Contributions to popular culture involving direct reference to the Hare Krishna mantra include the following.
In music
Beatles influence
After coming in contact with the Hare Krishnas in 1969, some of the Beatles took an interest in the movement. This interest is reflected in songs recorded by the band and its members.
The Hare Krishna mantra can be heard sung by George Harrison in the backing vocals of his song "My Sweet Lord" (1970), and the track "Living in the Material World" (1973) contains the lyrics: "I hope to get out of this place by the Lord Sri Krishna's grace. My salvation from the material world." Other Harrison songs that reference Krishna include "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" (1974), "Sat Singing" (1980) and "Life Itself" (1981). Harrison also chanted the Hare Krishna mantra when he was attacked by a man who broke into his home on 30 December 1999. Harrison survived the knife attack, and continued to praise Krishna for the remainder of his life. Of the four Beatles members, only Harrison was actually a Krishna devotee, and after he posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2009, his son Dhani Harrison uttered out the phrase "Hare Krishna" during the ceremony. The mantra was released as a single by the Radha Krishna Temple (London) in August 1969 on the Beatles' Apple record label. This single, like the 1971 Radha Krsna Temple album, was produced by George Harrison. The words "Hare Krishna" are included in the lyrics of some of John Lennon's songs also, such as "Give Peace a Chance" (1969) and "I Am the Walrus" (1967). They can also be heard in the backing vocals of Ringo Starr's 1971 hit "It Don't Come Easy", which was again produced by Harrison and co-written by Starr and him (although originally credited to Starr only). A year and a half after Lennon's apparent adoption of the phrase in "Give Peace a Chance", his song "I Found Out" (from 1970's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album) contains a verse on Hare Krishna, dismissing it as "pie in the sky".