I don't think I ever suspected that this song was about a specific real
person, I had a friend who thought it was about Galileo, but I never
bought it; in every portrait of the astronomer I've seen, he appeared
greatly dignified and not foolish.

However, in his The Lyrics book, McCartney says the "fool" is the
Maharishi, and adds: "All in all, I think "The Fool on the Hill" is a
very complimentary portrait and presents the Maharishi as having the
capacity to keep perfectly still in the midst of the hurly-burly. He's admirably self-contained and doesn't pay much attention to popular
opinion. He's a person who is open to ridicule because of his beliefs,
but his beliefs may well be right. I think he may be related somehow to
the truth-telling fool in King Lear."


These are benevolent but inaccurate sentiments towards a sexual and
financial predator, which is what the Maharishi really was.


"Fool" is a great song, though. Lennon, in "Sexy Sadie" got far closer
to the truth about the guru -- whose giggling I ascribe to Duper's
Delight.

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