing with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in MMT.3 Woody Allen's Stardust Memories throughout was shot in a Fellini paradigm style with many scenes adapted from the same technique in MMT starting with the train scene in the beginning compared to the passengers at the start of the MMT bus and at the celebratory end of the MMT bus trip, the aliens, magicians and circus type performers in the field at the alien convention, the sight gag of the Indian guru jacketed meditation instructor with the New Jersy housewives at Woody's sister's house and the newsreel screen with the fold out wooden deck chairs at the end are all influenced by MMT scenes . Mia Farrow was in India with the Beatles framing the Maharishi for sexual harassment well before she attempted to frame Woody Allen for child molestation. They hooked up after Stardust Memories was cast but before it was shot. 4. The dancing bobbies in MMT is also more than reminiscent of Dennis Potter's Singing Detective/Pennies from Heaven and the other big influence of MMT and the Beatles generally is Monty Python humour that adapts Beatles humour that in turn was adapted by the Beatles particularly John Lennon from the Goons. ''Now for something completely different'' is a line by the coach bus driver in MMT that became the opening tag line for all Monty Python programs.
Spielberg says it was a classic taught in art schools. Scorse said the moving camera was ahead of it's time. I was lucky enough to see at my friends colour TV. Loved it at the age of 15 and still love it. US wake up !
Yes!!! What a video to comment first on. Nice one James!!! 😊😉
Was all I watched in 97 lol so starved in those days of Beatles video just Iam the Walrus,Fool on the hill and Blue Jay way and the 'spaghetti dream' I absolutely loved it 😊😊😊
I LOVE this film. Mystery Tour has always been my favorite Beatles album🤙🏼🌴
same my favourite movie
It's all in the name:
"Magical Mystery Tour" ✨️ 🎉 🕉 🌟
How about if the movie was just a "bit" of fun?!
Funny, stupid, trippy, colorful, happy 😊 🎉
Not to mention it is another great album of Beatles music.
Enjoy the music 🎶 as you watch.
It's about transformation. 🕉
Watch it every Christmas season. Love it. :)
Astounding perception James, I do believe you have cracked this. I have always thought that there simply MUST have been an explanation behind what appeared to be random filming. Well done & thank you. I can now understand this with more reasoning. {Clever lads them Beatles} - And you !
Very well done analysis. We need to help history re-frame the film not as a senseless mess, but as The Beatles -- especially Paul -- taking the psychedelic piss out of all of us.
7 levels of consciousness.
The 8th is .......... beyond words.
Transcendence. 🕉
I saw this movie on Boxing Day in 1967, in black and white, we didn't have a colour television. I was 17 years old and i thought that it was brilliant. very clever with enormous charm prcisely because it was not rehearsed. I watch now and it's still brilliant.
I believe John’s fav album was the White Album. As he said because his songs are some of his best!
A nice piece of work, delving into this...anybody into yoga and mysticism will know about the 7 energy centres/chakras, which correspond to the 7 'Halls' in the KaBaLaH...Paul's touching on it was through delving into collective consciousness/memory, perhaps, even if via, ahem, 'pot'!
James you are a frequent guest in my home ala RUclips, and you are quite a great story teller man! Thanks for the company and the forever interesting videos on my favorite bands!! Happy hollidays
It is so much fun and rewarding to speculate on the meaning of this movie. How about this? Paul is playing with us to see what he can get away with. If you are famous and rich like the Beatles, you can do this. It is what it is, a zany movie. Just enjoy it.
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If you want to interpret a movie, try Yellow Submarine. Who WERE those apple droppers and why were they so tall? And mean?
There are a few references that I get (I'm a lot older than you) that a younger person who hasn't lived through the 1940s and 50s will not get. For example, "The eyes of man..." is a direct reference to a Goonshow script by Spike Milligan where the Goons are exploring a jungle and actual words are "To go where the hand of man has never set foot".
Paul has also said in more than one interview that the Fool on the Hill is the Maharishi. There are also references to transcendental meditation and Hindu and Bhuddist religions...Circle of Life, reincarnation, etc.
Incidentally, the cow which appeared earlier makes another appearance in the restaurant scene. And the cow is sacred in Hinduism.
"The man of a thousand voices" William sheperd
I thought that everyone knew "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was about John's son Julian's drawing of his schoolmate Lucy. I have seen the drawing. Lucy was a real person who died somewhat recently. Nobody would believe her when she said the song was about her, and I suspect this video will go a long way towards furthering that.
Also, "I Am the Walrus" was (after the first couple of lines were written) generally a reaction to teachers at Quarry Bank High School analyzing Beatles lyrics. John intended to put a stop to that by deliberately writing nonsense lyrics. With the aid of Pete Shotton he included lines from an old poem from his school days intended to disgust people.
Alright. I thought the Sgt. Pepper video was a bit much.
But this is pretty brilliant. I can't help thinking you're giving Paul too much credit, but your take on all this is very creative and awesome. Nice work.
I remember seeing it on ITV on Boxing Day 1967. I was 13 so thought it was cool. Still do.
Ok i love this video. I've always thought pepper's and mmt as a lost double album. Plus 3 the yellow submarine 67 songs. W the 27 songs arranged differently to flow as a plot. Band takes people on a trip that's Sgt Pepper's Magical Mystery Tour.
The spiral staircase reminded me of the song Helter Skelter. The helter-skelter having a spiral slide as well. Could be going in the wrong direction
Interesting analysis, James. Keep up the good work!
I've never listened for meaning... just enjoyed the music.
My very favorite Beatles album is Magical Mystery Tour. For both music and art. Often heard it slammed, but I cherish it as best Beatles of 67 because Sgt. Pepper gets all the love but doesn't do it for me as a whole. The movie itself, I can take it or leave it.
When the movie was first released on vhs i bought a copy .. In several places throughout, it left me with the feeling they had no idea where it was headed thus a camera was left running in case something interesting, unplanned , or candid happened along the way .. Unfortunately, not much happened other than the intentional sets, subtle drug references, and bits of pre-Python-ish humor about private issues society doesn't openly discuss.. Overall it was bizarre, bewildering as to real meaning, and an overall an adventure to nowhere .. But maybe that was the intent all along, and if so, I never understood why, and I surely didn't "get it." And now postscript after watching this youtube vid , James' analysis makes perfect sense and confirms what many of us assumed however unsure, as it being "a trip." But it's much more than that... James does a fine bang-up job presenting facts showing the film is a symbolistic metaphor on the parallels between the circle of life into reincarnation and an LSD trip
The reference "expert textbert choking smokers don't you think the joker laughs at you" relates to the fact that many marijuana smokers get "delusions of reference" when they are stoned, so they would look at the joker on the rolling paper and think somehow he knew what they were doing and is laughing at them. Similar to the double meaning in "I've got a feeling... that everybody knows". Paul is stoned and he thinks everyone who looks at him knows it.
Paul & John at that time were 25 & 27 and spent the time of their adulthood in touring, recording, interview, tv specials etc. Where did they find the time to become so proficient with psichedelia and occult? Evidently they have been manovoured from powerful forces which kept hidden
John was married with a son, Paul was a young bachelor however
Read 2023 version of Memoirs, mind blowing indeed
When did they have time to even light one cigarette, that's the part that confuses me the most 😅
The music videos alone make it worth watching!!!!
Brilliant! I was thinking of that “seven levels” soundbite the whole time!
Interesting......... I think I'll watch it again for the 17th time. This time without the acid.😎
Thanks for sharing your insights! Your posts are always a tasty treat!
I didn't get to see this film until about 20 years after it's release. To say I was confused is an understatement. However, no matter my confusion I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe not as much as A Hard Days Night or Help! but still was entertained by it. Back to the confusion, your interpretation of the film has cleared that up completely and now I'm scrambling to get my hands on a copy because now I'm sure it'll make sense. A little sidenote that wasn't mentioned but in the 90's(I think)there was a band named Deathcab For Cutie. Another project for me as I have no idea what their music is like. Anyway, thanks mate for your insightful post.
I was thinking about Deathcab for Cutie the band when he said that.
Whoa ! Great work, dude! Not having the vinyl in hand like the old days, I was still able to appreciate many of the references to specific songs and images. I have been a slave to the wonderful power of music 🎶 ever since 1965; my first dj assignment. Granny started it. We wore the first Temptations records out. Ever since then I actually listen to lyrics and let it all become a great experience. Air guitar star if there ever was one! All of your insights were eye opening and have fleshed out a skeleton of an idea. I will quite likely be hearing from you again. Thank you 😊