The Beatles and the I Ching

While I was preparing the turkey yesterday morning for our Thanksgiving feast, I was listening to the radio and caught a good portion of "The White Album Listening Party," commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the Beatles' White Album.  They played the whole album, song by song, with commentary in between. And so, I heard this comment for the first time:

Yes. “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” would be connected in that sense. They each came from a random sighting of words on a page. In George’s case, he was into I Ching and the idea of randomness. He just picked a book, off a shelf in his mother’s home, opened it at a certain page, saw this phrase, “gently weeps,” and built a song around that phrase.

Perhaps I should have known this already (perhaps I did know this already and forgot) but, in any event, it was a brief and unexpected I Ching moment.  I really do need to return to the oracle....

This video clip seems to be the White Album sound track laid over a couple of more recent concerts:

Comments

[Adele]

Thanks for posting this. I didn't know George, or any of the Beatles were into the I Ching. It makes sense though, doesn't it? I love them both.

[chris]

Whenever I see Clapton and Harrison on stage together I scratch my head, knowing that Clapton took the notion of I-Ching interconnection a bit too literally, at least with respect to Patti Boyd.

[Philip]

Lennon unequivocally sings: "I don't believe in I Ching"

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P5K1L2uAVxE&feature=related