"The Maharishi Song"
Preston Landers
On the disc "The 1968 Demos" is a funny little Lennon rap about the
esteemed Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I thought I'd post the words for the
enjoyment of all rmb'ers. I think this isn't copyrighted material; it was
never released or credited to anyone. Then again mebbe I'm wrong. Here goes.
"The Maharishi Song" recorded c. May 1968 by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Most of it is spoken, with occasional guitar strumming and singing.
John:
Well, let me tell you something about the Maharishi camp in Rikishesh.
There were one or two attractive women there, but mainly looked like,
you know, schoolteachers or something. And the whole damn camp was
spying on the ones in the bathing suits. And they're supposed to
be meditating, and there's this cowboy there called Tom who plays
cowboys on TV. And, my! Did the Beatle wives go for him in a *big*
way. I wondered what it was; it was his bright leather belt, his
jeans, and his dumb eyes. They seemed to love dumb eyes. [From this part
until after Yoko's next line is hard to make out. This is an approx.
guess.] But all they see is dumb eyes.
Yoko:
But what's wrong with his eyes? You have good eyes. [It clears up after
this.]
John:
Me, I took it for *real*. I wrote 600 songs about how I feel. I felt
like dying, and crying, and commiting suicide, but I felt creative, and I
felt "What the hell has this got to do with what that silly little
man is talking about?" But he did charm me in a way, because he was
funny, sort of cuddly-like, a sort of... you know...
Yoko:
Like a teddy bear.
John:
Little teddy with a beard, telling stories of heaven, and missing you
(you could never pin him down!) but he often spread rumors through
his right hand man who used to be with the CIA and told us about the
planes he saved. How Maharishi came through the storm (on a plane) and
the pilot was getting worried; they couldn't land. When Maharishi looked
up, and with one foul look (according to the man who works for him!)
everything was okay and they *landed*! After that, I thought, lies!
But who's that woman [that] looks like Gene Simmons that keeps going
to him for "private interviews?" She must have been about 40, 45.
Kept talking about her husband, because he wasn't there. Always
trying to get a private audience with Maharishi and he kept *refusing!*
I knew only one thing: He must have had some of this own; it must
have been that little Indian piece. She came with the tailor and could
sit at his feet, and that was one in five hundred. The rest had to wait
like good American people in line to see the master walking on the petal
who lived in a million dollar stocatto [?] house overlooking the
Himalayas. He looked holy...
Yoko:
But he was a sex maniac.
John:
I couldn't say that! But he certainly wasn't...
Yoko:
Holy.
John:
In a true sense of the word. [Laughter.]
--
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: Preston Landers : Not valid in all areas. Times approximate. :
: : Some restrictions apply. Not the Beatles. :
: plan...@shadow.scs.unr.edu : Parental discretion advised. Retain stub. :