Everything You Wanted (or didn't want) to know About The Album
     
Sgt. Pepper

Wicked Links

All About The Album

Our Inspiration

Not Another George Page

We Love The Beatles

Help

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Assorted Grooviness

Assorted Grooviness II

 
First Impressions...

Let's start off with the cover, shall we?  From looking at the cover you can immediately see that THIS is the mother of all concept albums.  Many people have tried to do a concept album...but none have suceeded as profoundly as this one...There's lots of stuff on the cover...as you can tell...if you do not personally own the album, this page will be quite useful and interesting to you.  If you do well, then just skip over this stuff about the cover and get to more interesting stuff near the bottom.

Ok...to make the first list a "little" shorter let's start off with what is NOT on the cover...Use the diagram below to help...it may be easier to follow than the actual album cover...


WHAT'S not ON THE COVER...

~Right between The Varga Girl [11] and Huntz Hall [13] was supposed to be Leo Gorcey [12] but he was painted out because he requested a fee.

~Between Marlene Dietrich [67] and Legionnaire from the Order of the Buffalos [69] was supposed to be Mohandas Karamchad Ghandi (Indian Leader)[68].  He was painted out at the request of EMI.

EVERYTHING ELSE...

Here's a list of everything else that IS on the cover...use your handy-dandy little diagram for reference...

1.)Sri Yukteswar (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. (William Claude) 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 the artist Alberto Vargas)   13.)Huntz Hall (Actor with Leo Gorcey, one of the Bowery Boys)   14.)Simon Rodia (creator of Watts Towers)   15.) Bob Dylan (musician)   16.)Aubrey Beardsley (illustrator)   17.)Sir Robert Peel   18.)Aldous Huxley (writer)   19.)Dylan Thomas (poet)   20.)Terry Southern (writer)   21.)Dion (di Mucci)(singer)   22.)Tony Curtis (actor)   23.)Wallace Berman (actor)   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. (Herbert George) 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 Petty 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 Livingstone (missionary/explorer)   45.)Johnny Weismuller (swimmer/actor)   46.)Stephen Crane (writer)   47.)Issy Bonn (comic)   48.)George Bernard Shaw (writer)   49.)H.C. (Horace Clifford) Westermann (sculptor)   50.)Albert Stubbins (soccer player)   51.)Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (guru)   52.) Lewis Carrol (writer)   53.)T.E. (Thomas Edward) Lawrence(soldier, a/k/a Lawrence of Arabia)   54.)Sonny Liston (Boxer)   55.)The Petty 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 Lennon, 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)   69.)Legionnaire 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 (child actress) by Jann Haworth   74.)Mexican candlestick   75.)Television set   76.)Stone figure of girl   77.)Stone figure   78.)Statue from John Lennon's house (Also used by Peter Blake as the basis for the cut-out of Sgt. Pepper   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

More about the cover...

~The location for the photo shoot was in Chelsea Manor Studios, Floral Street, London

~The date this photo was taken was Thursday March, 10th, 1967.


Above: Peter Blake's original rough outline of the cover.

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band didn't start out life as a "concept album" but it very soon developed a life of its own.  I remember it warmly, as both a tremendous challenge and a highly rewarding experience.  For me, it was the most innovative, imaginative and trend-setting record of its time."---George Martin

"The Beatles already had a cover designed by a Dutch group called the Fool, but my gallery dealer, Robert Frasier, said to Paul, "Why don't you use a 'fine artist', a professional, to do the cover instead?" Paul rather liked the idea and I was asked to do it.  The concept of the album had already evolved: it would be as though the Beatles were another band, performing a concert.  Paul and John said I should imagine the band had just finished the concert, perhaps in a park.  I then thought that we could have a crown standing behind them, and this developed into the collage idea."---Peter Blake

"The album sleeve was the first to feature printed lyrics, and it was one of the first to have a gatefold sleeve.  It was also the first to have anything other than a plain inner bag too, the first pressing coming in a slightly psychedelic sleeve designed by Simon and Marijke of the Fool.  And we also had a card with the cut-outs, which I had originally planned to be a small packet with badges and pencils and such like.  That was stopped because it would have caused EMI big marketing problems."---Peter Blake

The cut-outs were to be a moustache, a picture card, stripes, badges, and a stand up.

Enough about the cover!...What's on the disc?!?

Below is a track-listing with some facts about each song...some very interesting...some not so interesting but important!

1.) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: Paul

     ~Also available on: Anthology 2

2.) With A Little Help From My Friends

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: Ringo

3.) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: John

     ~Also available on: Anthology 2

     ~Inspiration: The song's title had come about when John's three-year-old son Julian returned home from nursery school with a painting of a girl in his group. John asked him what is was called and Julian replied "It's Lucy, in the sky, with diamonds."

4.) Getting Better

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: Paul

     ~Inspiration: "I was walking with Paul McCartney on Primrose Hill one lovely spring day, and he was with Martha, his big English sheepdog. And we're walking around, and he was looking at the weather, and he said to me, 'It's getting better.' We walked a bit farther, and he said, 'It really is getting better. You've got to admit it's getting better.' And he started singing those two phrases and laughing. By the time we walked back to Paul's house, he'd worked up those few bars of the song." - Hunter Davies (author of the official Beatles biography), from The Beatles: From Yesterday to Today

5.) Fixing A Hole

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: Paul

6.) She's Leaving Home

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: Paul

7.) Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: John

     ~Also available on: Anthology 2

     ~Inspiration: John's lyric for this song derived almost entirely from a poster advertising a circus near Rochdale, Lancashire, in February 1843, which he had bought in a Sevenoaks antique shop on 31 January [1967], while there for the shooting of the 'Strawberry Fields Forever' promotional film.

8.) Within You Without You

     ~Written by: Harrison

     ~Lead vocal: George

     ~Also available on: Anthology 2

9.) When I'm Sixty-Four

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: Paul

10.)Lovely Rita

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead vocal: Paul

     ~Inspiration: "There was a story in the paper about 'Lovely Rita', the meter maid. She'd just retired as a traffic warden. The phrase 'meter maid' was so American that it appealed, and to me a 'maid' was always a little sexy thing..." ---Paul

11.) Good Morning Good Morning

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead Vocal: John

     ~Available on: Anthology 2

     ~Inspiration:The title was inspired by a Kellog's Cornflakes commercial.

12.)Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

13.) A Day In The Life

     ~Written by: Lennon/McCartney

     ~Lead Vocal: John & Paul

     ~Available on: Anthology 2

Because of all these neat things, if you analyze it all, Paul is Dead...or is he? How did some come to this conclusion...well let me tell you!

Cover Clues...

~The standing crowd is supposedly attending a funeral for the name spelled out in flowers on a freshly dug grave.

~The yellow flowers are in the shape of a bass guitar, which Paul plays, and there are 3 strings on the guitar symbolizing the three remaining Beatles.

~The doll on the right is wearing a shirt with red stripes (symbolizing blood) and she has in her lap a white car very similar to the one Paul was driving.

~Below the "T" in Beatles is a figuring of Lord Shiva (the destroyer) whose hands point to Paul.

~Paul is the only Beatle holding a black instrument.  The color black is associated with death.

An Interactive Clue...

~take a small mirror and hold it perpendicular to the cover, split "LONELY HEARTS" in half and read what it says on both the cd and the cover...1 ONE 1 X  HE DIE...this is a reference to the three remaining Beatles...1 ONE 1 = 3...The 'X' crosses out Paul since he is dead...and the arrow between 'HE' and 'DIE' points directly at Paul!...freaky huh?

Gatefold Clues...

~All The Beatles are sitting in front of the camera and on Paul's arm there is a patch that reads "O.P.D."  "O.P.D." stands for 'officially pronounced dead'. (in the cd booklet this picture is on pages 10-11)

Back Cover Clues...

~On the back of the album (pages 14-15 of the cd booklet) there is a picture of all 4 Beatles standing.  All except Paul are facing the camera, this is to signify that Paul is an imposter.

~With the exception of Rngo all of the Beatles are the same height.  Paul is noticeably taller than both John and George.

~George's thumb is pointing to the line of song "Wednesday morning at 5 o' clock", the time at which Paul "died". (The back of the Album cover has all of the lyrics to every song.  In the cd booklet George is beside the lyrics to "Getting Better" instead of "She's Leaving Home".)

More Clues In The Lyrics...

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: "Let me introduce you to the one and only Billy Shears,"

  • Meaning---William (Billy) Campbell is being introduced to the public.  This has also been interpreted as 'Billy's Here'.

She's Leaving Home: "Wednesday morning at 5 o' clock,"

  • Meaning---This is the supposed time of Paul's car crash when he died.

Lovely Rita: "...standing by a parking meter, when I caught a glimpse of Rita."

  • Meaning---Paul was looking at Rita (the girl) instead of the road.

Good Morning Good Morning: "Nothing to do to save his life,...You're on your own, you're in the street..."  "People running around it's 5 o' clock,"  "Watching the skirts you start to flirt, now you're in gear..."

  • Meaning---No one could save Paul's life because he was in the street (ejected from the car).  Also another reference to 5 o' clock (the time Paul died). And everyone is running around trying to help.  Also he was "watching the skirts" or looking at Rita instead of the road while driving because he was still "in gear".

A Day In The Life: "He blew his mind out in a car, he didn't notice that the lights had changed..."

  • Meaning---He died in the car because he wasn't paying attention. (He was too busy looking at Rita.)