The birth of 'Sgt. Pepper' 40 years ago today

Remember the first time you heard Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? May it have been 40 years ago today or last week, The Beatles' 1967 influential album has remained one of the most popular and acclaimed albums becoming the soundtrack for the "summer of love".

On June 1st, 1967, The Beatles
stepped back into the music scene with the release of Sgt. Pepper after they grew tired of touring in late1966 and went into hiding to create their incredible masterpiece.


The four mop-tops that nearly took over the world four the first half of the 1960s had returned almost brand new like butterflies from a cocoon sporting shaggy facial hair, elaborate and colorful clothing and a fresh sound that would forever change the sound of popular music.

Released just in time for the dawn of the hippie era, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band featured 14 tracks of brilliant musicianship and poetry.

With the celebration of the album's 40th anniversary, Sir Paul McCartney has recently revealed the true inspiration for each of the songs. Here is an excerpt from a newKerala.com's article,

Macca reveals that he was the one who came up with the name that introduced the world to the concept album and the gatefold sleeve.

'At the time there were groups called Laughing Joe and his Medicine Band or Col Tucker's Medicinal Brew and Compound. I took the idea back to the guys and said, 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - I've got a little bit of a song cooking with this title,'' the Mirror quoted him, as saying.

The album, he revealed, was in tribute to a police officer called Sergeant Pepper when the group toured Canada in 1965.

The songs of the album also hold their own special meanings.

'With A Little Help From My Friends': The line 'I get high with a little help from my friends' was for may years thought to be a reference to marijuana, but in 1970 John Lennon revealed that it really was about the help friends give each other.

'It's really about a little help from my friends, it's a sincere message,' he said.

'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds': Everyone though that it was a reference to LSD. It was in fact inspired by Lennon's son Julian, who came returned from school one day with a painting he had done.

When Lennon asked him about the painting, Julian replied 'It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds'. Lucy O'Connell was one of his classmates.

'Getting Better': A simple change in weather is what inspired this song. Inspiration struck Macca when he was walking on London's Primrose Hill with close friend and journalist Hunter Davies. Remarking on the weather, Paul said to Hunter that it was 'getting better'.

'Fixing A Hole': Critics initially believed that the word 'fixing' was a reference to heroin, Macca said that it was about his favourite drug marijuana.

'She's Leaving Home': A story about who girl called Melanie Coe who ran away from home published in the Daily Mirror on February 27, 1967, is what inspired this track.

You can read the rest of the article at newKerala.com

And if you don't have this album, GO GET IT!
But don't watch the movie..