Few are aware of
the great role The Beatles played in the formation of the
hippie movement and its ideas. So, were the Beatles
hippies? That's a difficult question to answer because
it's like asking if the Beat Writers were beatniks or if Jesus was Christian? But not
as difficult to answer as "What came first, the
chicken or the egg?"
The Beatles preceded the fan frenzy called Beatlemania, from which many hippies emerged. Beatniks, hipsters and hippies are a continuation of Bohemianism. They are persons with artistic or
intellectual tendencies that live and act with little
regard for conventional rules of behavior. The bohemian
subculture is deeply rooted in centuries old liberal
European artistic scene. The Beatles were introduced to
that bohemian scene when they were in their teens. It was
in the red-light district of Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany where they had a successful gig
for several months, which is a long time for young music
artists. They also traveled around Europe and visited
Edinburgh, Paris and Spain. In Germany, they changed
their hairstyles and met some famous American Rock-N-Roll
artists such as Chuck Berry and Fats Domino.
Early hippies were different from hipsters and other
counterculture groups that preceded them. Early hippies
followed Beat Writers, and British Mod fashions that were
brought to America by British music artists. And, I
haven't met a hippie that wasn't a Beatles fan. The
Beatles introduced America to long hair fashions for men,
Beatle boots, and new way of playing American
Rock-N-Roll music that created the new British sound. The
Mod fashions that followed them from London
were colorful and had abstract designs at a time when men
dressed in flat, gray colors, wore short hair, combed
hair backwards and used brilliantine made by Vitalis to keep the hair
shining and in place. Today, many examples of British Mod
fashions can be found in the Austin Powers film series, for example.
Hippies were an American youth movement that demanded
more personal rights and freedoms then most Americans
were willing to accept. It was not accepted for boys to
wear long hair or to wear colorful clothing, in those
days. Needless to say, barbers disliked long hair and
hippie fashions. That created a market for men's hair
stylists, who became an alternative for traditional
barbers. Besides the fashions and trends in music,
hippies also demonstrated against US policies, the
Vietnam War, the arms race, for nuclear disarmament,
ecology and other issues that were met with little
understanding in those years, and which were often
considered to be anti American. They brought new
awareness and many social-political and cultural changes
in the United States and abroad. Hippies questioned
popular values and beliefs, and so did The Beatles.
Hippies professed ideas of peace, love, pacifism,
ecology, civil rights, gay rights, freedom and so did The
Beatles. In just a few years, hippies had followers
allover the world. Hence, in America the label
"hippy" or "hippie" is a synonym of
"a social reformer", "free thinker"
and also a "user of mind-expanding psychedelic
drugs" such as marihuana or LSD that The Beatles also wrote songs about,
for example "Day Tripper".
On July 6, 1961, John Lennon was asked by a reporter from Mersey Beat (Vol.1 No. 1) how did the name
Beatles arrive? He replied "It came in a vision - a
man appeared on a flaming pie and said 'From this day on
you are Beatles, spelled with an A'. Thank you Mister
Man, they said, thanking him." That spelling
identified the band with beatniks, hipsters and hippies.
The Beatles were very popular among all
progressive-minded social groups of the 1960-70s and
still are long after they've broken up. That made them
good bridge-building Ambassadors for the 1960s Peace
Movement and Hippy Movement. They were four boys from Liverpool with a great sense of humor. That's
why sometimes they were compared to the Marx Brothers. Perhaps that's why they shocked
the public and their fans when they spoke out seriously
and honestly on controversial issues. The most
controversial of the four was John Lennon. John Lennon was charged for drug
abuse in England and had to seek refuge in America. He
applied for a Green Card (permanent residence) at the
Immigration and Naturalization Office in New York. But
even though he was still a British citizen and a fugitive
from the law awaiting approval from the American
authorities, he and Yoko Ono - his Japanese wife did not
refrain from public criticism of the Vietnam War or President Nixon. When John Lennon was asked in
1971 whether songs like "Give Peace a
Chance" and
"Power to the
People" were
propaganda songs, he answered: "Sure. So was 'All You Need Is
Love'. I'm a
revolutionary artist. My art is dedicated to
change."
The world as we knew it was transformed into a different
state of being, a different state of consciousness by The
Beatles and their followers. The band managed to unite
people from all walks of life and all religions. They did
not conform to any given system, did not follow the
mainstream culture but created their own, and stood by
what they believed in. They were more then just artists
or another music group. They were a new breed of bohemian
artists from the Old Continent, from Europe. In the late
1960s and early 1970s The Beatles considered themselves
to be hippies. That fact is well documented in their own
words and can be found in several sources such as The Beatles
Anthology.
In a short time, Beatles and hippies had much of the
nation and the world behind them. As a result of that and
the work of antiwar activists and other events that
followed, President Nixon lost office, the US backed out
of Vietnam and President Carter lifted the draft and gave
amnesty to many draft evaders (the author was one of
them). Since that time, no other generation of young
Americans had to face a draft and fight in a war against
their own will. Today, the US has a professional military
staff dedicated to the craft, and no one is forced to
join the forces against his or her will. And as we all
now know, not all wars our troops participated in were
necessary for national defense as much as for Wall Street. And as we know it, not all folks
are made for fighting. Now, young people can grow and
develop naturally without being forced to go through a
boot camp at a time when they'd prefer to do other things
with their life. The music and popularity of The Beatles
were also responsible for many changes in distant parts
of the world; including the former Soviet Union.
I wonder if there's any other country in the world where
foreigners could have been allowed to do as much as The
Beatles did in America for the whole world? I also wonder
if there is any other place in the world where one
generation of young people could have as much influence
on its government's fundamental policies as hippies had
in a peaceful way, without overthrowing a government, and
in a short time (1965-1970)? Those were just some so
called miracles of The Beatles and 1960s Youth Revolution.
For many Beatles fans like me; especially in America, the
band descended on a PanAm jet from another world, parallel to ours.
And they were greated like a divine descent. The Beatles
didn't just play great music or introduce new fashions
from England but brought new ideas that changed the
world. It was also The Beatles' interest in Maharishi Yogi and Prabhupada that made those two the best known
Yoga Gurus in the world, at that time. As far as I can
remember, Paul McCartney and George Harrison completed Yoga Teachers' training
courses, and passed on many Yogic ideas to us in their
works. That's why in my opinion, they were the first Yoga
Gurus for many of their fans and followers.
The author is also a Yoga teacher. Here's a free introductory Yoga
lesson.
a) Put yourself in a good frame of mind.
b) Sit down in a comfortable position and relax.
c) Breathe slowly and regularly chanting the following
Mantra: “So Hung” (“So” on the in-breath and
“Hung” on the out-breath).
d) Focus your mind on the idea that All is One and You
are One with All.
Now that you've had that first lesson, we'll continue
with the story of The Beatles and hippies using advanced
Yoga language, the language of images and symbols...
Images and symbols are very difficult to decipher without
proper initiation into their meaning as opposed to
encryption, for example. So the following may be a bit
difficult to understand for some readers.
So now, here comes the Sun! We could imagine The Beatles
as the four Gods (Brahma) that created, supported and transformed
the world. Those more advanced in Tantra Yoga could also
imagine them as the four aspects of Antahkarana, for example, and The Rolling
Stones that
followed The Beatles to America and recorded "I Can't Get No
Satisfaction"
could be incorporated in that picture, and imagined as
the five senses and their organs of action. That's
because those two bands were adored by their fans almost
as if they were gods in the 1960s and beyond. But please
don't take the above visualizations too literally. I'm
using here some metaphors mixed with a bit of humor to
illustrate the special importance these artists and their
music had for many members of my generation. I'm not
writing about The Rolling Stones, about Donovan or any
other British artists that followed The Beatles to the
USA. They would be another subject for another article.
Haight-Ashbury, Chicago's Old
Town, NY's Greenwich
Village and other
hippie Meccas of the 1960s; as well as mass events such
as the Monterey Pop
Festival, Summer of Love in 1967 or the Woodstock
Festival in
mid-August 1969 are also remembered as sort of sacred
hippie grounds and holiday type events. So, it could be
said that hippiedom is a free worldview that is followed
by those that believe in peace, love and personal
freedom. It's a worldview associated with some iconic
signs like the Peace sign or The Beatles and some loose
ideas but no sacred texts, no leaders or organized
institutions. Woodstock brought massive changes in public
perception of reality. Besides the large hippie events of
the 1960s, there were many others that are less known.
Some of those were called "happenings", "be-ins" and music festivals,
concerts, coffee houses, poetry readings, pot parties,
beach parties, protests etc. A hippie gathering was
anywhere where hippies gathered, at concerts, in private
homes, parks, forests, beaches, on campuses etc.; where
there were long haired boys and girls, sounds of mellow
music, the spirit of peace & love, and a scent of
incense.
Whether this new age will be better or worse does not
depend on the stars, the position of the planets, holy
books, prophecies and other things that work in a magic
way on the imagination. It will depend on what we do to
change the world, on what stands we take, and on how we
stand up for what we believe in. So Flower Children, have hope and keep the faith. May
the groove (energy, force or Shakti) be with you always.
In conclusion, The Beatles caused irreversible mental
changes on a massive scale around the world. They had
great influence on the development of the hippie
movement. The Beatles as well as The Rolling Stones and
many other artists of the 1960s spread ideas of Peace
& Love, which are fundamental ideas for hippies.
Adam Wojtanek
( The Polish Hippy }
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