ABSTRACT
Elements of classical Indian music in Beatles songs – drones, scales, instruments, rhythms, ornaments, timbre – became a code for 'trippiness'. The genealogy of 'Norwegian Wood' leads directly back to Help! the Beatles' second movie. Lennon's masterwork 'Tomorrow Never Knows' is one of a number of songs from the Beatles' oeuvre which seem to jump out from classification as a pop song and into the realm of the creation of fine art, a composition. Revolver included two songs which take a giant leap forward from the sitar of 'Norwegian Wood' to indisputable Indian music influences. On 24 August 1967, the Beatles attended a lecture by the Maharishi at the London Hilton Hotel, with a private darshan afterwards. The meeting was at the home of a Mr Anghadi who headed the Indian Music Circle in London. London-based Indian musicians playing sitar and tabla, the bowed dilruba, the suvar mandal replace guitars and drum set.
