My belief in the Louvre as the original lyric is based on recalling my sophomore year 1971 high school (suburban Chicago) French teacher, Mademoiselle Garde’s, enthusiastic telling the story of the original lyric as the Louvre and why it was changed due to a request from the Louvre management and Epstein wishing to avoid any legal hassle with using the name in the song. She absolutely convinced the class that Louvre, not zoo was the original lyric. She took a whole week out of her lesson plan to discuss the Beatles, England and France including the Louvre and how at the time, beautiful, hip, famous, fashionable, jet setting people from all over the world started hanging out there, smoking pot, dropping acid and having sex right in the Louvre. She had been in France studying in the ‘60’s and had visited the Louvre many times.

In the late 50’s and 60’s, the Louvre was the “thing to do” in the artist, musician and beatnik culture (The band name Beatles is linked to beatnik or variations).
The Louvre has many famous paintings as everyone knows but it was also exhibiting many modern art paintings, photography and sculptures that challenged preconceived ideas about what constituted art. More and more artists and hipsters of the day began hanging out there and initially Louvre management, wishing to provide a creativity positive atmosphere, condoned the new type of art appreciation with Laissez Faire chill.

The traditional “average” tourists with families however became outraged and complained about the open depravity they witnessed in the Louvre. The sexual revolution, freedom from the staid norms of the ‘50’s and the generation gap were on full display. The Anti-Vietnam War sentiment had been a hot topic in France due to Vietnam having been a French colony and a general atmosphere of tension was evident among French public. Because of the complaints and fearing the loss of tourism revenue the adverse publicity was threatening, security was beefed up and closed circuit cameras were installed. The Louvre which had been open and inviting, became a much more tightly controlled, less tolerant, security minded space. The security changes to the Louvre were publicized by the management and it was promoted as a very safe, secure place.

So what does the money in a big brown bag have to do with the Louvre? Ringo had an idiosyncratic preference for being paid in cash in a undistinguished brown bag. But his friends wondered where he would keep it safe. The Louvre was better than a British bank. Ringo was paranoid about British banks and where to put his cash and avoid taxes. The Paris based Louvre was that place to keep it hidden from the highly taxing British government. So Louvre, the hang out for beautiful people also became the place to keep Ringo’s bag of cash. The song is primarily a message to Epstein, a nerd as a youngster, who loved hanging with this crowd of beautiful people.

Why would Ringo put his bag of money in the zoo? It doesn’t make sense unless you understand that the Louvre management objected to the lyric and Epstein wishing to avoid legal hassle asked the Beatles to change it. The Louvre was happy to avoid publicity and association with the negative public image of the beatniks. Ringo volunteered the word Zoo, it substituted well in the lyric, was used and assumed to be the original verse ever since.

Could the Beatles song be an answer to “If I Were A Rich Man”?