Without the help of Epstein who might have brought some semblance of order to the project, Magical Mystery Tour was fraught with an absence of direction and an abundance of bad decisions. Magical Mystery Tour was doomed from the beginning. Related: “10 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘I Am the Walrus'” The first song they would record after Epstein’s death was “I Am The Walrus.” When Lennon sang “I’m crying,” he really was. That summer, after the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, McCartney convinced the other Beatles that they needed to focus on Magical Mystery Tour, including writing new songs to accompany the film. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, perform “All You Need Is Love” live on the first worldwide satellite broadcast, and begin their study of meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It would be several months before the Beatles began filming Magical Mystery Tour.

Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band still being prepared for release, the Beatles began recording the title track for Magical Mystery Tour with McCartney leading the group from the piano. Of course, new songs would be needed for the film. Together, they decided that they would write the script and direct the film. Maybe the Beatles could create and film a mystery tour of their own.īy the time he returned to England, McCartney had sketched out the idea for the Beatles’ next project – Magical Mystery Tour. It combined the randomness of his amateur films with the stories of the Merry Pranksters that he heard during his time in San Francisco and the mystery charabanc tours that took vacationers from Liverpool to Blackpool on a bus filled with beer and accordion players. While filming Jane Asher at Denver’s Civic Center Park, he was struck by an idea. After stopping in San Francisco (where McCartney jammed with the Jefferson Airplane), the pair flew to Denver where Asher was appearing with the Old Vic theatre company in a production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.īy 1967, McCartney was making experimental films, and he traveled everywhere with his video camera. Paul planned to surprise his girlfriend Jane Asher on her 21 st birthday. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul McCartney and the Beatles’ assistant Mal Evans flew to America on a private Lear jet reportedly hired from Frank Sinatra.

On April 3, 1967, two days after recording the reprise of Sgt.

Beatles magical mystery tour movie