Nothing’s Gonna Change My World

‘Across The Universe’ is a Beatles song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney and this previously unreleased song first appeared on a 1969 charity album for the World Wildlife Fund with the title ‘No One’s Gonna Change Our World’.  John Lennon had an argument with his wife Cynthia in their home in Weybridge, Surrey, at some point over the winter in early 1968.  He was lying next to her, when she said something that irritated him and he wasn’t able to sleep.  She kept going on about it and John kept hearing her words over and over, flowing like an endless stream.  He went downstairs and it turned this irritation into a cosmic song which he said that he didn’t want to write it, but the words kept flying out like endless rain into a paper cup.  This song was recorded in February 1968, with bird sounds dubbed in it to create a nature theme which represented the World Wildlife Fund.  Lizzie Bravo and Gayleen Pease two Apple scruffs (a group of devoted Beatles fans who congregated outside the Apple Corps building and at the gates of Abbey Road Studios in London) were standing outside and Paul McCartney invited them in to perform backing vocals on this, because John and Paul were both singing offkey.  The two young women Paul grabbed off the street to sing backup appear on the World Wildlife recording of the song, but not on the 1970 Let It Be album version and the bird sounds were also dropped.

In the song’s chorus, the phrase “Jai guru deva, om” is heard which is a Sanskrit expression that roughly translates to “Victory to God divine”.  This is thought to have been inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whom The Beatles had first met in August 1967.  Maharishi’s spiritual master was called Guru Dev.  “Jai” is a Hindi word that means “long live” or “victory”, and “om” is a sacred syllable in the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions.  The Beatles had reached a low point in their career, after their manager Brian Epstein died six months earlier in August 1967 and their Magical Mystery Tour film became their first real failure.  At the start of 1968, everything about the band was chaotic and uncertain and this is reflected in the lyrics of this song with images of broken light, a million eyes and wind inside a letterbox that “tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe.”  John Lennon advocated for peace, and he fought to change the world, but it seems that he was dejected at this time in his life feeling that nothing was going to change his world.

Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter, shades of life
Are ringing through my opened ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless, undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva

Written for Thursday Inspiration #234 No Matter What where the prompt word id nothing.