There were two songs were originally recorded for inclusion on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP. Because EMI was itchy to put out a single, and because the label had a strict policy against re-releasing singles as album cuts, these two songs were put out before the album was finished. Both songs were strong and Lennon and McCartney each lobbied hard to have their own song listed as the "A-Side." The eventual compromise was to release both as a double A-side. It quickly went to number 1.
Both songs deal with their respective authors' childhood experiences. In John Lennon's piece, Strawberry Fields Forever, we are drawn into a world that is somewhat confusing, complex and vaguely sad. Through archival recordings we saw the development of the song from original demos to studio takes. Ultimately, a take of the band performing the song was joined to one featuring an arrangement of drums, celli and trumpets, despite the fact they were originally recorded at different tempos and keys! The fake fadeout is followed by a psychedelic reprise featuring a loop of flutes and a distorted lead (is it guitar? trumpets? both?). In the final fade out, we hear a slowed-down voice saying "I buried Paul." (or was it "cranberry sauce"?)
Penny Lane was Paul McCartney's composition. It's a light, third-person account of a strange and wonderful place from his childhood Liverpool. The song is catchy and full of sound effects and unusual instruments. Chief among these is the solo piccolo trumpet, which is pitched an octave above the standard trumpet. Though many odd things seem to be happening in the song's narrative, it is clear that Paul's experience was a happy one overall.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sets the tone for this quasi-concept album. After years of being Beatles, the band tried to reinvent itself as a new act. They even went so far as to stage their own funeral on the album cover! Here, we hear the concert begin, complete with tuning up and audience response.
In Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, The Beatles are at their psychedelic best, exploring novel timbres and freely shifting time signatures to put the listener in an unfamiliar sonic landscape. John Lennon's vocal was recorded at a slower tempo and sped up during playback to give it a lighter, childlike wonderment. Careful use of Reverberation and Delay are used at different times to shift the listener from fantasy to fantasy.
In Getting Better, we see a rare later collaboration between Lennon and McCartney, with Lennon contributing the third verse. This song is less about arriving at contentment as it is about heading in the right direction.
1) What musical figures or devices are helping to convey the strong emotion of the song?
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite is notable for its use of tape editing. According to legend, session assistants were sent out to find recordings of carousel calliopes (steam organs). These were cut into one-foot segments, literally thrown up into the air and reassembled in whatever random order they happened to fall into. Some of the segments ended up forward, some reversed. The reassembled tapes were then mixed into the background during the instrumental sections of the song. Note the instrumental choices are dead-on, capturing the seedy circus atmosphere perfectly—you can see the parade rolling into town and the carney barker pitching the show to the townspeople over his megaphone.
2) What feeling or emotion do the calliope fragments create for you?
At the end of the concert, we hear Sgt. Pepper's again, only this time the playing is a bit more muscular and stripped down. This version almost has a punk æsthetic in its tempo and starkness. After ending the show, the band returns for its encore, A Day in the Life.
In this masterful recording, one of the Beatles' very best, we see a different type of collaboration between Lennon and McCartney. McCartney contributes a fragment to the song's middle section. Even though the ideas were independently composed, they work perfectly together such that it is hard to imagine one section without the other. This type of writing would spawn the medley at the end of the band's final album, Abbey Road, and works by other artists, such as Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen.
We hear John Lennon singing unaffectedly about stories in the newspaper, including one about the death of someone he knows. Even though this story should have more impact, it's lost in the banality of daily life. Lennon says "I'd love to turn turn you on, and the music gradually drifts into a reverberant haze of orchestral dissonance, reaching a crashing climax. We then hear McCartney's claustrophobic and chipper ditty about getting up and going to work—again the mundane details of daily life. After we hear "Somebody spoke and I went into a dream" we jump to an expansive orchestral section cycling down the cycle of fifths and then back to Lennon's final comment about counting holes (i.e., the absence of substance). The song ends with a reprise of the dissonant orchestra climbing, followed by a crashing :42 piano chord. The overall effect is quite heavy.
3) How do you interpret the meaning of the middle section of the song? What is the relationship, if any, between the two narratives? What evidence do you have to support your opinions?
We also heard two versions of The Long and Winding Road, from 1970's Let It Be, and from the 2003 release, Let It Be... Naked. It seemed like a good idea on paper to put a recording studio inside a film stage and make a movie about making a record. Only problem was the relationships between band members by January 1969 were already under a lot stress; having the experience recorded on camera only intensified the band's problems. To further complicate things, producer George Martin was not part of the project to help shepherd the recordings along.
It was nothing short of a disaster. The project, originally entitled "Get Back," was intended to refocus the music on the band's performance abilities; when the rubber hit the road, however, the performances were lackluster. By the end, it became the project nobody wanted to finish and it was shelved.
The record was handed off to engineer Glyn Johns to rescue but the band didn't feel either of his two efforts was up to standards. Eventually, the project ended up in the hands of the reclusive Phil Spector, best known for his "wall of sound" production of girl groups the Ronnettes and the Crystals, as well as hits by The Righteous Brothers and Ike & Tina Turner. Phil took the tapes and built them up with loads of strings, brass, choirs, and tons of reverb.
A lot of fans felt the resulting album was overproduced and blamed Spector for ruining it. All of the controversy has left the lingering question "what if the record had been put out without the extra production?"
In 2003, that question was answered with the release of the album, Let It Be... Naked. Modern technology was used to clean up the tracks and the resulting record does show off the band's performances in a good light. The record also sounds much warmer and more intimate than the original—you really feel like you're in the room with the band.
Interesting side drama: Phil has had a long fascination with firearms. Currently, Phil stands accused of the shooting death of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson. Read up on the latest sordid details of Spector's murder trial.