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TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” was inspired by a fake five-legged sheep.
  • Paul said he and John Lennon wrote The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” together.
  • In retrospect, John wasn’t sure if he contributed to the track at all.

Paul McCartney said many of his songs were inspired by his childhood experiences. For example, he revealed freak shows he used to visit influenced The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour.” Notably, Paul said these freak shows became cherished memories for him.

Paul McCartney said a fraudulent freak show inspired The Beatles’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour’

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul said trips to fairgrounds and freak shows when he was young inspired him to write The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour.” “I used to go to the fairgrounds as a kid, the waltzers and the dodgems, but what interested me was the freak shows: the boxing booths, the bearded lady and the sheep with five legs, which actually was a four-legged sheep with one leg sewn on its side,” he said. “When I touched it, the fellow said, ‘Hey, leave that alone!'”

“These were the great things of your youth,” he added. “Some of your writing comes from this period, your golden memories.” When Paul didn’t know what to write about, he’d often think back to a summer from his childhood.

Paul McCartney said that carnival barkers inspired the lyrics of multiple Beatles songs

In the book, Paul gave fans more insight into the writing of “Magical Mystery Tour.” “‘Magical Mystery Tour’ was co-written by John and I, very much in our fairground period,” he said. “One of our great inspirations was always the barker. ‘Roll up! Roll up!’

“The promise of something: the newspaper ad that says ‘guaranteed not to crack,’ the ‘high class’ butcher, ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ from ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ ‘Come inside,’ ‘Step inside, love;’ you’ll find that pervades a lot of my songs,” he noted. “If you look at all the Lennon-McCartney things, it’s a thing we do a lot.”

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John Lennon didn’t know if he co-wrote ‘Magical Mystery Tour’

The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features an interview from 1980. In it, John was asked about the song “Magical Mystery Tour.” He said he wasn’t sure if he contributed to the song. Regardless, he gave Paul all of the credit for the song’s central concept.

He said the album Magical Mystery Tour was primarily Paul’s work. He said he became a tad resentful of the album for that reason. Despite that, he was fond of some of the tracks from the album, including “I Am the Walrus,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “The Fool on the Hill.” Notably, he wrote “I Am the Walrus” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” while Paul penned “The Fool on the Hill.” John noted that George Harrison’s presence on Magical Mystery Tour was minimal.

Freak shows aren’t exactly ethical entertainment but they managed to influence The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour.”

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