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Released in 1968

Sexy Sadie

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on May 27, 2021

Album This song officially appears on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1968

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related articles

From Wikipedia:

“Sexy Sadie” is a song by the English rock group the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”). The song was written by John Lennon in India and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Lennon wrote the song during the Beatles’ stay in India in response to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s alleged sexual advance on actress Mia Farrow. The song has been considered an early example of a diss track.

Composition

Lennon originally wanted to title the song “Maharishi”, but changed the title to “Sexy Sadie” at George Harrison’s request. Lennon was disillusioned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had allegedly made a sexual advance on Mia Farrow, who was attending a course the Maharishi was teaching at his ashram in Rishikesh, India. Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Cynthia Lennon later said that they thought the story, which had come from Alexis Mardas, a.k.a. Magic Alex, had been fabricated. Lennon once said of the song: “That was inspired by Maharishi. I wrote it when we had our bags packed and were leaving. It was the last piece I wrote before I left India. I just called him ‘Sexy Sadie’ instead of (sings) ‘Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool…’ I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt. I was leaving the Maharishi with a bad taste. You know, it seems that my partings are always not as nice as I’d like them to be.” He told Rolling Stone that when the Maharishi asked why he was leaving, he replied, “Well, if you’re so cosmic, you’ll know why.”

After returning from India, Lennon scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title “Maharishi”. According to Harrison’s account in the director’s cut of the Beatles Anthology documentary, the recorded version changed only after Harrison insisted that if the song was used its name must be changed and persuaded Lennon to retitle it “Sexy Sadie”. Derek Taylor remembered Lennon’s scratching the wood in the Apple offices. The wood ended up in Maureen Starkey’s possession and was ultimately sold to a Beatles collector.[citation needed]

According to Mark Lewisohn’s The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, an early outtake of “Sexy Sadie” features Lennon demonstrating the song’s original working lyrics to the rest of the band: “Maharishi, you little twat/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Who the fuck do you think you are?/Oh, you cunt.”

The song’s instrumental fadeout was originally longer and featured a breakdown based around the middle eight. This was edited out before mixing.

In a 1968 Rolling Stone interview, Lennon complimented the song “I’ve Been Good to You” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. The Miracles song begins with the lines “Look what you’ve done/You made a fool out of someone”, echoing “Sexy Sadie”‘s “What have you done?/You made a fool of everyone”. […]

Paul McCartney in "Many Years From Now", by Barry Miles:

It was a big scandal. Maharishi had tried to get off with one of the chicks. I said, ‘Tell me what happened?’ John said, ‘Remember that blonde American girl with the short hair? Like a Mia Farrow lookalike. She was called Pat or something.’ I said, ‘Yeah’. He said, ‘Well, Maharishi made a pass at her.’ So I said, ‘Yes? What’s wrong with that?’ ‘He said, ‘Well, you know, he’s just a bloody old letch just like everybody else. What the fuck, we can’t go following that!’

They were scandalised. And I was quite shocked at them; I said, ‘But he never said he was a god. In fact very much the opposite. He said, “Don’t treat me like a god, I’m just a meditation teacher.” There was no deal about you mustn’t touch women, was there? There was no vow of chastity involved.’ So I didn’t think it was enough cause to leave the whole meditation centre.

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] mono 21 Aug 1968.
UK: Apple PMC 7068 white album 1968.

[b] stereo 14 Oct 1968.
UK: Apple PCS 7068 white album 1968.
US: Apple SWBO 101 white album 1968.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46443 2 white album 1987.

Stereo [b] has an extra tap at the start. Mono [a] lacks bass until the vocal starts.

Lyrics

Sexy Sadie, what have you done?

You made a fool of everyone

You made a fool of everyone

Sexy Sadie, oh, what have you done?

Sexy Sadie, you broke the rules

You laid it down for all to see

You laid it down for all to see

Sexy Sadie, oh, you broke the rules

One sunny day the world was waiting for the lover

She came along to turn on everyone

Sexy Sadie, the greatest of them all

Sexy Sadie, how did you know?

The world was waiting just for you

The world was waiting just for you

Sexy Sadie, oh, how did you know?

Sexy Sadie, you'll get yours yet

However big you think you are

However big you think you are

Sexy Sadie, oh, you'll get yours yet

We gave her everything we owned just to sit at her table

Just a smile would lighten everything

Sexy Sadie, she's the latest and the greatest of them all

She made a fool of everyone

Sexy Sadie

However big you think you are

Sexy Sadie

Variations

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “Sexy Sadie”

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Paul McCartney writing

Talk more talk, chat more chat

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