pervaded the group upon their return. Harrison continued to espouse the Maharishi's teachings; this position left him isolated within the band and represented an impediment to their unity that was unprecedented in the group's career. Author Simon Leng describes "Long, Long, Long" as the first song in which Harrison "share[d] the spiritual refuge he'd found" through meditation, as well as "a confluence of the Indian, folk, and spiritual influences" that had preoccupied him since 1966. Donovan, the Scottish singer-songwriter who joined in the Beatles' musical activities in Rishikesh, recalled that Harrison played both sitar and guitar at the ashram and was developing a style of music that became "the finest spiritual sound". Harrison completed the lyrics to "Long, Long, Long" in August that year, at which point the Beatles were part-way through the recording of their eponymous double album, also known as "the White Album". In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, he states that "the 'you' in 'Long Long Long' is God." He also says that his musical inspiration for the composition was Bob Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" – specifically, "D to E minor, A and D – those three chords and the way they moved". As a further influence in "Long, Long, Long", Leng cites the release of the Band's debut album, Music from Big Pink, which "signaled the rebirth of 'the song as an alternative to the excesses of 1967-era psychedelia. Composition According to musicologist Alan Pollack, "Long, Long, Long" is "an off-beat mixture" of contemporary musical styles; he identifies it as "a three-way cross between jazz waltz, folk song, and late sixties psychedelia". The song is in the key of F major, played with a capo on the guitar's third fret, so as to allow for the chord shapes that Harrison admired in "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". The melody appears to fluctuate from the home key, due to its avoidance of perfect cadences, as the dominant, C7 chord resists anchoring on the tonic I chord of F major. In addition, all plagal changes (in this case, B to F major) are fleeting. The composition also makes use of jazz-style ninth chords. Lyrically, the song takes the form of a reconciliation with a loved one after a long period of estrangement. Theologian Dale Allison considers that, given the "cryptic" nature of the lyrics, it is only through Harrison's subsequent comments that the listener