Tag Archives: sgt. pepper’s lonely hearts club band

#779: The Beatles – Lovely Rita

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That’s right. It’s another Beatles song. That’s the way it goes sometimes. There’ll be that rare time when two consecutive songs will be by the same artist/group in this thing. Though this might not have been the case for this particular instance if it happened a few years ago. I really didn’t like ‘Lovely Rita’ for a while. Every time Paul McCartney came in with that ‘Luh-vly Rita, meter maIIIID’ line it was an instant skip. There was something that was too sweet and upbeat that didn’t sit right with me, and its original 1967 mix didn’t do it much favour either. I would much prefer ‘Good Morning Good Morning’ or ‘Fixing a Hole’ to it. But then there came a time when I listened to Sgt. Pepper in full one day and came to really like the song. It’s weird how that can happen.

No one really knows how or why Paul McCartney wrote this song. There is a story that he got a parking ticket from a traffic warden which gave him the inspiration, but he denied it even though he did say that the woman ‘looked like a Rita’ to him. There’s also a theory that he heard the term ‘meter-maid’ for the first time while in America, and just the combination of those words set him off. Whatever the origin is, the result is a throughly enjoyable song. There’s nothing wrong with a very upbeat track once in a while. And while, I guess, I used to solely focus on McCartney’s vocals on there I never paid attention to the fantastic groove that the song is held on thanks to his walking bassline. That’s really the main musical element that should be paid attention to, then everything else falls into place. John Lennon and George Harrison’s backing harmony vocals work wonders and producer extraordinaire George Martin plays the piano solo in the middle. It’s all a very joyous occasion.

Thank goodness that the 50th Anniversary Remix of Sgt. Pepper. was released in 2017. I think there are a lot of people who’ve got rid of the initial 2009 remasters that contained the dated 60s mixes. I’m still so used to them though so I listen to them regularly, though there’s no denying that the reissue is much better. Below is the song’s original stereo mix.

My iPod #459: The Beatles – Good Morning Good Morning

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“Good Morning Good Morning” tends to be the song from Sgt. Pepper that not even Beatles fans really appreciate a lot. Upon listening to the album for the first time in 2009 or so, I found the track to be one of the most likeable ones on there. I don’t want to say that it was simplicity that attracted me to it because the song has quite a complex structure to it, though it’s really the only track on there (apart from the title track’s reprise) which focuses on the four members and their guitars (sort of), bass and drums.

Inspired by a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes advert he saw on the television, John Lennon went on to write the song which can only be described as one of the observational kind in which he describes what he sees going on around him while he’s at work, in the town for a while after finishing the shift, at home for tea and when he’s at a show where he’s able to glance at the girls around him. So the subject matter is not as ‘deep’ on this song as for the majority of the others on Sgt. Pepper, but there musically there are plenty of things about it that hold it up as one of the best ones on there.

It changes its time signature many times. That’s something that still confuses me, and if I were to get all technical about it you would not be able to understand it either. Ringo and Paul own the rhythm section on here. The former playing on a drum kit utilising two bass drums which can be heard in full force during the final minute or so, and whilst playing a sliding bass line which maintains the song’s momentum, Paul showcases his guitar skills by shredding out a soaring guitar solo in the middle. Also, as the song begins to fade out and all the animal noises pan from ear to ear John, Paul, and George jokingly begin to sing in German. What more could you want.

So yeah, “Good Morning Good Morning” deserves more praise than from what I’ve witnessed. Just as important and infectiously catchy.

My iPod #417: The Beatles – Getting Better

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My favourite “Sgt. Pepper” song. No doubt. It’s so cheerful and upbeat. Everything about it sounds so happy. The bouncy, walking bassline. The skipping drum pattern in the verses. The playful switching between Paul’s lead vocal and the child-like backing vocals. Despite the obvious lyrical references to domestic abuse in the bridge, it’s all switched around in the next few lines where the narrator reveals that they’re not that type of person anymore and they are changing their ways. In general it’s a very enjoyable song with a very positive message, and there’s nothing wrong with having tunes like that in your life.

The first time I heard the song, it was not actually The Beatles’ original but a cover by the band Kaiser Chiefs which was done for the album’s 40th anniversary back in 2007. It’s okay. It can’t compare to how The Beatles did it though.

So if you want to be in a good mood, put this track on. You’ll have a smile on your face in no time.

My iPod #374: The Beatles – Fixing a Hole

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It took me a while to fully appreciate “Fixing a Hole”. It didn’t grab me the way that other tracks on “Sgt. Pepper” did. Its stereo mix with the rhythm section and harpsichord in the left channel and George’s sole lead guitar in the right leaves the track feeling very empty, especially compared with every other track on the album. Obviously, I’ve grown to like it more in time otherwise there would be no point to this post.

Being a track that isn’t about anything else than what it says in the title, there’s nothing emotional for the listener to dwell upon. It’s a track to just chill and relax to. I like that kind of music. Reminds me of something played at some late-night jazz/blues lounge-type place, it is that calm of a track.

An underrated Beatles song for sure.

My iPod #248: The Beatles – A Day in the Life

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“A Day in the Life” is the grand finale of The Beatles influential 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Many consider this to be the greatest song the group did, and see it as the pinnacle of the experimentation the four guys had been undertaking during the mid 60s.

2007 was its 40th anniversary, and it was of an immense deal that the cast of Eastenders did a cringeworthy tribute of it for Comic Relief (take some time to think before you go to this) and a whole bunch of other bands (from Stereophonics to The Fray) got together to do a cover album as a tribute too. But it was two years later in 2009, when I first listened to the album and therefore the song. I did not think that it was worth all that fuss. I found out that it was. It’s still not my favourite of theirs though.

In terms of the track… I think I was looked at its article on Wikipedia one time (God knows why) and the overwhelming detail it listed about “A Day” – its background, the dates it was recorded on, the crescendos of the brass, the combination of Lennon and McCartney’s separate song ideas, the almighty piano chord at the end – it made me think I was missing out on a song of epic proportions. I had to listen to it.

Funnily enough, I didn’t care for it so much the first time. I was thirteen. This opinion has changed. It is one of the greatest album closers ever.