Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Buy Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on CD, on stereo vinyl, or on mono vinyl

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After five years of constant touring, recording, and massive media attention, the Beatles decided focus their attention on the studio and expanding their music. With that, they entered the Abbey Road Studios in November of 1966 and spent the next 129 days making arguably the most creative album in rock history. The kind of work put into Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was unheard of at the time. One tally of the total time spent surpassed 700 hours. By contrast, the group’s first album, Please Please Me, was recorded in 585 minutes.

Considered one of the greatest albums in rock history, and one that changed the world, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band showed the band’s flair for writing and imagination. Paul came up with the title and concept: an old-fashioned band playing a concert in “the summer of love.” The incredibly varied sound effects and recording techniques left a mark on pop/rock music that is even still felt today. The US version was almost identical as the UK version – except that the “inner groove” track was not included and the disc was banded were as the British version was not. The album won Grammys for Album Of The Year, Best Contemporary Album, Best Album Cover, and Best Engineered (Non-Classical) Recording. Re-released as a picture disc in 1978 in the US in conjunction with the “Sgt. Pepper’s” movie starring the Bee Gees.

George’s dissatisfaction

Sgt. Pepper’s marked the beginning of George’s pronounced dissatisfaction with the direction the group was moving in, particularly with Paul.

I felt we were just in the studio to make the next record, and Paul was going on about this idea of some fictitious band. That side of it didn’t really interest me, other that the title song and the album cover.

It was becoming difficult for me, because I wasn’t really that into it. Up to that time, we had recorded more like a band; we would learn the songs and then play them (although we were starting to do overdubs, and had done a lot on Revolver). Sgt Pepper was the one album where things were done slightly differently. A lot of the time it ended up with just Paul playing the piano and Ringo keeping the tempo, and we weren’t allowed to play as a band so much. It became an assembly process – just little parts and then overdubbing – and for me it became a bit tiring and a bit boring. I had a few moments in there that I enjoyed, but generally I didn’t really like making the album much.

I’d just got back from India, and my heart was still out there. After what had happened in 1966, everything else seemed like hard work. It was a job, like doing something I didn’t really want to do, and I was losing interest in being ‘fab’ at that point. – George Harrison

The 8 track variation

The 8 track edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band features a longer edit of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), created to fill more of the tape and “even out” the recording sides. At about 1:15, where Paul’s “Woo!” is heard, the previous 15 seconds are replayed and that “Woo!” is heard again before the song completes. This only appears on the 8 track edition.

Censorship in South Korea

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band didn’t see release in South Korea until 1977, ten years after its original release. The album was heavily censored, with the entire audience photo collage behind the band and the surrounding souvenirs and other objects all removed and replaced with a black background. Two songs were removed for their perceived drug themes: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and A Day In The Life.

Track list

Side A

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She’s Leaving Home
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!

Side B

1. Within You, Without You
2. When I’m Sixty-Four
3. Lovely Rita
4. Good Morning, Good Morning
5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
6. A Day In The Life

Brian Epstein’s bag idea

At one point, manager Brian Epstein had suggested the possibility of releasing the album in a brown paper bag.

“Brian Epstein also didn’t like Paul’s idea for the cover, and early in 1967, while negotiations were going on, he was due to fly back to London from New York. Epstein was very superstitious, and was convinced that the plane would crash and that he would be killed, so before boarding the aircraft he wrote a note on a scrap of paper which he gave to Nat Weiss, his New York attorney. The note read “Brown paper Jackets for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band (album).” – George Martin

The recording process

The songs for the album were recorded in the following order:

1. When I’m Sixty-Four (12/6/66)
2. A Day In The Life (1/19/67)
3. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (2/1/67)
4. Good Morning, Good Morning (2/8/67)
5. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! (2/17/67)
6. Fixing A Hole (2/21/67)
7. Lovely Rita (2/23/67)
8. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (3/1/67)
9. Getting Better (3/9/67)
10. She’s Leaving Home (3/17/67)
11. Within You, Without You (3/22/67)
12. With A Little Help From My Friends (3/29/67)
13. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (4/1/67)

Also, the songs Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were recorded during the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions and were released as a single in December of 1966. The song Only A Northern Song from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack was also recorded at this time.

The Pete Best connection

John Lennon approached former drummer Pete Best’s mother Mona asking if he could borrow her father’s war medals to wear in the cover photos. Although still upset over Pete’s firing from the band, she still agreed and also provided the Cash Box trophy which appeared next to the letter “L” in the floral arrangement that spells out “THE BEATLES” (see #79 below).

Complete list of people and objects appearing on the cover

1. Sri Yukteswar Gigi (guru)
2. Aleister Crowley (dabbler in sex, drugs and magic)
3. Mae West (actress)
4. Lenny Bruce (comic)
5. Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer)
6. W.C. Fields (comic)
7. Carl Gustav Jung (psychologist)
8. Edgar Allen Poe (writer)
9. Fred Astaire (actor)
10. Richard Merkin (artist)
11. The Varga Girl (by artist Alberto Vargas)
12. Leo Gorcey (Painted out because he requested a fee)
13. Huntz Hall (actor one of the Bowery Boys)
14. Simon Rodia (creator of Watts Towers)
15. Bob Dylan (musician)
16. Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)
17. Sir Robert Peel (politician)
18. Aldous Huxley (writer)
19. Dylan Thomas (poet)
20. Terry Southern (writer)
21. Dion (di Mucci)(singer)
22. Tony Curtiss (actor)
23. Wallace Berman (artist)
24. Tommy Handley (comic)
25. Marilyn Monroe (actress)
26. William Burroughs (writer)
27. Sri Mahavatara Babaji(guru)
28. Stan Laurel (comic)
29. Richard Lindner (artist)
30. Oliver Hardy (comic)
31. Karl Marx (philosopher/socialist)
32. H.G. Wells (writer)
33. Sri Paramahansa Yogananda (guru)
34. Anonymous (wax hairdresser’s dummy)
35. Stuart Sutcliffe (artist/former Beatle)
36. Anonymous (wax hairdresser’s dummy)
37. Max Miller (comic)
38. The Pretty Girl (by artist George Petty)
39. Marlon Brando (actor)
40. Tom Mix (actor)
41. Oscar Wilde (writer)
42. Tyrone Power (actor)
43. Larry Bell (artist)
44. Dr. David Livingston (missionary/explorer)
45. Johnny Weissmuller (swimmer/actor)
46. Stephen Crane (writer)
47. Issy Bonn (comic)
48. George Bernard Shaw (writer)
49. H.C. Westermann (sculptor)
50. Albert Stubbins (soccer player)
51. Sri lahiri Mahasaya (guru)
52. Lewis Carrol (writer)
53. T.E. Lawrence (soldier, aka Lawrence of Arabia)
54. Sonny Liston (boxer)
55. The Pretty Girl (by artist George Petty)
56. Wax model of George Harrison
57. Wax model of John Lennon
58. Shirley Temple (child actress)
59. Wax model of Ringo Starr
60. Wax model of Paul McCartney
61. Albert Einstein (physicist)
62. John Lennnon, holding a french horn
63. Ringo Starr, holding a trumpet
64. Paul McCartney, holding a cor anglais
65. George Harrison, holding a flute
66. Bobby Breen (singer)
67. Marlene Dietrich (actress)
68. Mohandas Ghandi (painted out at the request of EMI)
69. Legionaire from the order of the Buffalos
70. Diana Dors (actress)
71. Shirley Temple (child actress)
72. Cloth grandmother-figure by Jann Haworth
73. Cloth figure of Shirley Temple by Haworth
74. Mexican candlestick
75. Television set
76. Stone figure of girl
77. Stone figure
78. Statue from John Lennon’s house
79. Trophy
80. Four-armed Indian Doll
81. Drum skin, designed by Joe Ephgrave
82. Hookah (water tobacco-pipe)
83. Velvet snake
84. Japanese stone figure
85. Stone figure of Snow White
86. Garden gnome
87. Tuba

See also

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (South Korea, 1977)
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Edition (2017)

Release history

• Parlophone PMC 7027 (mono), released June 1, 1967 (traditional date; actually rush released May 26, 1967)
• Parlophone PCS 7027 (stereo), released June 1, 1967 (traditional date; actually rush released May 26, 1967)
• Capitol MAS 2653, released June 2, 1967
• Capitol SMAS 2653, released June 2, 1967
• Capitol SEAX 11840 (picture disc), released August 1978
• Parlophone PHO 7027 (picture disc), released August 1978
• Mobile Fidelity UHQR 1-100, released September 1982
• Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-100, released June 1983
• Parlophone CDP 7 46442 2 (stereo CD), released June 1, 1987
• Apple 0946 3 82419 2 8 (remastered stereo CD), released September 9, 2009
• Parlophone PMC 7027 (remastered mono CD), released September 9, 2009 in The Beatles In Mono box set

Vinyl back cover

See also

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Singapore, 1970)
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (South Korea, 1977)