The fool on the hill - Shirley Bassey

In 1970 Shirley Bassey released this cover version of the Beatles' 'The fool on the hill'. In his authorised biography, Many Years from Now, Paul McCartney says he first got the idea for the premise from the Dutch design collective the Fool, who were the Beatles' favourite designers in 1967 and told him that they had derived their name from the Tarot card of the same name. According to McCartney, the song possibly relates to a character such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Beatles' meditation teacher. 

'"Fool on the Hill" was mine and I think I was writing about someone like Maharishi. His detractors called him a fool. Because of his giggle, he wasn't taken too seriously. It was this idea of a fool on the hill, a guru in a cave, I was attracted to ... I was sitting at the piano at my father's house in Liverpool hitting a D 6th chord, and I made up "Fool on the Hill"'.

Shirley Bassey's version peaked at number 48 in the UK singles chart.  

My collection: 7" single no. 8332
Found: Gaga Music, Goch (Germany), 15 July 2026
Tracks: 'The fool on the hill' / 'What are you doing the rest of your life'