Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)
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"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is a song by the Beatles written by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon-McCartney, and first released as the opening track on the album of the same name.
McCartney conceived a concept in which the entire album would be role-played, with each Beatle assuming an alter-ego in the Lonely Hearts Club Band, who in turn would perform a concert in front of an audience. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" introduces the band and thus introduces the concept.[1] Though the concept was later abandoned, its remnants help to give the album some of its originality.
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[edit] Song structure
On the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the song opens to the sound of chatter in an audience, and instruments tuning. (The sound of the band warming up comes from the 10 February orchestra session for "A Day in the Life".)[2] When the song itself begins, the band introduces itself with the lead singer revving up the crowd. The song's structure is:
- Verse
- Bridge (Instrumental)
- Refrain
- Bridge
- Verse
- Instrumental Bridge and Transition into "With a Little Help from My Friends".
The instrumental sections are made up of a French horn quartet that lends the song the feeling of a home-town band.
[edit] Reprise
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" is a reprise of the song at a faster tempo. While the opening track stays in G (except for a chord in C and the "It's wonderful to be here" section in F), the reprise starts in F and modulates back to G. The track opens with a distorted guitar strumming a Hendrix chord (augmented ninth).
The idea for a reprise was conceived by the Beatles' road manager, Neil Aspinall,[3] who thought that as there was a "welcome song", there should be a "goodbye song". The song contains the same melody as the opening version, but with different lyrics. At 1:18, it was one of their shortest songs. (The shortest is "Her Majesty" at 0:23.)
The reprise was recorded on 1 April 1967, a month after the full version that opens the album.[4]
The sound of a chicken clucking at the very end of "Good Morning Good Morning" (the immediately preceding track) fortuitously mixed perfectly with the opening distortion guitar (that is, its pitch matched that of the guitar). At the end of the track, applause simulates a live performance and leads into the final track of the album, "A Day in the Life".
[edit] 1978 release
When the Beatles' recording contract with EMI expired in 1976, EMI was free to re-release music from the Beatle catalogue. At one point in 1976 there were 23 Beatles singles in the UK top 100. In 1978, 11 years after the original album release, EMI released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from My Friends" as the A-side of a single with "A Day in the Life" as the B-side. The single was released on Capitol in the U.S. on 14 August and on Parlophone in the UK in September.[5] The single releases closely followed the 24 July, 1978 U.S.A. release of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film.[6]
| Country | Chart | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Music Week | 63[7] |
| USA | Billboard Hot 100 | 71[8] |
| USA | Cashbox | 92[9] |
| USA | Record World | 103[10] |
[edit] Mal Evans claimed writing credit
According to Mal Evans' diaries—from which extracts have recently been released—he helped McCartney write the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" song. Evans wrote in his diary, on 27 January 1967:
| “ | Sgt Pepper: Started writing song with Paul upstairs in his room, he on piano. What can one say about today — ah yes! Four Tops concert at Albert Hall. Beatles get screams they get the clap. Off to Bag after gig. Did a lot more of "where the rain comes in". [Evans' title for "Fixing a Hole"] Hope people like it. Started Sergeant Pepper.[11] | ” |
He also wrote on 1 February 1967:
| “ | "Sergeant Pepper" sounds good. Paul tells me that I will get royalties on the song — great news, now perhaps a new home.[11] | ” |
According to TIMESONLINE:
| “ | "Keith Badman, author of The Beatles Off the Record, said he had obtained a tape of Evans talking months before his death in which he repeated the claims. 'Mal said he was asked if he minded if they did not put his name on the song because Lennon-McCartney was a really hot item,' said Badman."[12] | ” |
Evans never received royalties and had to make do with his £38-a-week wage. McCartney and Apple Records have not commented about the diaries or the songwriting credits.[12]
[edit] Other versions
[edit] McCartney live versions
McCartney played "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" live on his world tour that began in September 1989 and on subsequent tours. His live version has a much harder rock sound with a lot of distortion. During the part where "With a Little Help from My Friends" enters, there's a lengthy guitar solo between Paul and guitarist Robbie McIntosh. After the solo, the song ends with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)".
[edit] 2005 Live 8 version
Paul McCartney and U2 played the song at the start of a Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London on July 2, 2005. The song, starting with "It was twenty years ago" was chosen amongst others to commemorate that Live 8 took place approximately twenty years after Live Aid. The single was released for charity on iTunes within 45 minutes, setting a world record for fastest release of a single[13] It reached number one on the UK download chart. Since then, U2 have sometimes played portions of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and "Here Comes the Sun" or "Blackbird" during live performances of their song Beautiful Day.
[edit] LOVE
In 2006, the song was rereleased on the album LOVE. The updated version opens with the orchestral arrangement from Hey Jude, leading into the guitar part. The song also closes with a fade out, instead of entering A Day in the Life like the 1967 version.
[edit] Track listing
- Digital download released July 3, 2005 from recordings made at the Live 8 concert in London
- "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Paul McCartney and U2)
- "The Long and Winding Road"
[edit] Covers
- Jimi Hendrix played the song live three days after it was released. McCartney was in the audience and later said he was honoured.[14] A live version recorded at the Isle of Wight was included on a postumous live album, Hendrix in the West.
[edit] Cultural references
- Apu sang this song while in the company of McCartney and his wife Linda McCartney in an episode of The Simpsons. The album cover is also parodied in the sofa scene in the opening sequence of this episode.
- The song is referenced in the Johnny Rivers hit "Summer Rain".
- The opening drums of this song were sampled for the Beastie Boys track "The Sounds of Science" from their 1989 album Paul's Boutique.
- Manchester (UK) hip hop act the Ruthless Rap Assassins used the break on their track "Law of the Jungle".
[edit] Notes
- ^ Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 303-304. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 101. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, 306.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 95, 107.
- ^ The Beatles Singles and EP Discography. Beatle Tracks. Retrieved on 2007-03-05.
- ^ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978). IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-03-05.
- ^ Bill Harry, (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated. London: Virgin Publishing, 261. ISBN 0-7535-0481-2.
- ^ Mark Wallgren (1982). The Beatles on Record. New York: Simon & Schuster, 123. ISBN 0-671-45682-2.
- ^ Bill Harry, (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated, 271.
- ^ Bill Harry, (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated, 273.
- ^ a b [Mal Evans' Diary Extracts]. TIMESONLINE (2005-03-20). Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
- ^ a b McCartney wrote Sgt Pepper 'with a little help from his roadie friend'. TIMESONLINE (2005-03-20). Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
- ^ Paul McCartney In The 'Guinness Book of Records'. Softpedia. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
- ^ Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, 347.
[edit] External links
- Song-by-Song Listing for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
- Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
