{"id":1098390,"date":"2026-07-19T08:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T08:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1098390\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T08:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T08:28:18","slug":"the-1967-beatles-song-paul-mccartney-wrote-inspired-by-tarot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1098390\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1967 Beatles song Paul McCartney wrote inspired by Tarot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

Sun 19 July 2026 7:24, UK <\/p>\n

Being the countercultural darlings that they were, it comes as no surprise to learn that The Beatles<\/a> were inspired by some of the more mystical, dare I say, new age, aspects of the hippie era. Take Paul McCartney, for example, who once revealed that one of the songs from Magical Mystery Tour was inspired by the art of Tarot reading. <\/p>\n

For those of you who don\u2019t know, Tarot is a form of fortune telling that utilises a specially-designed deck of cards with specific symbols denoting certain outcomes. <\/p>\n

Tarot decks were invented in 15th-century Italy but became a staple of the occult and the mystical, finding particular favour with the hippies of the 1960s and \u201970s. McCartney was introduced to Tarot by an artist called Marijke Koger, who caught the attention of Brian Epstein and Mal Evans with her dazzling poster and album cover designs. She and her colleague Simon were even invited to work on the initial illustrations for the Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover. <\/p>\n

In his 1997 book, Many Years From Now, Paul McCartney <\/a>opened up about how a Tarot reading with Koger inspired one of his more wayward tracks. \u201cI used to know Marijke, she was a quite striking-looking girl,\u201d he recalled. \u201cShe used to read my fortune in Tarot cards, which was something I wasn\u2019t too keen on because I didn\u2019t want to draw the death card one day. I still don\u2019t like that kind of stuff because I know my mind will dwell on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the reading, Paul kept on pulling the same card: \u201cI always steered a bit clear of all that shit, but in fact, it always used to come out as the Fool,\u201d he remembered. \u201cAnd I used to say, \u2018Oh, dear!\u2019 and she used to say, \u2018No no no. The Fool\u2019s a very good card. On the surface it looks stupid, the Fool, but in fact it\u2019s one of the best cards, because it\u2019s the innocent, it\u2019s the child, it\u2019s that reading of fool.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For McCartney, it was the contradiction at the heart of the card that proved so compelling. Rather than symbolising ignorance, the Fool represents openness, curiosity and a willingness to step into the unknown without preconceived notions. It\u2019s an idea that fitted neatly alongside the broader spiritual exploration taking place during the late 1960s, when many musicians were beginning to look beyond conventional Western philosophies in search of new ways of understanding the world.<\/p>\n

That outlook had already begun filtering into The Beatles\u2019 work by the time Magical Mystery Tour was taking shape. The group had become increasingly fascinated by meditation, Eastern thought and unconventional forms of self-discovery, often weaving those interests into songs without presenting them as straightforward endorsements. Instead, McCartney preferred to use simple characters and memorable images to hint at larger philosophical ideas, allowing listeners to arrive at their own conclusions.<\/p>\n

The idea that the fool could actually be interpreted as a wise figure struck a chord with McCartney, who was immediately reminded of how gurus were often treated as quacks and nutters by society as a whole. In \u2018Fool On The Hill\u2019, Paul draws attention to the West\u2019s eagerness to dismiss Eastern philosophies simply because they don\u2019t always offer concrete answers. \u201cDay after day, alone on a hill,\u201d he sings in the opening verse. \u201cThe man with the foolish grin \/ Is keeping perfectly still \/ But nobody wants to know him \/ They can see that he\u2019s just a fool \/ And he never gives an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul was by no means the first to identify the fool as a wise man in disguise. Shakespeare understood very well that those who appear mad to the rest of society often possess some higher knowledge. Take the Jester in King Lear, for example \u2013 the only character the titular mad king allows to question his decisions. Though he is a figure of fun, he has far more sense and sanity than anyone else in the play. McCartney\u2019s fool, who \u201csee the world spinning round\u201d where others see only darkness, is much the same. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n

All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy Sun 19 July 2026 7:24, UK Being the countercultural darlings that they were,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1098391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3936],"tags":[40416,257752,77,149087,269,11693,4162,16,15],"class_list":["post-1098390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1960s","tag-257752","tag-entertainment","tag-magical-mystery-tour","tag-music","tag-paul-mccartney","tag-the-beatles","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116945703317238561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1098390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1098390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1098390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1098390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1098390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}