The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

When I first started writing for this blog I didn’t want to do the obvious albums like this one. So much has been said about the greatness of this album. We’ve all heard it. It’s one of those things that’s accepted as GREAT!  Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is synonymous with an artistic album achievement.  When Musical artists are looking to make a great album that’s the pinnacle of their creative abilities, they refer to it as “their Sgt Pepper”. There’s a Time/Life  History of Rock n’ Roll documentary where Todd Rundgren refers to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon as that band’s pinnacle “Sgt Pepper” moment. 



I hadn’t even thought about writing anything about Sgt Pepper. But, I was writing about Cheap Trick awhile back and I started sampling through all of their albums. One of the recent albums is a Live performance of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The band had been asked by the Hollywood Bowl to be the band to perform the album in its entirety. If you've ever followed Cheap Trick, there's been parallels to the Beatles throughout their history
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Rick Nielsen has a Hamer guitar with the faces of the Beatles on them. Rick Nielsen and Bun E Carlos were asked to play with John Lennon for the Double Fantasy sessions. They recorded a cover of Day Tripper on their All Shook Up album. That album was also produced by longtime Beatle producer (and fifth Beatle) George Martin.  On their Greatest Hits package they cover Magical Mystery Tour. So, that prompted me to pull out my Beatles CD and put it on my MP3 player so I could listen to it on the drive to work. WOW!! It’s definitely an album that greets you like an old friend but then you discover new things about it every time you hear it.
I wrote so much about my own Beatle obsession on the anniversary of John Lennon’s death.  So, I honestly don’t feel like repeating myself about the Beatles. I grew up with the Beatles in my home. My older sisters were Beatles fans. I share a birthday with Ringo Starr. Ringo was my first drumming hero.  But, my love for the music of this album started from the often dreaded and despised 1978 Robert Stigwood movie production of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees.  I could deny that I loved the movie or that the Beatles catalog of songs from the Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road album were so sacred that no one should ever try to cover them…..especially in a movie musical form. But, I won’t! I really liked it….and why?…..even back in 1978, I liked the songs. I liked the music.

I remember putting my tape recorder up to the radio when I heard this version being played. Remember doing that kids in the days before “boom boxes” and “Ghetto Blasters”?  It wasn’t long after the release of the movie and the soundtrack that my sister Kathy had a copy of the soundtrack as did my neighbor Brad. Brad and I had seen the movie at the local Movie Theater Triplex.  I loved the embossed look on the album cover and I loved the music. At the time, I’m not sure I knew that it was Beatles music. I just knew I liked it. I would see the album at many different retail outlets. I remember riding my bike to the local Ben Franklin store and as I would flip through the records and tapes, I remember just taking in the colors of the soundtrack album cover. I even bought the novelization of the movie from the Scholastic Book club. That year I asked for the soundtrack album for Christmas. As I stated in my John Lennon blog, my parents actually gave me the original Beatles album instead of the Frampton/Bee Gees soundtrack.  I was originally disappointed that I had been given the album by the Beatles instead of the soundtrack.  But, that didn’t stop me from listening to the album over and over.  Turns out, my Mom knew best.
The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album had the song lyrics printed on the back cover. The novelization of the Frampton/Bee Gees movie also had the song lyrics printed in the book. The movie featured songs from the Sgt Pepper album along with cuts from Let it Be and Abbey Road as well.  Brad and I had this crazy idea to record our voices singing along with the Soundtrack album. We had the lyrics in the book and the Beatles’ album too. So, we set up a simple tape recorder and played the album in the background and recorded it. I remember thinking neither one of us wanted to sing the songs that had been performed by the females in the movie. Looking back, That’s kind of funny considering the songs were originally recorded by 4 guys. But, singing these songs definitely had an impact on me and soon became part of my musical DNA.

I don’t know what it was. But, something happened where I stopped yearning for the 1978 Soundtrack versions and I fully embraced the 1967 original.  As I grew in my love for music and the Beatles, I learned that the album was originally released on May 26th, 1967 (UK) and June 2, 1967(USA). I was born in July of that same year.  Ringo and I share the same birthday.  I grew up thinking that the Ringo probably celebrated his birthday that year on the road touring behind the Sgt Pepper album.  I obviously became educated about the history of the band and later learned that this album was the first in a new era for the band where they DIDN’T tour behind the album.  Paul McCartney tells the story that a mere days after the album was released that Jimi Hendrix had learned the opening song and performed it live.

In the 1982 Beatles documentary The Compleat Beatles, Musicologist Wilfred Mellers expresses that when Sgt Pepper was released

“The most distinctive event in pop music’s brief history and it marked the turning point(of course) when the Beatles stopped being ritual dance music and became music to be listened to”

It may be strange to think about popular music in those terms in today’s 21st Century world. I would assume the Beatles had grown tired of writing catchy pop tunes for teenage girls from 1962 through 1966. It’s obvious by the subject matter of the songs on albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver that they had grown tired of the “lovable moptops” image.  They had toured constantly for four years and endured the crowds and the incessant screaming. The Beatles had begun to question their own musicality.  This was a chance to make a musical statement that didn’t need to be expressed on tour or on a stage.
The songs are so rich in the musicality of it all. We start off with an introduction to a fictional band that supposedly started “20 years ago today”.  Right there, you’re taken on a small journey of the mind and imagination to think of this band. Then, the listener is introduced to “The singer’s gonna sing a song and he wants you all to sing along….the one and only Billy Shears” and a seamless introduction into A Little Help from my Friends.  I stated earlier of hearing the movie version. When I heard the Beatles version, I wondered to myself “Who is singing this? Is this Paul or George? This person has a very different style to his voice than Frampton did.”  I learned later it was Ringo singing. With my obvious bond to Ringo through our birthday and as drummers, I accepted this song as my own personal statement to the friends in my own life.  I get by with a little help from my friends.  My friendships mean so much to my own life and often coincide with music that resonates me as well.

I remember being a little cautious of With a Little Help From my Friends when I first heard the lyrics “I get HIGH with a little help from my friends”.  I was afraid my parents from another generation would be suspicious that I was getting into some new lifestyle of smoking marijuana on a daily basis. I even remember my Mom asking about that lyric. I think I eventually told her it was an expression that really didn’t have anything to do with the intake of the herbal jazz cigarette.
The inspiration for the next song came from a picture John’s son Julian made called Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.  Of course, the myth and rumor when I was growing up is that this was yet another drug reference that the Beatles put in their music and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was about LSD.
When the Beatles released their Anthology back in 1995, Paul made the comment that he was proud that he and John always seemed to write songs with a positive theme to them. The next song may be one of those songs as well.  I’m talking about Getting Better. I’ve obviously heard the story that Paul likes to tell as he was writing this. He would sing “Getting Better all the time” and John would be right there with his quick wit singing “It couldn’t get much worse”. I don’t know what it was that I loved about this song. Maybe it was the simple song title and the catchy chorus. I just remember liking this song at first listen. As I listen to it now, I love the sound of the rhythm guitar and they way it just rings and chugs along. Ringo plays straight quarter notes on the hi-hat along with some congas in the mix as well.

The next track is Fixing a Hole. Looking back, it’s hard for me to not think about the George Burns version from the Frampton/Bee Gees movie.  If you grew up watching the talk shows and variety shows of the 1970’s, George Burns was everywhere.  Here he was again as the “mayor of Heartland USA” in the movie. In fact, he narrated the entire movie. But, as I think back and have listened to this song as a part of the album, I find myself singing it out loud as I do with the entire album. 
She’s Leaving Home spins a story of a mother and father telling of a daughter who branches out from the family nest. The song is told through the eyes of the parents as they see her leaving home.  As much as I love this album I really didn’t grow to appreciate it as much until I heard the live Cheap Trick version.

As much as I love the studio albums and especially the classic ones like these, I love to hear artists pay homage and love to these tracks as well. It’s gives me a new perspective on someone else’s love for these songs.  Since the Beatles never performed these songs live, you can’t find a live video of them performing stuff from this album. Although, Ringo and Paul would end up singing these songs as part of their solo sets. 
Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite is a fun song that John Lennon wrote as inspiration after he obtained a 19th Century poster and quoted the acts on the poster almost word for word. I always enjoyed this song for the playful circus atmosphere.

For the benefit of Mr. Kite
There will be a show tonight on trampoline
The Hendersons will all be there
Late of Pablo Fanques' fair, what a scene
Over men and horses hoops and garters
Lastly through a hogshead of real fire
In this way Mr. K will challenge the world
The celebrated Mr. K
Performs his feats on Saturday at Bishopsgate
The Hendersons will dance and sing
As Mr. Kite flies through the ring, don't be late
Messrs K. and H. assure the public
Their production will be second to none
And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz
The band begins at ten to six
When Mr. K performs his tricks without a sound
And Mr. H will demonstrate
Ten somersets he'll undertake on solid ground
Having been some days in preparation
A splendid time is guaranteed for all
And tonight Mr. Kite is topping the bill

a performance from the Beatles Rock Band video game

The opening of Side Two is a George Harrison song entitled Within Without You. When I first heard this, I didn’t get it. For my middle of the road/mid Nebraska upbringing, this was a weird sounding song and I just chalked it up to some kind of Eastern sounding drug induced song and I wanted nothing to do with it. Years later, my brother would use the sitar drenched intro as the backing music for a message on the family answering machine. He even supplied the Maharishi imitation. I still laugh about that one.
Lennon & McCartney are now heralded as one of the greatest songwriting teams of the 20th century along with such noted tunesmiths like Rodgers & Hammerstein. In fact, Paul has said that as songwriters they had aimed to write songs for the likes of Frank Sinatra. When I’m Sixty-Four is one of those songs that Paul says was a song that he kind of aimed as a Rodgers & Hammerstein type of song.  When the first edition of Trivial Pursuit came out in the 80’s, I remember playing with the family and one of the questions was “What is the name of the 3 ‘grandchildren on your knee’ in the song When I’m Sixty-four?”  Even then as a Beatles’ trivia buff, I remember struggling to come up with the lyric. The answer: “Vera, Chuck and Dave”
I’ve always loved the next track called Lovely Rita.  I loved the harmonies. I loved to play along to the very simplistic drum fills that Ringo plays on the song and the ability to rhyme Lovely Rita, Meter Maid always amused me.

Since 2014 is the 50th anniversary of Beatles arrival in the United States, I took it upon myself to educate my (almost) 10 year old son about the historical significance of the event. So, he’s been listening to a lot of Beatles with his daddy lately. This past Sunday, I woke up in a bit of a grumpy mood. We jumped in the car and I said “I need some music to put me in a happy mood.” Before I finished my sentence, he answered exuberantly “THE BEATLES!!”   and I put on Sgt Pepper.  Very soon thereafter Lovely Rita had been ringing through our ears and he was singing it in the car, the store, the bathroom. “Dad, I can’t get that song out of my head!”  I pat myself on the back for planting another musical seed in his head.
From there is yet another up tempo sing-along with Good Morning Good Morning.  This past year before I moved closer to my son, I was working at a job in Central Nebraska where I didn’t want to be and the lyric from this song rang in my head on my daily commute to work.

Going to work…don’t wanna go feeling low down

The continuing love of the Beatles and the Sgt Pepper album have continued with my son from week to week. This past week, I dialed it up on my mp3 player and we drove in the car and just sang our hearts out to the songs once again and then we got to the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band – Reprise. 

My son and I were all smiles and we sang out loud. There were cars passing us and just looking at the sight of this man and his son singing and smiling.  For years, I’ve loved listening to all of the Beatles’ albums. There’s always something intriguing for me. At times, I had grown a bit tired of it. I put it away and I don’t listen to it for a few months or a few years. Then, I pull it back it out and see how this music touches my son and it lights him up and all of sudden we’ve created a brand new father/son moment and memory that will be eternally special to the two of us. As I was winding down on this blog, a friend of mine reminded me of a recording of John Lennon and his son Sean singing “A Little Help From My Friends”.

This is such a fantastic father/son moment that I can truly relate to as I’ve sang these songs with my son and I used to sing John’s Beautiful Boy to my son Joe as a lullaby. 
The album winds up with A Day in the Life. This has always been a song that many talk about the complexity of the composition. It’s been said that John wrote the parts of “I read the news today Oh boy!” and Paul wrote the “Made my way upstairs and drank a cup. Somebody spoke and I went into a dream”. Then the wind up and build up of the music and the sound of an alarm clock to signal the next part of the song. Alarm clocks have been used as part of musical soundscape since then. But, had it been used before? Years ago, I found a live version that Sting had done with his band and it was refreshing to see a band conquer it in a live sense.

I have been writing the blog for weeks and months and even years. I have talked for so many years about how much I loved the Beatles. My friends realize that. My family realizes that. As I drove across town, I thought about the memories this album has generated for me. I listened to the music of this album from various artists who obviously found a connection to it.  I discovered this music as a boy and grew to love it.  After seeing Paul McCartney live in 1993, I was listening to a lot of Beatles on a road trip with my brother. So, I have precious memories sharing this album with him. Now, in 2014, I have memories of sharing the music, the songs and the smiles with my son which just warms my heart and takes this music to another special memory in my life.
Is this an important album in the history of musicians, Rock n’ Roll and 20th Century culture? ABSOLUTELY!  According to BM in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,

Because its boundary-pushing was matched by scintillating songwriting. From McCartney’s rousing opener through Lennon’s kaleidoscopic ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ to the duo’s astonishing ‘Day in the Life’, every one is a gem.

But, for me, it has become something more personal that some kind of cultural and musical cornerstone. This is something I’ve shared with friends, musicians, fans and now a new generation through my son that touches me on a deeper emotional level.  Thank you for reading and helping me “Get by with a little help from my friends”. I hope you enjoyed this read. Because as they say in Day in the Life… “I love to turn you on!”