Artists Want to Break Free… from Mainstream Society
Patti Smith and The Beatles both wish to break free from the norms of their retrospective societies, and turn to Eastern symbols and instruments to differentiate the events in their lives and their music from mainstream society. In Just Kids, Smith romanticizes vagabonds and taboo actions by associating them with Eastern symbols that she finds desirous and exotic. In “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, The Beatles use Eastern instruments to add greater allure to their description of a drug trip that emphasizes their rebellious nature. This is problematic however, as Eastern Cultures are not indicatively taboo. So, Smith and The Beatles romanticize Eastern Cultures as mystical and exotic in their autobiography and music, thereby creating a greater distinction between The Occident, The West, and The Orient, The East. This normalizes Western cultures, and reinforces a false romanticization of The East.
Edward Said defines fetishization of Eastern Cultures as Orientalism, or rather “a style of thought based upon ontological and epistemological distinction made between ‘the Orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the Occident’” (Said, 5). Said states that Orientalism is a style of thought that is based on the nature of being, and the difference between opinion rather than informed belief on the distinction between the East and the West from a Westerner’s perspective. Moreover, as this distinction between the “Orient”, non-Western cultures, and the “Occident”, the West, is from a Westerner’s perspective, the distinction is really between what the West considers abnormal and normal. Therefore, the “Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience” (Said, 1). Smith and The Beatles want differentiate themselves from Western mainstream culture and they turn to the East to find, what they think to be, exotic sources of inspiration. This, however, is problematic as they do not quite understand the objects that they use and consequently they misrepresent the East in their art, further propagating misunderstanding.
Patti Smith uses the East to romanticize drug use. As she “had only read about LSD in a small book called Collages by Anaïs Nin”, Smith held “a romantic view of drugs and considered them sacred, reserved for poets, jazz musicians, and Indian rituals” (Smith, 39). She uses Indian rituals to further add an exotic flair to LSD. All of her knowledge of drugs comes from a French/ American essayist, Anaïs Nin who is a Westerner, and has no inherent connection with The Orient. However, as LSD is foreign to Smith; she equates it with people and rituals that she feel are sacred; “poets, jazz musicians, and Indian rituals.” Aside from merely associating Eastern symbols with drug use, Smith places “Indian rituals” at the end of her list of “sacred” objects. This makes it seem like a slip in her narrative as the first two items in this list are types of types of people and the later is a type of religious ceremony. Smith associates avant garde poetry and music with Eastern religions. This explicitly shows Smith’s affiliation with The East and social taboos and stigmas, thereby further propagating Said’s concept of Westerns contrasting their culture with that of the East.
Smith continues to use Eastern symbols in her description of Saint as her spiritual guide. To Smith, Saint was “my guide, a black Cherokee with one foot in the street and the other in the Milky Way”(27) who would “shoot the shit while I stood a few feet away”, and “would often be barefoot, his sandals slung over his shoulder” while he taught her “lessons on man’s place in the universe, and then the inner universe” (28). Smith’s spiritual guide is reminiscent of a Buddhist monk who lives an ascetic life while preaching wisdom to those who are lost. However, this imagery continues and is amplified by his disappearance and thereby making him into Buddha, “It was a beautiful day and we sat in the grass. I guess I dozed off. He wasn’t there when I awoke” (29). Saint’s connection with Buddha is apparent in this scene, as Buddha wandered and taught the four noble truths that he had learned while meditating, and then at the age of 80 he reached the highest level of understanding and abandoned his earthly body. All of these characteristics can be gleaned from Saint, as he— even shown by his name— was a spiritual teacher who lived an ascetic life, and disappeared after a stage of enlightenment. Smith portrays Saint in this manner to further emphasize his spirituality and foreign nature by using Eastern religious symbols to further differentiate him from normal people in New York. Smith’s portrayal of Saint is problematic as it takes the primary figure of a religion and misrepresents him as a wise vagabond in New York City.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney similarly use Eastern Cultures to create a more exotic and appealing view of drugs in their song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. The song itself, even though claimed to be about a picture that John Lennon’s child, Julian, drew, describes a mystical land that features “tangerine trees and Marmalade skies”, “A girl with kaleidoscope eyes”, and “cellophane flowers of yellow and green” (Lennon and McCartney). These characteristics describe drug induced hallucinations. Moreover, the first letters of the nouns in the title spell out the acronym LSD. In addition to the lyrics of this song, it also features a sitar and other Eastern sounds during the verses which describe the drug trip in the song to create a contrast the song and other popular music. When the song is describing the LSD hallucination, the listener hears Eastern sounds, yet as the chorus approaches the background music stops and there is only Lennon’s voice singing, if not chanting, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. Therefore, this associates the psychedelic subject matter of the song with Eastern sounds. Lennon and McCartney do implement these Eastern sounds to contrast their music and its subject matter from the other popular music of the time as well as their former sound. Previously, The Beatles’ sound was rooted in traditional rock and roll that featured a standard four piece band with two guitars, a drum, and a bassist. This stark contrast from normal rock and roll roots itself in Said’s interpretation of Orientalism, as the Orient was used by the West as a “contrasting image, idea, personality, experience” (Said). Therefore, when The Beatles wish to diverge from the stereotypical sounds of popular music, they turn to Eastern sounds and traditions to create what they feel is a new sound. However, this becomes problematic as it associates drug use with the Orient experience, and further reinforces a division between the Orient and the Occident as well as a romanticizing of the Orient. By trying to create a new and exotic sound to describe taboo experiences, Lennon and McCartney make baseless opinions about Eastern Culture and further reinforce stereotypes surrounding Indian association with hallucinogenic experiences.
Smith and The Beatles use Eastern Cultures as a means to differentiate their art. They use symbols traditionally associated with Eastern cultures as a beacon of their rebellion against the mainstream society. This is ironic as Westerners have long used Eastern Cultures to draw a contrast between their own society and a perceived taboo society. In fact, it is so rooted in antiquity that Edward Said wrote an entire book detailing its history during the late 1970s. Therefore, what Smith and The Beatles are doing in their art is not original, but a continuation of colonialist practices. However, they continue this tradition of using Eastern Culture in a different manner than their predecessors. Instead of separating themselves from Eastern Culture and social taboos, they celebrate and embrace The Orient. This is problematic however, as it leads to a misrepresentation of Eastern Cultures, their symbols, and their music. Ultimately, their attempt to live a life that embraces social stigmas ends up reinforcing them and further creating divisions between The Orient and The Occident.
Work Cited
Lennon, John and McCartney, Paul. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. 1967
Said, Edward. Orientalism. Pantheon Books, 1973.
Smith, Patti. Just Kids. HarperCollins, 2010.