anonymous October 5th, 2008 03:13PM  

Around 1967, the British media began using the term "beautiful people" to describe middle class heroes. After the Beatles were referred to as such, Lennon wrote the verses making fun of it all. McCartney wrote the chorus, which tries to get across that everyone is beautiful, we are all rich men and women.

marinus November 12th, 2008 02:48PM  

Rumour has it that John actually meant to sing 'baby you're a rich fat jew' in reference to their manager Brian Epstein (or was it Allen Klein?) It's supposed to be barely audible during the fadeout.

har0462 August 28th, 2009 12:38AM  

I read the bio "The Love You Make" of the Beatles by insider Peter Brown (mentioned in "The Ballad of John and Yoko"). He said that the song is indeed about Brian Epstein.

lazur September 11th, 2009 03:18AM  

Apologies in advance to those who take this badly, but I KNOW that when this song first came out, I could hear one of the vocal tracks singing: 'rich fat Jew'. It was in unison with the 'regular ' lyrics, and they blended together into an almost indecipherable sound, but not all THAT indecipherable. I had not heard any rumors,the song had just come out, and that's what I heard . I'm Jewish, but I'm not offended, I just took as some very talented guys proving that they were clever enogh to get away with just about anything...and they did it well. Once again, the multi-level Beatles sound great even without discovering their deeper aspects.

anonymous October 14th, 2009 02:44AM  

He's actually singing "Baby you're a rich fag jew." This was aimed at their manager Brian Epstein who was indeed a rich fag jew. Great song.