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TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ “The Fool on the Hill” embodied the 1960s.
  • He said it became relevant because of the fall of the Berlin Wall and other events from the 1980s.
  • Björk covered “The Fool on the Hill” when she was a child.
Someone hitting the Berlin Wall with an axe
The Berlin Wall | robert wallis / Contributor

Paul McCartney said The Beatles‘ “The Fool on the Hill” is one of his favorites among his own songs. He said it embodied the zeitgeist of the 1960s. In addition, he felt it was especially relevant after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Paul McCartney wrote The Beatles’ ‘The Fool on the Hill’ at his dad’s house

In a 1989 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Paul was asked to name his favorites among his own songs. “The more we go through this, the more I think [Bob] Dylan was right when he said all your songs are like your children,” he said. He said “The Fool on the Hill” was one of his best.

“It’s something I wrote at my dad’s house at Liverpool one weekend,” he added. “It’s good to do it in the concert now because I enjoy the way it seems to reflect the spirit of the ’60s.”

Paul McCartney said the fall of the Berlin Wall and events in China made The Beatles’ ‘The Fool on the Hill’ relevant

Paul felt “The Fool on the Hill” was relevant at the time. “I sense it having a great relevancy at this point in time because a lot of the ideals of that period seem to be coming to pass,” he said. “The Berlin Wall coming down … the events in China … the interest in protecting the environment,” he said. Paul appeared to be referring to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests when talking about “events in China.”

The former Beatle said he tried to draw attention to the environment through his career. “That’s what we’re are trying to do with the concert program — draw attention to environmental issues,” he said. “There’s even a coupon, so that you can join or get information about Friends of the Earth. All that started in the ’60s. There were liberals before that, but it seemed to galvanize then.”

How the song performed

“The Fool on the Hill” was never a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune appeared on the album Magical Mystery Tour. The album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for eight weeks, staying on the chart for a total of 93 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “The Fool on the Hill” never charted in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, Magical Mystery Tour reached No. 31 in the U.K. and stayed on the chart for 10 weeks.

Like many Fab Four songs, “The Fool on the Hill” inspired numerous covers. As a child, Björk recorded a version of the song. In addition, Aretha Franklin, the Four Tops, Petula Clark, and Boston Pops Orchestra each put their own spin on “The Fool on the Hill.”

“The Fool on the Hill” wasn’t a juggernaut but Paul felt it resonated in the late 1980s.

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