The Fool on the Hill

The song The Fool on the Hill is a pure and simple delight.  The story of The Fool on the Hill, both its recording and the filming of its sequence for Magical Mystery Tour, is a confusing mess.

McCartney had the basic song as far back as March 29th, 1967.  Hunter Davies, the group's official biographer, was present as John and Paul met on that date to write Ringo's song With a Little Help from My Friends for Sgt. Pepper.  At one point, Paul played The Fool on the Hill for John, who merely remarked that Paul should write down the few lyrics he had, to which Paul replied that he would not forget them.

Not long afterwards, on April 11th, Paul was returning from a trip to the USA with the idea for a film called Magical Mystery Tour.  On the pie chart he sketched out on the airplane, he outlined the breakdown of the action with Fool on the Hill followed by a question mark appearing in one of the pie wedges - exactly where it would fit in the finished film, as it happened.  Other than the title tune, it was the only song mentioned by name.

Curious then that it was not among the batch of songs recorded by the group before filming began.  Only a solo demo by Paul was committed to tape on September 6th.  This demo can be heard on Anthology 2, revealing that the lyrics were still in flux.  After two weeks of principal photography, filming was considered to be complete, yet no sequence had been shot to incorporate The Fool on the Hill.

The Beatles then convened to make the first full recording of the song on September 25th, 1967.  Three takes were laid down with Paul on piano and John on acoustic guitar before they had the best.  Take three was bounced down to become take four and overdubbing commenced.  The overdubs included Paul's all-important part on recorder, Ringo on drums and Paul's lead vocal.  According to Mark Lewisohn in The Beatles: Recording Sessions, John and George played harmonicas somewhere on the basic track, yet the take four available on Anthology 2 does not have any hint of the harmonica part heard on the released version.  (It does bear noting, however, that the Anthology series featured a fair amount of tampering with the original tapes.)

Confusion reigns over what occurred on the next day, September 26th.  Some parts recorded the preceding day were erased and new overdubs added, according to Lewisohn in his 1988 book, stating that "it was almost a re-make."  According to his liner notes in 1996 for Anthology 2, it was a re-make.  In an excellent blog, Dave Rybaczewski claims that it was not a re-make, etc. etc.  All we know for certain is that by the end of the session the song sounded considerably different from the previous day's attempt, plus Ringo had added maracas and finger cymbals, and Paul had overdubbed a bass line and re-recorded his lead vocal, as well.

On September 27th, Paul double-tracked his vocal in a few places.  Weeks later, on October 20th, the final overdub for the number featured a score for three flutes by producer George Martin to complement Paul's recorder part and the song was finally complete, except for what sounds like a flock of seagulls (another Mellotron tape?) late in the song.  It was wisely edited down from 4'25" to 2'57" in duration at the mixing stage.  And the harmonicas - whenever they were recorded - are very prominent in the finished product, especially in the stereo mix.

The film Magical Mystery Tour was well into the editing stage by this time, but a sequence for The Fool on the Hill had yet to be added.  What happened next is a perfect illustration of the naive manner in which all of the Beatles conducted their business after the death of manager Brian Epstein.  In his book The Love You Make, Apple employee Peter Brown reports that he received a long distance telephone call from Paul on October 30th.  Paul had taken a camera crew to Nice, France and, with no passport and no money, had somehow talked his way through customs in both England and France.  Upon arrival, however, it was discovered that they did not have the proper lenses for the camera and Brown was asked to locate and ship them immediately.  Brown estimates that this one sequence wound up costing 4000 pounds, or 1/10th of the film's total budget.

I must admit that the sequence - showing Paul on a hill or small mountain around sunset - is beautifully shot.  A 2012 reissue of Magical Mystery Tour also contains an alternate sequence for the song, with Paul overlooking Nice, then walking among the locals in a marketplace and spinning about on a busy boardwalk.