Sexy Sadie is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Considering the recent bevy of posts regarding Spiritual Teachers and impropriety I came across an interesting bit of info that up until now I was not aware of. "Sexy Sadie" is the name of a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon in India and credited to Lennon/McCartney. Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Maharishi", but the Beatles changed the title to "Sexy Sadie" at George Harrison's request. Lennon was disillusioned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had allegedly made a sexual advance at one of the female members attending the course Maharishi was teaching at his ashram. Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Cynthia Lennon later said that they thought the story, which had come from Alexis Mardas, 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 '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."

After returning from India, Lennon scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title "Maharishi". The recorded version changed only after Harrison insisted that if the song was used he wanted the name changed and persuaded Lennon to change the title to "Sexy Sadie". Harrison recounts the event in the directors cut of the anthology film. Derek Taylor remembered Lennon fiddling about scratching the wood in the Apple offices. The wood ended up in the possession of Maureen Starkey and was ultimately sold to a Beatles collector.

Sexy Sadie what have you done

You made a fool of everyone

You made a fool of everyone

Sexy Sadie ooh what have you done.

Sexy Sadie you broke the rules

You layed it down for all to see

You layed it down for all to see

Sexy Sadie oooh you broke the rules.

One sunny day the world was waiting for a 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 oooh 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 oooh 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.