1 week Ago By Scarlett O'Toole
John Lennon wrote a number of iconic songs during his time with The Beatles, but there was one he absolutely detested . The singer-songwriter was never shy about expressing his honest opinions and often reserved his harshest critiques for his own compositions . One such song was Mean Mr Mustard, featured on The Beatles' 1969 studio album Abbey Road.
John harshly referred to the track as a "piece of garbage." It was inspired by a newspaper story about a man attempting to hide his wealth to prevent others from pressuring him into spending it all. Inside Kevin Costner’s nearly $200 million property in Carpinteria Real Housewives star details late husband’s terrifying abuse John elaborated on how Mean Mr Mustard was intended to be linked with the song Polythene Pam.
"In Mean Mr Mustard I said his sister Pam – originally it was his sister Shirley in the lyric," he reminisced during The Beatles' Anthology. "I changed it to Pam to make it sound like it had something to do with it [Polythene Pam]." John then hit out at both songs, confessing, "They are only finished bits of c--- that I wrote in India.
" The singer spent time in India with his Beatles bandmates during a group trip to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram in Rishikesh in 1968. John further lambasted Mean Mr Mustard in a conversation with David Sheff about The Beatles' songs. "That's me, writing a piece of garbage," he raged.
And this wasn't the only comment John made about the song. He once had to clarify the actual meaning behind it after many speculated it was about drug use. He recounted an odd tale he'd come across in the press, saying, "I'd read somewhere in the newspaper about this mean guy who hid five-pound notes, not up his nose but somewhere else.
No, it had nothing to do with cocaine." The Beatles have a history of their songs being misunderstood and Paul McCartney has had to set the record straight before, particularly regarding Can't Buy Me Love. McCartney elaborated on the track's meaning, stating, "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well but they won't buy me what I really want.
It was a very hooky song. Ella Fitzgerald later did a version of it which I was very honored by." Yet, the tune's message led to some head-scratching, with some suggesting it hinted at prostitution — a notion that didn't sit well with Paul.
Firmly refuting such claims in 1966, he asserted, "Personally, I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggest that Can't Buy Me Love is about a prostitute, I draw the line. That's going too far.".
