Editing Think for Yourself (section)

==Background and inspiration==
{{quote box|quote= "Think for Yourself" must be about "somebody" from the sound of it – but all this time later, I don't quite recall who … Probably the Government.{{sfn|Harrison|2002|p=88}}|source= – George Harrison, 1979|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
In his 1980 autobiography, ''[[I, Me, Mine (book)|I, Me, Mine]]'', [[George Harrison]] recalls little about the inspiration behind "Think for Yourself".{{sfn|Turner|1999|p=92}}{{sfn|Allison|2006|p=157}} He said that his intention was to target narrow-minded thinking and identified the British government as a possible source.<ref name="Fontenot/About" /> Partly as a result of the vagueness of his comments, the song has invited interpretation as both a political commentary and a statement on a failing personal relationship.{{sfn|Guesdon|Margotin|2013|p=288}}

The song reflects the influence of [[Bob Dylan]],{{sfn|Leng|2006|pp=18–19}}{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=6}} with whom [[the Beatles]] had spent time socialising in May 1965, in London,{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=195–96}} and then in mid August, following the band's concert at [[Shea Stadium]] in New York.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=255}} Just as their songs had encouraged Dylan to embrace rock music,{{sfn|Smith|2009|pp=33, 34}} Dylan's work inspired the Beatles, and particularly Harrison, as a nascent songwriter,{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=6}} to address more sophisticated concepts than the standard love song.{{sfn|Leng|2006|pp=16, 18, 134}} In addition, since March that year, Harrison's outlook had been transformed by his and [[John Lennon]]'s experiences with the hallucinogenic drug [[LSD]];{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=51, 54–55}}<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Michael|last=Simmons |title=Cry for a Shadow|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=November 2011|pages=78–79}}</ref> in a 1987 interview, he said that the drug had revealed to him the futility of the band's widespread fame.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Anthony|last=DeCurtis|title=George Harrison|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=5 November 1987|pages=47–48}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|In the same interview, for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine, Harrison said that LSD "just opened up this whole other consciousness … It changed me, and there was no way back to what I was before." He added, referring to the pressures of [[Beatlemania]]: "And we still had to continue being fab, you know. Now with {{em|that}} added perspective."{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=317, 615}}}} Author George Case groups "Think for Yourself" with two [[Lennon–McCartney]] compositions from the Beatles' ''[[Rubber Soul]]'' album – "[[I'm Looking Through You]]" and "[[The Word (song)|The Word]]" – as examples of how the band's focus had progressed "from excited songs of juvenile love to adult meditations on independence, estrangement and brotherhood".{{sfn|Case|2010|p=28}} In [[Ringo Starr]]'s later recollection, ''Rubber Soul'' was the Beatles' "departure record", written and recorded during a period when, largely through the influence of [[marijuana]],{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=194}} "We were expanding in all areas of our lives, opening up to a lot of different attitudes."{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=584}}
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