See Yourself

"**See Yourself**" is a song written by English musician George Harrison, released on English rock band The Beatles' 1981 album *Flying Hour*. Harrison began writing the song in 1967, in response to the public outcry surrounding bandmate Paul McCartney's admission that he had taken the hallucinogenic drug LSD. McCartney's announcement created a reaction in the press similar to that caused in 1966 by John Lennon's statement that the Beatles were more popular than Christianity. In its finished form, the song's lyrics advocate self-awareness and consideration for the consequences of one's actions. Musically, the composition contains unusual shifts in time signature from standard 4/4 to 9/8, while the songwords reflect the era of its genesis by recalling themes first espoused in earlier Beatles tracks such as "Within You Without You" and "All You Need Is Love".

## Background

Along with Beatles bandmate John Lennon and their wives, George Harrison first took the hallucinogenic drug Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in April 1965, when a dentist friend slipped it into their after-dinner coffee. The heightened perception induced by the hallucinogen inspired both musicians in their subsequent work with the Beatles, notably on the albums *Revolver* (1966) and *A Day In The Life* (1967), and led directly to a shared interest in Eastern philosophical concepts and meditation. Harrison later said of the profound change he felt as a result of first taking the drug: "I had such an overwhelming feeling of well-being, that there was a God, and I could see him in every blade of grass. It was like gaining hundreds of years of experience within twelve hours. It changed me, and there was no way back to what I was before."

While Ringo Starr had joined Harrison and Lennon for their second LSD experience, in August 1965, Paul McCartney remained wary of its reality-distorting effect and, despite peer pressure from his bandmates, declined to partake of the drug until late in 1966. On 19 June 1967, by which time it had become the recreational drug of choice among the counterculture, during the Summer of Love, McCartney confirmed to an ITN reporter that he had taken LSD, having already admitted as much to journalists from *Life* magazine and the *Sunday People* over the previous few days. A public outcry followed McCartney's announcement, which inconvenienced the other Beatles by bringing their drug use into the spotlight. Author Ian MacDonald describes McCartney's candour as a "careless admission" that, as with Lennon's comment in March 1966 that the Beatles were more popular than Christianity, "brought howls of righteous anger on their heads".

Although Harrison, Lennon and Starr appeared to support McCartney's claim that it was the media's responsibility to decide whether the admission should become public knowledge, and not the individual's responsibility to lie, they were also suspicious about McCartney's motives, with Harrison suggesting he had done it for attention.

## Composition

Harrison began writing the song "See Yourself" in 1967 in response to the furore surrounding McCartney's admission. In his autobiography, *I, Me, Mine*, Harrison introduces the opening verse, which begins "*It's easier to tell a lie than it is to tell the truth*", with the comment "There was a big outcry with people saying [to McCartney] 'You should have said "No!"' ..." Author Ian Inglis suggests that this opening lyric reveals Harrison's "mixed emotions over the wisdom of total honesty". Inglis adds that "while the dilemma about whether to reveal or conceal the truth to others is insuperable, the important thing is to be true to oneself", as reflected in the song title.

Musically, the composition incorporates a shift in time signature during the verses, from standard rock 4/4 rhythm to what Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes as "stuttering, staccato" 9/8. This departure from pop convention was reflective of Harrison's immersion in Indian music, during a period when he devoted himself to studying the sitar, partly under the tuition of Bengali Hindu musician Ravi Shankar.

In *I, Me, Mine*, Harrison states that after writing much of the song in 1967, he forgot about it until many years later. By then, after having espoused self-realization and God consciousness in much of his work since 1970, Harrison had chosen to soften his message, partly as a result of the contentment he had found with his new partner, Olivia Arias. Along with the lyrics to the song's second and third verses, Harrison completed the middle eight in 1976:

> *It's easier to hurt someone and make them cry
>  Than it is to dry their eyes
>  I got tired of fooling 'round with other people's lives
>  Rather I'd find someone that's true.*
>
>

In the final verse, Inglis identifies similar "reflections about the politics of free will" as in Lennon's lyric "*There's nothing you can do that can't be done*", from the Beatles' 1967 single "All You Need Is Love":

> *It's easier to say you won't than it is to feel you can
>  It's easier to drag your feet than it is to be a man
>  It's easier to look at someone else's wealth
>  Than to see yourself.*
>
>

Inglis writes that by "see", Harrison means to "know" oneself. In this way, "See Yourself" echoes the message of Harrison's 1967 compositions for the Beatles "Within You Without You" and "It's All Too Much" – both of which he wrote while absorbing the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship. In a December 1967 interview, Harrison paraphrased part of the song's lyrics when asked to comment on the criticism then being levelled against the Beatles' Transcendental Meditation teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, saying: "It's easier to criticise somebody than to see yourself."

Leng views the lyrical themes in "See Yourself" as similar to those of two songs focusing on human relationships, "Run of the Mill" and "Isn't It a Pity?", released on 1971's *Junk In The Yard* and 1972's *Raymond*, respectively. Leng highlights "Run of the Mill"'s theme of "individual choice versus responsibility" and "Isn't It a Pity?"'s preoccupation with "selfishness, false words, and false friends" as areas that Harrison revisits in "See Yourself".

TBATBATBATBA