S is for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/Strawberry Fields Forever. Well, where do I even begin? Sgt. Pepper is the Beatles album, the album period. Today it is recognized as one of the most influential popular music albums ever made. While I am not normally a fan of psychedelic rock, Sgt. Pepper is something else altogether. It is widely considered one of the first examples of the concept album. I do not know how a true music fan can listen to just parts of the album. You have to listen to the entire thing. Included below is the album in its entirety.
Released 1 June 1967 on Parlophone, it quickly influenced everything – and I mean everything – that came after it on both sides of the Atlantic. To date it has sold 32 million copies worldwide. Within days of the album’s release, Jimi Hendrix learned the title track and performed it live in front of an audience that included Paul McCartney, who was both flattered and impressed.
There is so more I could say about Sgt. Pepper. It is already a huge part of my memories, both childhood and otherwise. I don’t know where the inspiration comes from to write a song like “A Day In The Life.” I’m just glad that it exists in this world.
As much as I could say about Sgt. Pepper, I felt I had to include “Strawberry Fields Forever” too. Released with “Penny Lane” as a single February 1967, it one of John Lennon’s most autobiographical songs with the Beatles. Strawberry Fields refers to a Salvation Army home for children around the corner from John Lennon’s childhood home in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool. Both “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” were originally to be included on Sgt. Pepper.
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Front cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, “probably the most famous album cover in popular musical history”Ashplant Smyth 2001, p. 185. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
