BEATLES: Is This The Secret Story Of Sgt. Pepper's?
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2023
- It's often said that the most famous concept album of all time is in fact NOT a concept album.
Often by the Beatles themselves.
But what if IT IS - and it's message was so controversial it had to be hidden?
Want to attempt to decode my album? Here's the link: hargreavesrecords.bigcartel.com/
Many images and videos in my UA-cam content have been found online without any attribution or credit available. In many cases I have therefore not been able to add a credit in the videos themselves due to lack of information. If your image or video has been used and a credit is required, please email me with your details and evidence of authorship and a credit will be added into the video description.
Many thanks, JH.
Hey all, my album (as mentioned in the video) is now out to stream on Spotify, Apple Music & all major streaming sites.
Here's the link for Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/5NSPApLdNss1649W6jiYOk?si=_IYD6tGoTAKZNpqcoFnZSg
Cheers!
JH
Why does Paul's face radically transform from September to December of 1966 when he disappears? How did he '"let his face grow long"?
Sgt. Pepper’s was almost the best Beatles album. I would pick Revolver as the top Beatles album
If y’all haven’t heard James’ output yet, do so! James, I have to say (and I hope that you won’t take offense to this) that “A Mentally Deranged Northern Bastard” made me laugh! And, it’s rocks, to boot!
The 'funny noises' at the end of Lovely Rita take on a whole new context if you think about it this way: Whats happening that the next thing that's said to each other is 'good morning'? The Beatles sneak yet another bit of naughtiness past the censors?
I think there's something else to the end of Good Morning Good Morning since the last ten seconds or so are the sound of a fox hunt in progress. Dare I say we also hear the following (mostly) animals on top - Bird, Pussycat, Hound, Horn, Cockerel. Interesting choices.
Oh, that's right, he was a "Naughty boy".
Unfortunate random ad timings on UA-cam:
“John Lennon said this about the album.”
“Rent an Air BnB now.”
Hahahahaha
And he meant it too
Lol no way….when i put it on I got….
“John Lennon Said…..I am looking for 12 ladies in Altrincham who want to lose weight! “
John said to find what I'm looking for today on Bumble.
I've listened to the album about 300 times but never considered this interpretation. This may change things.Fascinating.Good work.
300 times? I listened to it 300 times the first month I had it.
try were only in it for the money by zappa and the mothers
@Real_g.s wow you're the biggest and best Beatles fan there is.
This may change things. I feel the same.
James, I want to express a very big thank you for your video. I was 15 years old at the time the album was released and for the first time in my life I felt astonished and realized that the music we all knew until then was about to totally change. I fell in love with the album, I used to listen to it almost every day. I am now 71 years old and all the years that passed, I've being listening to it very often and I had always the idea that something was hidden inside the lyrics, but I didn't know what exactly. Then I found your video and I realized that all my question have at last been answered. Then you again, Stefanos (A very big Beatles Fan).
@stefanostsiminis4113 😮 Stefanos ( a very big BEATLES fan) I am so surprised to find your comment! ❤ Why? You might ask, well it’s because this is exactly what happened to me. I love this album! I feel the same way about it. So, I’m amazed that there’s still someone out there who finds this amazing album the way I do. I’m 68 and from this amazing place in the hills and canyons of Sherman Oaks, just over the hills of Hollywood, California. Great comment! Nice 😊 to know that there’s another Beatles fan out there. Willow . Oh, yeah I felt that this was so amazing that I fell in love with an English man and moved to London, England. Wishing you all the best happiness, Beatles fan. 😊 ✌🏻🔆🌻🎵
Don`t forget, they are all freemasons.
I can't imagine how you, a man who lived the time when this masterpiece was released, must feel right now after seeing this video.
As a young little French man who discovered Pepper in 2010 when I was 13, this theory totally blew my mind. It must have blown yours even more ahah!
@@2503MughoThank you very much for all your kind words. I wish you to be always happy with your life, and among other things keep listening Beatles music. Greetings from Athens, Greece.
@@MonsieurRetteImaging that because in Sgt. Pepper's they had included the lyrics on the back cover, it was a cause for me to start learning English language and guitar lessons. I am very happy to know that in the year 2010 a small boy discovered that Wonderfull Album, and after 13 years you feel the same way. Greetings
“New haircuts, psychedelic clothing and a funny name do not make a concept album” sounds like a line from a long lost deleted scene from Spinal Tap. Tremendous video as always.
"does this mean we're not gonna do 'Stonehenge'? "OF COURSE WE'RE NOT GONNA DO FUCKING STONEHENGE"! I couldn't resist doing a line from 'Spinal Tap'. that's as funny (the scene where they have that tiny model of Stonehenge) as Mel Brooks or any great comic.
I don’t think the concept album had been conceptualised before Pepper. The idea of “Concept Album” somehow shares the idea of “Rock Opera”. Ask Ian Anderson, a guy who understands exactly what’s a bloody concept album.
The album “Desperado” by the Eagles is a great concept album no one talks about, but listen from track one to the end, you’ll hear a hell of an American western concept.
@@papadopp3870 Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" is most certainly a concept album. A brilliant one at that.
Elton John's Yellow Brick Road double LP felt like a concept album as did a few other early EJ albums.
The different theories of this album and band arefar ranging. For instance many believe that the real McCartney was killed in the 1966 car crash. And Billy Sheers is indeed William Campbell, the replacement.
Certainly,the idea of She's leaving home ...has a certain ' breaking up the Family unit. Something currently in place today . Plus LSD was a government created drug .Openly distributed to quass the younds Vietnam protests...
So many theories....
Even when I was a child, I always interpreted this album as a drugged-out sound trip. This “Closed Concept” idea feels more accurate than any other theory I’ve heard about this record.
*A Day in the Life explains what’s happening on the cover art. The “Dog Whistle” ending is an embodiment of musical sensory distortion.*
Awesome video! There’s so many mysterious things involved with this album, and that’s what makes art last.
A day in the life is about stories from a newspaper, the Guinness heir in a car crash, the report of 4000 holes in Blackburn roads. A day in the life was a column in the mail or mirror at that time I believe.
@@johngriffiths6742h
@@johngriffiths6742you really think that’s all it’s about?
"And tho the holes were rather small " .... in the movie Yellow Submarine, the "holes" are needle holes ... as in junkie ... imo of course lol
@JJJJJVVVVVLLLLL yes, Lennon used to write at his piano with copies of newspapers around, "Good Morning, Good Morning" is another example. In fact, Lennon wrote the song "Glass Onion" for the White Album about people who looked far too deep into songs for messages that aren't there!!
John: "God, it kills me."
George: "Bang bang bang bang bang."
Holy shit. They predicted John's death.
It was Pauls. They never got over losing him in a car crash in 66. The other guy is an imposter.
The worst kept secret in the history of music.
I know what the best kept secret is, Rod Stewart likes young men 😉
SHES LEAVING HOME.
The Beatles appeared on READY STEADY GO. While in the studio Keith Fordyce asked Paul to judge 4 girls miming to the song JUMP THE BROOMSTICK. The girl he Choose won some albums. Many years late Paul read a story in the newspaper of a girl leaving home and wanted to move in, with her boyfriend. Paul loved this story. So he wrote a song about the newspaper story.
SHES LEAVING HOME.
The strange thing was the girl in the newspaper story. Happened to be the same girl he Choose in
READY STEADY GO. So strange.
The girl has passed away now.
Wow this was pretty brilliant and entertaining. It's like experiencing the album all over again. There's something about learning the code to something that has been right in front of you forever and now you finally see it .
Great analysis! I'm surprised you missed another 'resonance' in regard to "Now you know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall" : earlier we had the song "Fixing A Hole" and how the hole is metaphoric for not just for what is broken, but, according to your anecdote, the hole is also something seen (but is ineffable), by Paul while tripping ... which also ties into "What do you see when you turn out the lights [i.e. turn on]: I can't tell you but I know it's mine" [the ineffable hole]. Albert Hall is a concert venue - and if it were filled with turned-on listeners (not just arseholes) it certainly would be a happy trippy place to be. "I'd love to turn you on." is, of course, the next line. Also, a hole is basically a circle - and if the 'circle' was central to Paul's formulation of his concept, then I think all this fits in nicely.
mind blown
The phrase "newspaper taxis appear on the shore, waiting to take you away. Clinb in the back with your head in the clouds, and you're gone. " is a clear warning to users that the police will arrest you if you're too high.
This was really thought-provoking. To me, the run-out groove sounds like "I never could SEE any other way". That fits the theme even better. Before LSD he never could see what he sees now.
I think Billy Shears was a joking reference to Ringo because when asked what he would be if he wasn't a Beatle he said he would own a hairdressing salon. A hairdresser uses shears.
Billy's HERE
@@user-fu2mi1nd5l🤣
Barry Wom also wanted to be two hairdressers 😊
@@user-fu2mi1nd5lthat can't be a coincidence...
James Paul McCartney died in car crash on September 11 1966 and was replaced by William (Billy). This is the truth no matter what.
The songs for Pepper were written as individual tracks with no intended connection, but they can be used as pieces of a classic ' hero's journey' narrative, and that narrative is obviously that freeing yourself from the shackles of the ordinary, conventional, traditional, and closed mindedness, through spiritual rebirth, emotional reallignment, and social reclassification, you will have a more fullfilling life. With a little help from people and things, It wont be perfect, but it will be better. And that is also basically the main 'lesson' of psychedelic experiences, and of a million mythological archetypical tales throughout history.
Same for US Rubber Soul, made into a folk-rock love story via clever selection and ordering of the songs.
I think this would have come out by now, Paul would want everyone to know
@@calvinguile1315 he’s literally starting off by saying “with no intended connection”, so there’s nothing to ‘come out’ that wasn’t there to begin with. The point of his message is that you, the listener, can use it as a story.
@@GBOAC oh yeah, I got that, I was just saying, if that was really the story, how could, or why would, they keep it secret for so long
You can put any number of songs together and claim to have a mythical thingy. If you're daft.
There is meaning behind the songs- and its all in good fun!
They never took themselves too seriously. 🎉
Especially on Lucy!
i think theres a simple solution . the old story of paul dying and being replaced . everyone was grieving and new paul was left to make the album .
I've always thought that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was based on Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There. The mystery girl is Alice and Billy Shears is Billy Moon, the nickname of Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh.
If you remember the song, Christopher Robin went down with Alice. There's even a hint in "looking glass ties". And John Lennon was a fan of both books. Alice was even based on stories that Lewis Carroll made up during a boat trip down a river. The Alice books are so weird that they resemble an acid trip. One character, the caterpillar, even smokes a hubble-bubble.
I believe John gave an interview stating that Lucy in the sky was influenced by Alice in Wonderland. I read everything I could find about the Beatles from the sixties until after John died. I never heard the Billy Moon reference. The album was analyzed by all sorts of people as being about drugs, and Fixing and a Hole and Henry the Horse were given hard drug meanings. The Alice stories were analyzed the same way as this video looks for meanings in Beatles songs, for one hundred plus years, but it only proved that people were good at concocting theories, but nobody could prove their theory, and they couldn't all be right.
@@hermanhale9258precisely just look at all the theories about Paul perishing in that car accident and being replaced by mi5 by a perfect doppleganger lol..
@@HerrHeckler The internet Paul is Dead stuff really annoyed me until I thought maybe Paul is behind the more impressive videos because he thinks it is funny and it keeps his name alive to a new generation. (Kind of like "Who Killed Brian Jones?" for the Stones fans.) I just grudgingly started watching "George Harrison tapes reveal Paul Is Dead" (something like that) on odysee or bitchute and I was laughing out loud at the lyrics analyses.
Fun Fact: The first two songs in the Sgt. Peoper sessions were Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. They were due for a single, so they released those two songs as one. Imagine if they were included in Pepper, instead.
Strawberry Fields is awesome, you should listen to it the next chance you get. I'm going to listen to it right now.
I can see Strawberry Fields fitting just after Mr. Kite, and Penny Lane starting off side 2 and segueing into Within You Without You. I can't see them fitting anywhere else. So mmmmmmaybe it's possible. But the decision to leave them off was George Martin's. He said it was the greatest mistake of his life.
Thank you. This has been one of the most hilarious and inventive rabbit holes I’ve journeyed down. I was in college when the Paul is dead phenomenon hit. This puts it to shame. What a fabulous vehicle the human mind is for connecting the dots-whether or not they are real. You make a brilliant case for the secret concept of Sgt. Peppers. No doubt a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
The whole album is about paul is dead coded
Even as a child hearing this, we knew it was about drugs. And relationships. And breaking away from our parents' world. But to be fair, I first heard this in the probably mid-70s in the US, so all of these concepts were relatively out in the open. Mix that in with the movies Yellow Submarine and the ill-thought-out-and-executed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a lot of this doesn't come as a surprise with the individual songs. As a kid, I thought the first part was some sort of show, then some unrelated stuff, then maybe a piece from the show, and then some other stuff. I absolutely love your putting them together. It's truly brilliant. great video!
As millions of other people I’ve been listening to this most wonderful masterpiece of an album ever since I was a little kid and I’ve said many times that it felt like I was on acid without even having to ever do it, this is such an interesting and brilliant take on it here James, thank you.
Ever? You can’t even guess a clue about a trip without having experienced once.... if you made some trips, this feeling is happening..... just like placebo concept.... explain dreaming to a never sleeping man ? See what i mean? But i know that you meant being high just by music.... of course you were... but ....just make a trip, you'll touch what i smell hearing colors
Good art does that. Timeless.
@@caesarborgia4012youre actually insane. ive taken shrooms in my day, but the way you type is very scatterbrained, youre not helping your cause.
Thank you loads for making this video. You seem to have had lots of fun making it and I think that the conclusions you came up with are super interesting and probably accurate. This is my all time favourite album and piece of media in the world and it's an integral part of me as a person. Seeing someone as passionate as you doing it such justice is really inspiring and makes me really happy. Great format too, you've earned a subscription.
Billy’s album
Not a bad debut from ole Billy
I saw George Martin running his "The Making of Sgt Pepper" roadshow conference around the year 2000 - one of the best talk presentations about music I have ever attended! He was around 75 at the time but he seemed to grow twenty years younger as he talked, reminisced and explained how these songs had been shaped and what it had been like working with the Beatles. :) Just as you said in this video, he claimed not to have been aware of how John and Paul were sometimes tripping during the sessions, or how inspired by drugs they were, but honestly I think he *was* aware of some of it, but evading the issue thirty years later - because by that time, drugs had again become a more problematic topic and often a target for moralizing in the media. I figure he didn't want to have to answer questions about that, so in retrospect he feigned to have been unaware of their drug use. Just my two cents.
I suspect you’re right.
I wouldn't be surprised if George Martin used lsd when mixing a lot of the acid era. If not ? maybe some of the sound engineers ? Saying this because it kindve breathed through the speakers . . Just my opinion 👍🏻
I always wish oasis did a concept album akin to this... Very much looking forward to watching this deep dive... Merci James !
I reckon all of the first 3 albums of Oasis are concept albums, James has a video on WTSMG
I think around 1998 Noel was planning on an Oasis concept album with the working title 'Ring Ring', based on the life and work of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell.
(this may not be true)
Oasis made nothing but concept albums. The concept is that their songs are cheap annoying garbage.
@@sub-jec-tiv What music do you like then?
Noel Gallagher did Who Built The Moon. It's a masterpiece ahead of it's time. It's a concept album
You've done much work on this, and I enjoyed viewing it. I'd never considered these concepts before. This is what makes The Beatles' music so unique and special; it's enjoyable on so many levels...it's about life, pushing boundaries, and coming to terms with consciousness.
I think you're right on the money. Only problem I find is that I think you didn't see the first line of good morning as the doctor telling rita that billy has died due to the car crash referenced in Dya In The Life. "Nothing to do to save his life." Perhaps the rest of good morning is a look into billy's life as his marrriage becomes unhappy & he decides to wander the streets, get high from a drug dealer, flirt with a girl & once the high wears off he feels guilt for betraying rita & thus decides to commit suicide by taking acid while he's driving his newly fixed car. (He took the bus while it was out of commision. Plus the motor trade conncection to Billy being a car mechanic.) So knowing this suicide was prompted by betrayal of his wife by flirting while high Billy realizes his drug problem & decides to kill himself in a car crash while on acid to perhaps not feel pain. So add that to it & I actually see a very good closed concept.
That’s a great point re the save his life line
I did miss that
Interesting!
That opening line always makes me think of John's death.
James, great video and I think you are on to something. John said in interviews that Paul was better at hiding his song meanings than people knew. I think an early example is Yesterday. Paul’s brother has told the story of how they learned of their mother’s death. They didn’t even know how sick she was and when their Dad told them she died, Michael says Paul (who was 14) blurted out “what are we going to do without her money”. She had a better job than her husband. He then burst into tears and hid in his room. Look at the lyrics with this story in mind. “Yesterday came suddenly” and “why she had to go/ I don’t know she wouldn’t say/ I said something wrong/ now I long for yesterday”. Notice the woman leaves first and then he says something wrong. And Paul never heard from his mom about how she was dying. I think he was working out his pain and guilt but made sure the lyrics could also be sung as a love lost song as thousands of singers did. If he came out at the time and explained it was about his dead mother, not many people would have covered it. I think that song taught Paul a lot about the power of hidden meanings.
I remember when (though Paul said it was inspired by a dream where his Mum came back, which I don't doubt)), people were saying ,based on lyrics, that Paul wrote 'LET IT BE' as an homage to the Cannabis plant. then I later saw a documentary on contemporary music, where Louis Armstrong, himself a legendary reefer head ,said "I can't get enough of the BEATLES' 'LET IT BE'. it's a little like getting religion again"(paraphrasing). I was temporarily stunned. both these legendary musicians were not shy about their affection for the female plant.
It was very natural for a child to be afraid not only of loosing a parent but loosing financial security. I think it one of the reasons Paul was always willing to work so hard. Literally having the rug pulled out from under him at such an impressionable age. It is sad when it is interrupted as a callous reaction. He then went on to take care of his family with the the money he made. I wish this was emphasized more often.
@@tonym994- Let It Be is 100% based on a dream Paul had about his mother, who’s name was Mary. Got To Get You Into My Life was Paul’s homage to refer.
@@Eyeluvlola The word is * losing * not loosing
Thought it was about Jane Asher?
Really great and interesting video James. Something interesting I thought of regarding the play theory is that when Paul and John were kids, around mid teenage years at the very start of their creative partnership, they attempted to write a play together on John's typewriter. Maybe considering the album was originally meant to be about their Liverpool memories while brainstorming they remembered attempting to write that play together after they just met when they were kids, or if not, it at least shows their interest in plays/a play format
Fu ny you say this: the single was to be about John And Paul's childhood:Pennyln, Strawberry Flds.
The play's the thing, to coin a phrase. I wish. I guess that's why they had to collaborate on the climax of the story. I will always love this album and all the memories it brings to mind listening to it. Back when the music was in the foreground not in the background. Will that ever happen again? Idk
Halfway through and loving this! Fantastic work James!!
Awesome, thank you!
William made quite a grand entrance with this one.
🙄
@@robertbrown7408 Have a look. It's all there. Took me four hours to see the difference.
Bungle Bill
You should look a bit closer at John Lennon as well. Paul is indeed dead, but he's not the only one. It's actually way worse than "Paul is dead". Look at the video for Strawberry Fields Forever. "It's easier to go through life with your eyes closed". "Nothing is real". It keeps showing the fake Paul McCartney every time it says "nothing is real". And you can tell that Billy Shears is absolutely loving getting to play Paul McCartney. Whereas the fake John Lennon always appears dead inside. And likely the reason they killed the fake John Lennon in 1980 was because he was about to reveal the truth. Whereas Billy Shears would never reveal the truth because he could never bear to have to be himself again.
@@AdamCoate (have heard the PID conspiracy theories before, but “John Is Dead”?? *when did original john lennon die, then ? how, & who replaced him (until the replacement was murdered in 1980)...
Makes perfect sense to me... But i imagine there was a great deal of synchronicity and serendipity involved, as there often was with the Beatles creative powers... johns finds a poster for a circus, makes a song out of it, and it fits the narrative or adds to the narrative even, as with Jullian's painting , it sparks the seed, paul gets a parking ticket, and thinks mmm what if she is Lucy, the girl, perfect! John always said people don't understand what beatles music is about, so yeh there were often double deeper meanings...
Good to see that this album still mystifies and fascinates. I've heard some criticism of it from people who weren't even born when it was created. Impossible to convey to them the context, the milieu in which it appeared. I wasn't too sure about your video at first, but ended up quite enjoying it; thanks for the diligent insights. Your breakdown has certainly rejuvenated my appreciation of the album, even though I bought it long ago, soon after its release. There was an intense mystery about it at the time which reverberated, resonated across cultural lines. Even classical music publications spoke glowingly of it. Timothy Leary, and I wish I could remember the quote (and which book he said it in), referred to it as a pivotal point in Western Civilization, a rekindling, a reunification; Peter Fonda said that in that summer everywhere you went the album was being played. It was truly a phenomenon.
What is often overlooked about the 1960s was that a literal religious awakening was occurring, based largely on the LSD experience. And like the early Christians, communications had to be coded because this was a subculture, and the danger of repression from the empire was ever present. The unifying emblem of the Christians was the fish (Pisces), and for the hippies it was the peace symbol, and that seems to go back as far as Celtic times.
You may well have hit on a key here, a continuity that may not have even been fully realized by the Beatles themselves. There will always be an aura of mystery with the Sgt Pepper album, like the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile. It was a masterpiece. There was something in the air then. The same year produced John Wesley Harding, another oft analyzed album. Of course, none of the creators would admit to any message, and Dylan saw close hand the downside of sainthood; he'd never shown interest in being a prophet. They always dismiss the albums as just a collection of songs. And they were. But somehow, there seems to be another, deeper or higher level that intrigues, maybe even beyond what their collective subconsciousness, or unconscious, or whatever, was conspiring to produce. McCartney didn't know the origin of "Yesterday", other than it came from a dream. The same was true with Lennon and "Across the Universe". Dylan doesn't know how he came up with the songs from his early years. Something powerful was in motion, and was moving people, and moving through people. Like a contact high, or religious experience. And love seemed to be key. Call it search for the Holy Grail.
Lovely discussion, James, the sort of thing one hopes for when pondering music narratives this way. As someone who spent five years on a concept album before releasing it, I can tell you it’s a tricky business. The concept can quickly go flat or get lost along the way, or be just too stuck in one’s mind to get out, which is certainly how I tanked mine (although not stopping me from working on my second one right now). I have always wondered about Sgt. Pepper supposedly chucking its concept and questioned it. Your video is a great place to take interest in it again. Many thanks!
Face Dances feels like another closed concept album. Every track sounds like it is a vignette of Townshend’s experiences at the time. Another Tricky Day is a very fitting conclusion to the story. The two Entwistle songs sound like they are about the issues Townshend’s bandmate is negotiating at the time.
Really underrated album. Thanks for the insight
You're absolutely right. The other Kenney Jones album is underrated too - It's Hard. they are certainly better than the first few Who albums and better than anything they did since Entwistle died.@@glowaves
I'm 53 and 'it' still feeds me, still nourishes and defines me ;)
I very much enjoyed this content as well as your other episodes. Thanks for taking me on this journey.
Good luck with the album. Best Wishes. ✌🏻🌟❤️
The first time I heard A Day in the Life I was on my way to school and it came on the radio, the song made me feel...scared? Maybe uneasy would be a better word, but the affect it had on me was so powerful that when I got to school my friend came up to me and immediately asked me what was wrong 😆 no other song has ever had that kind of affect on me...when the heartbeat at the end of Dark Side of the Moon stopped I thought I had died, but that was different, because it was the album as a whole that made me feel that way and I was very high 😆 I literally took a big dramatic breath about 40 seconds after the end of the record when I realized I wasn't breathing, but with A day in the Life I had never touched drugs yet, I had only ever gotten drunk once at that point in my life, I was in Eighth grade. There is no point to this story, thanks for listening
That's fascinating
Thank you for sharing. Wild
Thank you so much for this. You have conceptualized and put into words what I have been feeling since 1967. Your vision of this is more detailed and complete than mine but everything you said resonates with what I have felt and believed since Pepper came out.
My God this is BRILLIANT!!! You have decoded Sgt. Pepper in this video and I am blown away how much sense you make here. I will never listen to this LP the same way ever again. The 4,000 holes are likely graves? I hear the first line of Good Morning Good Morning as a doctor who has just pronounced someone dead and us asked the nurse to bring the wife in for the bad news. So, I think Billy being pronounced dead is the beginning of the 3rd act with the song describing the events leading up to Billy getting in the car for his last drive. I give you a stand ovation on your analysis!
Well done, amigo! I bought “Meet the Beatles” when I was 10. They’re a soundtrack for a lifetime, and I feel blessedly grateful. Given the high THCa flower and the Aminita muscaria gummies, I marvel at being able to write this.
This is so nicely done. A unique treatise. Im wondering if James is familiar with the book "Billys Back"
The album is a funeral cover to Paul’s death in September 66 full stop read Paul’s book memoirs of Billy shears n Billy s back
absolutely fantastic job - loved it! well done James
Back in 1977 I bought an 8 track player for my Mini Cooper. My first cartridge was SPLHCB. Great memories from a great video James
Thanks for painstakingly tying all this together. If SP wasn’t a concept album, it is now!
James, this is fascinating and insightful - a brilliant observation. Love the Beatles. I have no doubt the boys would have concocted such an elaborate story with such nuance and subtly. Their songs and personalities were filled with these qualities. Paul once said he was very skeptical about doing LSD because "you can never go back home" after such an experience. Referring to losing one's innocence. Amazing. Looking forward to another review. TY!
Always believed it was a closed concept album. It was and still. is original whether on drugs or not. It was still like nothing we had ever seen or heard before. It stands up because of its originality and creativity. Thank you thought provoking.
Wow, James, this is deep and also well presented. If you came up with this yourself after all this time you are truly a master. Your theory makes perfect sense. Did you consider composing an accompanying essay or article? It's breath-taking. Historic. Thank you and cheers from Mainz/Germany.
13:24 Dear Boy had messages alright. They weren't coded. Had John not been so paranoid, he would have realized this song was about Linda's ex.
Another great episode of you apophenia series, James! I love it :)
James, thanks for taking the time to do this. Very inspirational, It makes sense and sometimes, as I think all of us musicians are, you have a bit of a Music Pareidolia....but well, in a way that's how humans work, right? finding patterns in life to try to make out sense of all this trip.
Another thing, in the context of this being a theatrical play of sorts, I now imagine A Day In The Life as being an encore to the show.
A very fascinating video!
I'm not completely convinced, a bit maybe/maybe not. But you sure got my attention. I was with you all the way, really enjoying this video and the journey through the story, that is at least a possible interpretation. And I must admit the most coherent attempt to draw a story line through the songs I've ever came across.
The idea with the old and the new world also perfectly fits the cover with the 2xBeatles, the old and the new band - The Mop Tops (in suits) and The Pepper Band.
For many years I have had a bit different idea, but they don't excludes each other. Actually they goes perfectly hand in hand. For me it has always been about inspiration and creativity, new ideas and changing. The 2xBeatles showing a movement from one place to another. And all the other people on the cover someone that in one way or another inspired The Beatles. This whole flow of inspiration went into a series of albums, that can be seen as stations on a journey. So what began with "Please Please Me" is here brought to a culmination and celebration with an album so full of ideas and creativity ending with the most monumental piece The Beatles ever made.
But as said, that can easily be combined with your interpretation. Those two goes perfectly together.
Maybe I should mention that despite of being a big fan of 60's psychedelic music, I have never taken drugs of any kind, so my approach has always been, that the music is the trip, and I honestly do believe, that some of the best albums of 1967 can do something to you, make a chance inside, if you go all into the musical experience.
Absolutely fantastic video as always, James. Been a fan for about 2 years now and i can say you most definitely got me back into Oasis and made me realise how great they actually are (especially Noely G). I've been a diehard beatles fan for years, so it's fantastic to see you doing more videos on the fab four and hearing your interesting theories. Keep it up 👍
Great to hear!
This was absolutely brilliant!
Very compelling.
Well done, sir!
Brilliant as always James. Whilst watching the magical mystery bus went past the house!
Awesome!! You’re making my inner child smile James!!
Glad to hear it 🎸🎸🎸
well done, thought provoking. I love this LP, it was huge in my life and now means even more to me.
Fantastic video James and great detective work. I shall listen to the album in a completely different way than individual songs from a great album.
Bloody amazing video mate! I can't wait to try and explain all this to my mates (and probably do so terribly ahah)
A very methodical analysis. Your hypothesis, while not conclusive, is certainly quite compelling. I'll probably have to listen to the complete album again a time or two to know where I stand on the concept album notion. But again, it's a very well presented case all the way around. I think in order for us to know conclusively, McCartney would need to go on record confirming your interpretation. An excellent piece wherein you've clearly done your homework.
Best wishes with the new album!
I love it! I think that's an excellent reading.
I wonder if you've considered extending the concept to include the three songs recorded for and not issued on Sgt. Pepper.
After With A Little Help From My Friends introduces Billy Sheares (Billy's Here), Strawberry Fields Forever might be seen as an invitation to follow a path of altered consciousness. A path Billy takes.
Penny Lane might be seen as a heightened (the vocal is sped up a little like She's Leaving Home) perception of normal suburban life while Billy is waiting for something to kick in. This also gives another side to Good Morning, Good Morning where the grayness of everyday life can be improved with an altered reality.
And Only A Northern Song (which would give George a 2nd track on this album) would fit with the warnings of With A Little Help From My Friends ("I will try not to sing out of key") with lines such as "If you think the harmony/Is a little dark and out of key/You're correct." From here it would follow that Billy meets the girl with kaledeiscope eyes in Lucy and the rest of the album.
Just a thought.
Great comment!
Amen
Always illuminating James, I do thoroughly enjoy your posts. Whether I agree or not will remain, as you will know, subjective, and tongue firmly in cheek. Always good!😍😍
Great detective work! We all "suspected" this in the 60's, but alas it was all "hush Hush"! Got to go listen to my LP again with your new twist. thanks James! Right, now off to 'Magical Mystery Tour"! Now where'd I put that walrus?
Thank you thank you thank you for this fantastic job.
The more I discover things about this album, the more I love it, and the more it becomes my top 1 favourite album of all time.
You made me see Pepper in a totally different way, I never had any doubt about the fact that there are plenty of mysteries surrounding it, but the fact that there might be a hidden story into it is absolutely fascinating.
I can't thank you enough for that. It made me emotional, for real.
And it made me want to have a listen to your album :)
Thanks so much! Well my album is out to stream as of today on all major platforms, so go give it a listen if you want to :)
All the best :)
JH
Loving the Beatles content mate! Big fan of your channel!
Much appreciated!
Clutching straws here. She's Leaving Home is based on a true story of a schoolgirl who ran away in 1967. Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite is all from a poster Lennon found in a antique shop. I also think that it was George Martin who sequenced the songs, away from the Beatles, and I doubt he would have had a concept like this to think about.
I discovered sgt. Peppers once again.. All over again.
With Paul's great idea can never execute without a help of a friend. Thanks the Beatles thank you James.
I’d love to see if you could find concepts in the other albums.. like abbey road, let it be, magical mystery or the white album… even if it’s a stretch. I’d watch!!!
Great detective work once again! I think you made a compelling case for a hidden narrative in the way the songs were arranged...in fact, for all my years of Beatles lore, I had never heard of the 3 Act breakdown theory, but it does make sense and the audience sounds back it up...I also hadn't heard the line "Oh my God, it kills me/ bang bang" before either, no way that is a coincidence they left that in!!! As for missing anything, I don't think so, but I noticed that is a unique metaphor for John to say "Now you're in gear" if he is in fact voicing the character of Billy here in Good morning...also, do you think the 4,000 holes in the finale may be a last reference to the hole that Paul sees when he turns out the light and later fixes??? I realize that all of these songs were probably written completely independent of one another but it is well known that they always took great care in the layout of their albums and I believe the story was something of an afterthought, but I do believe it's there...I mean we know about the Carnival poster being the genesis of Mr Kite, and the Melanie Coe story for She's leaving home, etc...but the subtle little lyrical cues/eggs could have been added after a story was roughly constructed I suppose, but the sheer amount of time spent on the album, the Paul is dead rumor already starting to circulate, the Timothy Leary connections, 9 hours spent on a 2 second coda, and McCartney's penchant for storytelling, all make me believe you have made the case here...but what do you think of the 4000 holes as symbolic of the ever growing faction of tuned in people??? I know it's based on a real story, but it's placement on the album and the fact that it mentioned holes-a leitmotif here if you will-may be significant
Graveyard plots.
Great job James. Could you please list your references in the description, I would love to read the books you use as your sources. Keep up the good work.
🤯DUDE!!! Never could say it any other!!!
Never before have I seen anyone explain the concept of this album any better than you just did you literally blew my mind because my whole life I always thought exactly what you just explain but never have I heard anyone say that this is what the album was about but I kind of figured that this is what most people kind of already knew or kind of already guessed what the album was about but never really articulated it like you just did or as perfect as you just did everything that you just said was 110 million percent on point you have to have an extremely high IQ to have explained the concept of this album exactly the way it was!!!! Hats off to you brother bravo!!!!
Also the end of a day in the life with that strange audio track at the end of the song I always wondered what he was saying I kind of figured he was saying "NEVER COULD SAY IN ANOTHER WAY" which you even got that part spot on I swear you deserve a motherfuking award for this documentary this is probably the most important Beatles documentary ever made!!!!!!
☮️♥️🕉️
NAMASTE' 🙏
My name is James Jesse Proctor Junior and I just want to say if it wasn't for the Beatles I would not be the man I am today my biggest musical influences are the grateful Dead The Beatles and Green Day
The grateful Dead being the greatest country/bluegrass/blues/rock band- The Beatles being the greatest pop band -Green Day being the greatest punk band
I was in a band for 10 years but we never went anywhere because
The lead guitar player decided to steal all the bands money and run off to Maine to live with his boyfriend and he was kind of a ego-driven Maniac who thought he was like God or something and on top of that none of us were really cooperative toward the band nor were we very compatible as we all had very different personalities live very different lives and besides me and the lead guitar player we were the only people that really worked on getting the album done but the lead guitar player ended up being a snake and stole our money and blame me for ruining the band and told the other guys I was on drugs which was not true the other guitar player was just a terrible guitar player and the drummer was always too busy with his other bands and work to really have an impact on our album but it was fun while it
Sir I always felt that way about this album but i was effectively lead away by the fab interviews telling the opposite to dissuade the conservatory status quo. But the play and the acts and how they are linked together was a marvelous interpretation of your part. Makes total sense!
I wonder if somebody could animate or shoot a film that would accompany
the album that allowed it to clearly tell the story that you believe to be there?
When I was 13 I wanted to be an animator and had an idea to make a film out of the album. The idea was it would be an animated concert film of this Sgt. Pepper and his band, and there would be little skits during some of the songs, like John following a girl with kaleidoscope eyes in "Lucy..." and Paul dating a meter maid in "Lovely Rita."
Sadly, I then realized how painstaking it is to make an animated film, so I stopped dreaming about animation about a year later, and the only Sgt. Pepper film we have is that horrible one from the 1970s.
@@tmamone83 At least some scenes similar to what you mentioned are in the 1968 Yellow Submarine comic book (They had to work from an early version of the script so there's a lot that's different from the movie in there). You can find copies to read online if you search a bit.
Boy do I have a movie for you! 😂😂😂
Great video, very entertaining and I learned a lot. Thanks!
What a great video, man!
Would be great to see a Magical Mystery Tour explanation video. There's a message hidden there as well
This vid blew my mind. A cool interpretation of the record. I would be interested to see if you could make the scrapped McCartney album "Return to Pepperland" continue the story. It would be tricky though as I don't think there is any official tracklist available
Interesting, as you go through the album pointing out the words used, I see the album as a confirmation that Paul did die, and William Campbell did indeed him. This album, more than ever now, is used to introduce the world to the new Beatles w/William (Billie) Campbell.
I did a deep dive and found the same. Others don’t see it but it took me years to.
Interesting and well done, James. I first got the album when I was 11, in 1970, around a month or so after getting my first album, Revolver, for my birthday in late February, just before the news broke that The Beatles were no more. To say that I was completely swept up and blown away by the mind-blowingly imaginative, highly melodic and unforgettable songs would be an understatement. And even back then, I recognized that it was making statements about the "generation gap" of the times, and how the album seemingly alluded to getting high on drugs, and the wonderful escapades and journeys to be had, and the insights to be gleaned from their use. To me, it always felt like there was a loose connection between the songs, but you've certainly laced the songs up nicely, tying them together far more tightly than I ever imagined. I'm impressed!
* gleaned
@@crusheverything4449 Whoops. Typo! Thanks. Corrected.
1967 was the year of L S D not only the Beatles, but also the who. The Rolling Stones. Traffic, the small faces, pink Floyd, Jefferson airplane, the birds,Donavan , and a host of other bands all referenced l s d. Pounds shillings and pence was the universal language spoken by people that had become disappointed with the American dollar!
Love the video and your channel. I can’t help but mention that the circle idea mentioned was Lennon referencing Magical Mystery Tour. Paul wrote the film out in a circle with Lennon only really having walrus and the dream sequence. So he was bitter again as Paul had the MASTER PLAN once again. Truly love your interesting take of a pepper. Mad fir it. Cheers
This is maybe a stretch, but with the recurring car theme, I keep thinking about the line from Lucy which is "newspaper taxis appear on the shore, waiting to take you away..." Could this be a reference to Tara Brown dying in a car, then the story being in the newspaper the next day? A newspaper taxi is maybe their psychedelic way of saying a hearse, or the method of one's death and being "taken away."? They are waiting on the shore, which could be a warning or like death is around the corner for everyone, etc. John even years later said he thought of death as "getting out of one car and into another." One more thing your video makes me think of is the old ways vs new ways theme, and how in the early versions of Lovely Rita, Paul in the intro is reciting some kind of random Latin phrases from a school book, but they aren't so random if Latin reciting there is a reference to the establishment vs breaking free of it once the song bursts out of the intro.
I think you’re on to something
Ok, dropping a truth bomb 💣 here. "Sgt Pepper" was all about the fact that Paul actually DID DIE on 9/11/66 (Sept. 11th) They already had stunt doubles for each guy but Paul had premonitions of his death so they found a pro session musician/actor named William Shepherd (Billy Shears) who would take over. The Beatles were devastated when the dreams came true. So they called Billy in and made a deal for him to take Pauls place. He made sure his contract included all of Paul's assets and full control of the band. That's why Pepper was so weird. It was now Billy's show! He was Sgt Pepper and the lads were now lonely hearts band because they missed their friend Paul. Now, in "the Summer of Love" began the social engineering of "sex, drugs n rock n roll" and clues about Paul's death. Every single album the Beatles made, starting with Pepper (and solo records too, after they broke up) was full of clues in the lyrics and on the covers. Sgt Pepper's cover is a funeral scene!
Exactamente, pero Paul no tenía sueños sobre su muerte. Eso es otra mentira de The Memoirs/Mike Williams. Paul participó de la banda sonora de Rush to Judgment, contradiciendo a la Comisión Warren sobre el asesinato de Kennedy, por eso Paul sabía que lo iban a matar. No hubo accidente de moto, lo golpearon en la cara a Paul
The Beatles were an ENGLISH band. They spoke ENGLISH. They sang in ENGLISH. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge
@@Joe288GTO exactly, the English invasion
Even if this doesn't follow my headcanon and interpretation of the album I really enjoyed this take, especially Within You Without You, great video of my favourite album of all time!
VERY interesting points and questions, I wonder the same exact things...glad you're on it. :)
You've made the album a lot more interesting, but I think it's mostly due to your imagination so good job by you. I do think the album has more drug references as you've stated and the Beatles denied it because it was too controversial at the time. They may have denied a couple of other things as well, but I don't think they had the entire thing planned out the way you've suggested. You brought them all together in a nice story though.
Yes Stickman, thank you. This guy has placed way too, too much effort into trying to find the ‘real’ ‘secret meanings’ of every damn phrase he can point to. It’s rather ridiculous. Talk about taking it too seriously. Did ‘homey’ here, even acknowledge the fact that John made up the song ‘Benefit for Mr. Kite’ after he saw a real poster, about a real benefit for an actual circus performer named ‘Mr. Kite’ several decades old in an antique shop. John naturally had his curiosity and imagination captured by the unique story told on simply a poster. He has clearly been on record talking about how he used the copy off of the Mr.Kite poster nearly word for word to compose the song. So, it’s not a song that was deliberately written by any of the band to ‘resolve that side of the album.’ It’s just a song homey. Of course they decided to attempt to create some kind of narrative through the album. Every song was inspired by something different, they’re not the first musicians to be inspired by an article from a newspaper.
The most accurate ‘message’ lyrics that you discussed James, was the line from ‘Too Many People,’ -‘You took your lucky break and broke it in two,’ but you sort of sped by the mention of it. That is a deliberate poetic message that Paul has admitted to being aimed toward John, (Paul still needed to get it out of his system )…because it was still so soon after John decided to sign with Allen Klein, to be manager of the Beatles, without consulting Paul, which is the reason that they finally officially broke up.
So James? Do you have any idea how the Beatles put together the medley which is most of side 2 of their album ‘Abbey Road’ ? Not by hours of scheming and contemplating hidden messages. It’s fairly well known, they admitted they had several songs that were not actually completed, and they all decided to why not try making a medley of them, and it worked. That’s in no way the first time they made similar decisions, to just expedite the process of completing a song, or album.
Sgt Peppers album has sold nearly 35 million units since its initial release, and there’s certainly more than that many people who have listened to it, and heard things in their own ways. It’s art, and most great artists are quite content to have people see their own meanings in their music, so James, I hope you don’t go through this with too many other albums. You can do good work with commentary, but please, just the facts dude. Whew!😮💨😵💫 🫠
Absolutely brilliant James, loved your theory on Sqt Peppers...I agree wholeheartedly what you have come up with...well done mate. I'm going to look at buying your Album. Take Care 👍
Excellent! Thanks so much :)
Thank you. Fantastic video. Yep. I think what you think, too. Well done. I'm now going to listen to my copy of the album with your commentary in mind.
Thanks again.
x Linda
Always had this in mind listening to it. You filled in my blanks. A very, VERY big thank you! You are absolutely right on.
That gibberish at the end of the album, if you play it backwards, it says we'll all be magic supermen.
Will Paul be back as superman
True, I like your version better.@@user-fu2mi1nd5l
To me I barely hear that. It almost sounds like a backmask when played either way.
Well done, James! It does seem likely these threads thru the layout of the album are intentional and highly considered, given the compositional brilliance of The Beatles as composers.
This is their craft. Their ability to express and connect is not to be denied, as is their skill at dual, triple or multiple meanings within most of their songs.
The Beatles, the gift that keeps giving!
Yes, they certainly were very clever and committed to quality and substance, that was their life! And especially seeing as it’s their first album after quitting touring, time for a whole new way of expression and creativity. Paul had a lot of fun with it, no wonder he was so depressed when they broke up.
I absolutely love this video of yours; &, I fully agree withall of your, brilliant obsevations; determinations; statements; &, conclusions.
You've opened up new meanings; &, new comprensions for me; so, I can't thank you enough!!
Thank you ❤so very much for this! When I bought my album and listened to it I came to the same conclusions as you have been talking about in your video. I don’t know if it’s because of taking LSD, my first proper trip being taking LSD and then going to the cinema to see Woodstock in I believe September of the same year, one month later after the concert 🎶. I could have listened to the album first, then went to see Woodstock and have my first LSD experience with my friends and it was amazing and life changing experience for the good. It helped me a lot with all of the abuse that I had experienced from the moment I was born and even before. So, through my experience I had been able to see myself in their music. So thank you so very much for your insights and sharing this with us! ❤😊
great video.. as an addendum.. it would be interesting to hear where you'd place strawberry fields and penny lane on the lineup of the album, (george martin once said that one of his greatest mistakes was not including these tracks on the album, but at the time singles weren't included on albums because it was felt that they were short changing the public to do so - as they'd be buying the same songs twice) and also how those songs would fit into the concept.
I've also had issues with johns quote of 'any of these songs could appear on any other album' to me this was never the case..but until your video I never really understood why. very clever breakdown and analysis. as a side, have you considered the cover of the album being a funeral picture.. all the people in the background are at a funeral, sgt, peppers band and the beatles themselves are mourning the loss of someone.. - BILLY?
Your Beatles videos are amazing. I admire that they are just as awesome and well documented as the Oasis videos. I'd love to see more of these. Btw James, which Beatles album is your favourite?
Cheers! Thanks for that 👍👍
Abbey Road for me
Love that album. I am actually wearing my Sgt. Pepper shirt as I'm watching it lol
YES
@@JamesHargreavesGuitarJames,
I did comment a couple of years ago that I felt you were doing new & unique work.
Not blowing smoke rings etc.
Your skill set combined with background and personal qualities means that when you look at anything to do with popular music, it’s not at all unlikely that you’ll do so in a new way.
“Hargreavesian Musicology” may yet become recognised as a thing 😊
Best breakdown of Sgt Pepper's ever, confirms the thematic connections I always suspected were there, so meticulously detailed, you made other Beatles related channels look weak by comparison, so impressive, I decided to subscribe to your channel. Excellent as the analysis was, you missed one important point about Mr.Kite. Sure the running away to join the circus metaphor was appropriate, but it also ties in to Lucy in the sky 's first line, picture yourself in a boat on a river, which references turn off your mind relax and float downstream from Tomorrow never knows on revolver, a direct quote from the Psychedelic Experience book based on the Tibetan book of the Dead. The acid trip is broken down into 3 sections called Bardos, the second Bardo itself broken down into 7 sections, #6 is titled the Retinal Circus, so John Lennon's use of circus imagery from that poster was very deliberately tied in to the whole psychedelic experience, and not just a throwaway lyric like he claimed in future interviews. The Retinal Circus being the hallucinatory inner and outer visions during the middle of the journey, before the big spiritual realizations which open side 2. And I was lucky enough to see Paul performing it live in 2017. Keep up the great work.....
There is other information about the album in the book, "The Memoirs of Billy Shears", which some may find interesting
Excellent interpretation of the events and times when this recording was produced and a thorough look into the dynamics of the Beatles and the whole process putting this work of art together. Well done!
The 4000 holes line could also be referring back Fixing A Hole - 4000 audience members who have yet to join the movement!
I always thought it would blow some peoples minds if someone actually put this on as a show, at the Albert Hall, and only made 4000 tickets available hahaha
Haha yeah, that would really tie it all together! Anyways, excellent video James! @@JamesHargreavesGuitar
This a great video, and compelling too! Great as always!