Track 1 – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: Such was the impact of this startling song that Jimi Hendrix, a favorite of The Beatles, performed his own unique version of the “Sgt. Pepper” theme live at the Saville Theatre in London on June 4th, 1967 - only three days after the released album reached stores in Britain. Paul (with Jane Asher) and George (with Pattie Boyd) were in the audience of that Brian Epstein-owned Theatre that evening.
“We had an audience laughing on the front of
‘Sgt. Pepper,’” Paul relates in his book “Many Years From Now.” “It had always been one of my favorite moments; I’d listened
to radio a lot as a kid, and there had always been a moment in a radio show,
say with somebody like Tommy Cooper, where he would walk on stage, and he’d say
hello, and they’d laugh, and he’d tell a joke, and they’d laugh, and there
would always be a moment in these things, because it was live radio, where he
wouldn’t say anything, and the audience would laugh. And my imagination
went wild whenever that happened. I thought, ‘What is it? Has he dropped
his trousers? Did he do a funny look?’ I had to know what had made ‘em laugh. It fascinated me so much, and
I’d always remembered that, so when we did ‘Pepper’ there’s one of those laughs
for nothing in there, just where Billy Shears is being introduced they all just
laugh, and you don’t know what the audience has laughed at.” Referring to them
finding the right ‘laugh’ to put into the master tape, Paul remembers: “We sat
through hours of tapes, just giggling, it was just hilarious listening to an
audience laugh. It was a great thing to do actually.”
It took eight attempts, however, to get the
best stereo mix of the song, resulting in Paul’s lead guitar overdub in the
final verse appearing noticeably quieter than the mono mix. The original rhythm
track and Paul’s overdubbed bass guitar was
centered in the mix, Paul’s lead vocal and lead guitar overdub were mixed entirely in the right channel, while
the French horns and harmony vocals in the chorus of the song were mixed
predominantly in the left channel. Oddly enough, the harmony vocals in the
second bridge (“it’s wonderful to be here…”) begins panned entirely in the left channel but then gradually becomes
centered in the mix by the end of the section (“…we’d love to take you home”). By
2:15 am the next morning, everyone was satisfied and the song was considered
complete.
However, a segue needed to be made to
cross-fade the song into the following track, namely “With A Little Help From
My Friends.” The mono cross-fade was created
on April 6th, 1967 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the same EMI team,
interjecting a bit of fans screaming from
The Beatles live recordings at the Hollywood Bowl to mask the edit between the
two songs. The stereo cross-fade was created the following day, April 7th, 1967,
also in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the same EMI team. This time
around, however, the screaming crowd comes in a little sooner, and the segue between the two songs appear smoother.
One other stereo mix was also made of the song, but not until 1998. Being that a new
soundtrack to the movie “Yellow Submarine,” dutifully named “Yellow Submarine
Songtrack,” was being prepared in conjunction with
the film’s restoration and re-release, an engineering team was hired to create
new stereo mixes of the songs in the movie. These engineers, namely Peter
Cobbin, Paul Hicks, Mirek Stiles and Allan Rouse, went back to the original
master tapes to create these mixes – a definite first for the four “Sgt.
Pepper” tracks involved in this project. The excellent results beg the question
why, with current recording technology, hasn’t the entire album been remixed.
Such as big to-do over a last-minute inclusion
for the “Sgt. Pepper” album. Despite the slight drug reference, something The
Beatles had been doing since they mentioned “turns me on” in 1964’s “She’s A
Woman,” the song can easily be admired for its charm. “At once communal and
personal, it’s a song of comfort,” says Ian MacDonald in his book “Revolution
In the Head.” “It was meant as a gesture
of inclusivity: everyone could join in.”
The recording session this day was consumed
entirely by adding overdubs to “With A Little Help From My Friends” and thereby
completing the song. Two sets of background vocals from John, Paul, and George
were overdubbed, the first set being the
question/answer lyrics that filled in the empty gaps in the verses purposely
left by Ringo on the previous session,
these they sung in unison by all three
Beatles. Then, the three of them harmonized some of these lines as well as provided
sporadic harmony vocals on top of Ringo’s vocals, this being the second set of
vocal overdubs. Ringo then added a tambourine overdub,
and George added two guitar overdubs, an additional rhythm guitar for the
entire song and a lead guitar overdub which can be
heard in two places; just before Ringo begins singing
and just after the first refrain. “Ringo sat up in the control room with
us for most of that session,” Emerick explains, “beaming like a proud papa. This was ‘his’ song,
and he was quite interested in its progress, listening intently to every new
overdub."
This bass overdub, along with the tambourine
and the later guitar overdub from George, ended up on “track two” of the master
tape, while the backing vocal overdubs and opening guitar phrase wound up on
tracks three and four. Finally, at 7:30 am the following day, the session, as
well as the song, was completed.
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