The Fool on the Hill by Lennon-McCartney – Piano Improvisation by Charles Manning

Only for Fools!!

“The Fool on the Hill” was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney. The song is from the “Beatles” 1967 album “Magical Mystery Tour.” The idea for the song was inspired by the Dutch design collective “The Fool,” who were the Beatles’ favorite designers in 1967. The designers had derived their name “The Fool” from the Tarot card of the same name. According to Paul McCartney, the song title may also refer to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Beatles’ meditation mentor.

The lyrics describe a solitary figure (“fool”) who is not understood by others, but is actually very wise. At the end of McCartney’s 1989-90 world tour, he stated to the press that the song was about “someone who’s got the right answer but people tend to ridicule him.” Critics have described the song as one of McCartney’s “most irresistible, universal” ballads, and an example of the Beatles’ “acquired Hindu philosophy and its subsequent application to everyday life.” Composed with key alternations of D Major and D Minor to reflect ambiguity of meaning in the song’s title, “The Fool on the Hill” is improvised by pianist Charles Manning.