David Lynch has been associated with The Beatles on multiple occasions throughout his career – and for various different reasons. While he has been a fan of the band since he was a teenager, the director has also been deeply influenced by the meditation techniques advocated by members such as Paul McCartney during his own explorations of Transcendental Meditation.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi introduced those techniques to the Beatles in India, and meditation played a major role in the band’s creative process. Transcendental Meditation has also been crucially important for Lynch since the acclaimed auteur uses meditation to delve deeper into his unique ideas.
Lynch was in attendance when the Beatles performed at their first American concert in Washington, D.C., an event that would become immortalised in the public consciousness. At that point in time, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was one of the most popular songs in the country and everyone was clamouring to get tickets.
“People don’t know how important the Beatles were to our lives,” Lynch recalled. “People who lived through it know, but young people don’t know. I lived through it, though, so meeting Paul and Ringo was beyond the beyond. On their first trip to America in 1964 they flew into New York City, then they went down to Washington, D.C., and put on their first American concert, and I was there…”
They played at the Washington Coliseum and the organisers made them perform at the centre of the venue in order to increase the number of audience members from 6,000 to 8,000. The experience of attending their first American concert had a huge impact on Lynch who witnessed the physical manifestation of Beatlemania.
While remembering some of the details of the night, Lynch claimed that the concert was less of a musical event and more of “a screaming event”. The popularity of the Beatles in America had reached unprecedented heights, and the atmosphere at the concert became so frenzied that Lynch actually saw someone jumping over the police and grabbing a chunk of hair from one of the band members.
Lynch added: “I was a senior in high school and I wasn’t planning on going, but at the last minute I wanted to go and I talked my dear brother out of his ticket and I went instead. I got to tell Ringo and Paul that I was there at their first American concert, and of course it didn’t mean anything to them. But for me it’s incredible.”
At first glance, David Lynch and The Beatles might seem like an unlikely pairing, but the influence of the Fab Four on Lynch’s work is unmistakable. Their pioneering spirit, love of the surreal, collaborative ethos, and storytelling prowess have all left an indelible mark on Lynch’s creative process. Viewed through this lens, it becomes clear how The Beatles’ boundary-pushing music helped shape one of the most unique and innovative voices in contemporary cinema.
