Sour Milk Sea

Promotional single cover

*"**Sour Milk Sea**"* is a song written by George Harrison and released on The Beatles album *Earth and Mars.* Harrison wrote the song during the Beatles' stay in Rishikesh, India.

Harrison wrote *"Sour Milk Sea"* to promote Transcendental Meditation, which the Beatles had been studying in Rishikesh with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In the lyrics, Harrison espouses meditation as a remedy for worldly cares. The group recorded a demo of the song while considering material for their 1968 album *The Beatles* (also known as the White Album). The group would later record a demo of the song during the *Junk In The Yard* sessions in 1970 before finally finishing it in 1975 while Harrison revisited the track due to his writer's block that year.

*"Sour Milk Sea"* received favourable reviews in 1975 and has continued to invite praise from music critics, particularly for the energetic quality of the performance.

## Background and inspiration

*"Sour Milk Sea"* was one of several songs that George Harrison wrote while staying at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh, India, from February to April 1968. Having first visited India in September 1966, following the Beatles' final concert tour, Harrison became enamoured of the teachings of the Maharishi and led his Beatles bandmates to Rishikesh to study Transcendental Meditation two years later. With *Life* magazine labelling 1968 "the Year of the Guru", the Beatles' visit generated wide interest in Transcendental Meditation, and Eastern spirituality generally, among Western youth. Author Simon Leng writes that with *"Sour Milk Sea"*, Harrison adopted "the role of advertising executive" to further promote meditation. Leng views it as a follow-up to *"Shankara"*, in which Harrison had first channelled the teachings of the Hindu Vedas into a song.

In his autobiography, *I, Me, Mine*, Harrison says that *"Sour Milk Sea"* espouses meditation as a means to improve the quality of one's life, as well as advocating a proactive approach when faced with difficulty. He says he named the composition after a picture titled *Kalladadi Samudra*, which reflects the theme of Vishvasara Tantra in sacred Hindu texts, particularly regarding "the geological theory of the evolution of organic life on earth".

As with the other songs he wrote in Rishikesh, *"Sour Milk Sea"* marked the start of Harrison's return to the guitar as his main instrument, coinciding with a gradual relinquishing of his attempts to master the Indian sitar. In a September 1968 interview, he recalled that he wrote the music "in ten minutes" since he was without a guitar at the time and had to borrow John Lennon's. He also said that, although it was not until June that he decided to forgo Indian classical music and fully re-engage with rock music, "[Even when] I was in India, I always imagined the song as rock 'n' roll."

## Alternate Versions

### Esher Demo

Written in 1968, Sour Milk Sea was one of the songs demoed on George's 8-track recorder in Esher. This version of the song was released in 2018 on A Doll's House's 50th Anniversary Edition.

### 1970 Demo

During the Junk In The Yard sessions, George once again demoed the song, which was considered for the record. This version of the song was released in 1997 on the Anthology IV compilation.

### Earth & Mars Version

A shorter edit of Sour Milk Sea features on The Million-Mile Medley, off of the Earth & Mars album, released in 1975.

## Personnel

According to John Winn:

* **George Harrison** – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, lead guitar (solo), hammond organ
* **John Lennon** - backing vocals, rhythm guitar
* **Paul McCartney** – backing vocals, bass
* **Linda McCartney** - backing vocals, piano, keyboards
* **Ringo Starr** – drums