The Beatles Anthology (1995) s01e06 Episode Script
July '66 to June '67
[crowd cheering]
-["Help!" playing]
-…not so self-assured ♪
Now, I find I've changed my mind ♪
I've opened up the doors ♪
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down ♪
And I do appreciate you being 'round… ♪
[music concludes]
The Beatles made a statement
in all the newspapers
that they're getting more better
than, uh, Jesus himself
and the Ku Klux Klan,
being a religious order,
is gonna come out here
the night that they appear
at the Coliseum here,
and we're gonna demonstrate with, uh…
different ways and tactics
to stop this performance.
The Klan is gonna come out here,
because we're the only organization
that will come out,
and make a stop to these accusations.
This is nothing but blasphemy.
I mean, early in 1966,
John gave an interview to Maureen Cleave,
do you remember her?
of the Evening Standard,
in which he made
the chance remark saying,
"'We are-- Je-- The Beatles
are more popular than Jesus Christ."
I have prepared a statement,
which I will read, which has had
John Lennon's absolute approval
this afternoon,
uh, with myself, by telephone,
uh, and this is as follows…
"The quote which John Lennon made
to a London columnist
more than three months ago,
has been quoted
and represented entirely out of context."
He said, "Oh, I don't know
what's wrong with the Church.
At the moment, the Beatles
are bigger than Jesus Christ,"
you know, like, they're not
building Jesus enough.
They ought to do more
like gospel and all this stuff.
Well, that was taken
out of context over in America.
The repercussions were big.
I mean, there was…
particularly in what they call
the Bible Belt,
you know, these, um…
down in the South there,
they were having a field day,
and, you know, we've got this footage
as well, of the disc jockey saying,
"Come and bring your Beatle trash
and deposit it here."
Don't forget to take your Beatle records
and your Beatle paraphernalia
to any one of our 14 pick-up points
in Birmingham, Alabama,
and turn 'em in this week, if possible.
[George] So, there was, you know,
all this big palaver going on,
and I think we did a press conference
where John basically,
under the pressure of, um,
the cameras and the press,
and, uh, you know, just the stress
of having to deal with this thing
that he, in effect, had caused.
If it had said, "We're more, uh--
Television is more popular than Jesus,"
I might have got away with it.
-[laughter]
-You know?
But as I just happened
to be talking to a friend,
I used the word "Beatles"
as a remote thing, not as what I think,
as Beatles as though those other Beatles,
like other people see us.
I just said, "They are having more in--
more influence on kids and things
than anything else, including Jesus."
But I said it in that way,
which was the wrong way,
yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
[interviewer] Well, some teenagers
have said that--
have repeated your statement,
said, "The Beatles…
I like the Beatles
more than Jesus Christ."
What do you think about that?
Well, originally, I was, um…
I was pointed out that fact
in reference to England,
that we meant more to kids than Jesus did,
or religion, at that time.
I wasn't knocking it or putting it down,
I was just saying it as a fact,
and it sort of--
It is true, esp-- more for England
than here, you know?
But I'm not saying that
we're better, or greater,
or comparing us
with Jesus Christ as a person,
or God as a thing, or whatever it is.
You know, I just said
what I said and it was wrong,
or was taken wrong, and now it's all this.
["I'm Only Sleeping" playing]
When I wake up early in the morning ♪
Lift my head, I'm still yawning ♪
When I'm in the middle of a dream ♪
Stay in bed, float upstream ♪
Float upstream ♪
Please don't wake me,
no, don't shake me ♪
Leave me where I am ♪
I'm only sleeping ♪
Everybody seems to think I'm lazy ♪
I don't mind, I think they're crazy ♪
Running everywhere at such a speed ♪
Till they find there's no need ♪
There's no need ♪
Please don't spoil my day,
I'm miles away ♪
And after all, I'm only sleeping ♪
[music concludes]
[John] People always got the image
I was anti-Christ or anti-religious.
I'm not at all.
I'm a most religious fellow.
All along this time,
there were also death threats
they were getting.
I mean, it wasn't long
since President Kennedy
had been assassinated.
And I remember going
to one of their concerts
at the Red Rock stadium, uh,
where I climbed up on one of the gantries
overlooking the stage with Brian,
and looked down at the boys below me
during the-- during the performance,
and the amphitheater
at Red Rocks is such that
you could have a sniper on the hill
could pick off any of those fellows
at any time, no problem.
And I was very aware of this,
and so was Brian, and so were the boys.
You know, I was always on that…
on a high riser,
and I had a cop, plainclothes policeman,
sitting there with me.
Now, I was worried. It's the first time--
It's one of the times
I was really worried,
'cause I had the cymbals
a bit like this, you know, so--
give me a bit of protection.
You know, usually they're
like this, but I had 'em up.
But this guy-- And then
I started getting hysterical,
because I thought, "Well, you know,
if someone in the audience has
a pop at me, what is this guy gonna do?
I mean, is he gonna catch the bullet?
What is he gonna do?"
You know? And I… I just found this…
It was getting funnier
and funnier all the time.
And this guy was just sitting there.
There were some people that
would set off firecrackers in the hall,
and you'd think one of the others
had got shot, or something.
[John] But on stage, I always…
I always feel safe, you know.
I just feel as though I'm all right when…
when I'm plugged in
and I don't feel as though they'll get me.
Now, tell me the truth,
are you really a Beatles fan,
or are you here
because it's the right thing to do?
Oh, I love the Beatles.
[reporter] I bet there's a group
you like better now?
No, I don't like any group
better than the Beatles.
[reporter] Honestly, aren't the Beatles
on their way out?
I don't think so.
I think they're still strong.
Well, that's really surprising,
because I thought
we only played there once. [laughs]
You mean we played Shea Stadium twice?
You know, I'll get…
It was just getting all blended here.
Okay, I don't ever remember
going there twice.
How was it?
Last year, not an empty seat
in Shea Stadium.
This year, thousands.
Perhaps 15 or 20,000 empty seats
in this arena that holds 56,000.
Oh dear, what a failure.
We only sold 50,000?
Miserable.
See, we were… we were dying,
dying on our feet out there.
Yeah, and… and there was big news
about that, you know.
"They've only sold 50,000 seats!"
[laughs] You know?
"It's all over for the Beatles!"
[reporter] I bet there's another group
you like better now
-than the Beatles. Is there?
-There is.
-[reporter] Which one?
-Herman and the Hermits.
[reporter] Tell me the truth now,
which group do you like better
than the Beatles?
The Beatles all the time. I love them!
[reporter] Tell me this, how long
do you think the Beatles can last?
Well, I wish they'd last forever.
They could bring happiness to everybody.
How long do you think they're gonna last?
As long as they keep playing,
they'll last.
Even going back to '65,
that's when I was saying,
"I don't wanna do this anymore.
I don't like this," you know,
these ticker-tape parades
that they were trying to do
and the… You know, I mean,
it was that, um…
It was nice to be popular,
but when you saw the size of it,
it was just ridiculous. It was dangerous.
It felt dangerous, you know,
because everybody
was out of hand and out of line,
-even the cops were out of line, you know.
-["Run For Your Life" playing]
They were all just caught up in the mania.
You know, it was like
they were in this big movie,
and it was like we were the ones
trapped in the middle of it
while everybody else was going mad.
So, for a year or… or so, you know,
I'd been saying,
"Let's not do this anymore."
And then, anyway, it played itself out.
But by '66, everybody
was feeling that that's it,
you know, we've gotta, um, stop this.
I don't think anyone
didn't wanna stop touring,
uh, probably…
Paul would've gone on longer
than George and I.
But you'll have to ask Paul about that.
Yeah, I'd been trying to say,
"Ah, no, you know,
touring's good and it keeps us sharp,
and we need touring,
and musicians need to play,"
you know, I'd… "Keep music live!"
I'd been sort of a bit that attitude.
Well, finally,
I agreed with them, you know,
and it was like, "Oh, you were right."
You know, I think it was George
and John who were particularly against it,
you know, particularly got fed up.
[John] We might have been waxworks
for half…
for half the… you know,
what the good we did there.
You know, nobody heard anything,
or not even, you know,
a basic beat, I don't think.
They were too busy tearing each other up.
[George] We were just tired,
you know. It had been…
uh, how many?
four years for us,
of legging around, you know,
screaming in this mania.
You know, we were tired, we needed a rest.
By the time we got to Candlestick Park,
I think we… we knew now,
"Yeah, sure," you know,
this wasn't, uh… this wasn't fun anymore.
I think that was the main point.
And, you know, we'd…
we'd always try to keep--
You've got to, really,
try and keep some fun in it
for yourself in anything you do, you know?
So, by then it was like,
"Yeah, well, don't tell anyone,
but this is probably our last gig."
[George] I certainly felt that
that was it, you know,
that we weren't gonna tour again
like that.
I never really projected into the future.
I was just thinking,
"This is gonna be such a relief
to… you know, to not have to go
and go through that madness."
[Paul] I don't remember having
a negative feeling
about the band, but about touring.
But you always forget the bad bits anyway.
So, I generally, about the band,
remember it being quite good.
[John] You know, I'm just sorry
for the people that can't see us live.
You know, sometimes
you haven't missed anything,
-because you… you wouldn't have heard us…
-[music concludes]
…but sometimes I think
you might have enjoyed it.
I'm sorry for them, yeah.
["For No One" playing]
Your day breaks, your mind aches ♪
You find that all her words
of kindness linger on ♪
When she no longer needs you ♪
She wakes up, she makes up ♪
She takes her time
and doesn't feel she has to hurry ♪
She no longer needs you ♪
And in her eyes you see nothing ♪
No sign of love behind the tears ♪
Cried for no one ♪
A love that should have lasted years ♪
You stay home, she goes out ♪
She says that long ago
she knew someone ♪
But now he's gone,
she doesn't need him ♪
Your day breaks, your mind aches ♪
There will be times
when all the things she said ♪
Will fill your head,
you won't forget her ♪
And in her eyes you see nothing ♪
No sign of love behind
the tears cried for no one ♪
A love that should have lasted years ♪
[music concludes]
[Brian Epstein] The Beatles were then
just four lads
on that rather dimly-lit stage.
You know, you're saying, like,
we were getting worse and worse as a band,
while all those people were screaming.
It was lovely that they liked us, but…
we couldn't hear to play.
So, the only place we could develop
was in the studio
-where we could hear ourselves.
-But also, we were losing interest
-to play on stage. Was just no fun.
-And I think the most important thing
was the safety aspect,
'cause soon after that,
it became terrorism,
and all that kind of stuff.
When we were going,
there was only us and two people.
We said all those things that happened,
like people threatening Ringo,
or threatening us,
or saying the plane…
Snipping bits of hair off
and stuff, and all that.
…the plane was gonna crash,
hurricanes hitting,
-race riots, student riots.
-[Paul] Wings on fire.
There was always something
that we pulled into town.
There was always some big thing going on,
and we'd come in the middle
with this mania,
and then it'd just be like chaos.
So, it was just becoming
too difficult, um, you know,
on the nervous system, that's what I felt.
And remember, when we'd all decided it,
we said, "Well, how…
what are we gonna do, like, announce it?
'The Beatles have given up touring'?"
We said, "No. Just don't say anything."
[John] But I was really too scared
to walk away.
I was thinking, "Well, this is
like the end really, you know.
There's no more touring."
And I was dead nervous,
so I… I said "yes" to Dick Lester,
that I would make this movie with him.
I went to Almería, Spain,
for six weeks just to…
because I didn't know
what to do, you know.
What do you do when you don't tour?
There's no life.
Well, our officer calls me up,
and he says to me,
he says, "Musketeer Gripweed?"
He was a tall chap.
Some would call him weedy.
I did. He said to me, and bear in mind,
we were some few hundred miles
behind enemy lines,
he said, "Green, green, green."
So, I did.
[Neil Aspinall]
Ringo came to… to Spain,
right, to Almería,
when John and I were down there.
Yeah, I went and hung out
'cause he was lonely.
And, you know, we really
supported each other a lot,
and so, you know, he was out
there being this… this actor.
You know, John was doing
How I Won the War.
So, I went to India.
And I think I went for about six weeks.
-And, uh, it was a fantastic time.
-[♪"Raga Charu Keshi" playing]
[George] I just would go out
and look at temples
and go shopping, and,
you know, we traveled all over.
We went to various places.
And eventually, we went up to Kashmir,
and stayed on these houseboats
up in the middle of the Himalayas.
It was incredible, you know,
I'd wake up in the morning,
this little, um, Kashmiri fella
would bring us tea and biscuits,
and then I could hear Ravi
in the next room,
he'd be doing his practice,
-and that was incredible times for me.
-[music concludes]
George, like he said,
was doing the Indian stuff,
and-- and what was Paul doing?
I don't know what he was doing.
["The Family Way"
(Incidental Music) playing]
[Paul] To me, you know, if you are blessed
with the ability to sort of write music…
like, film scores were kind
of an interesting diversion.
And George Martin, being able to write
and being able to orchestrate
and being pretty good at that,
um, I think got an offer
through the Boulting brothers…
[music concludes]
…to-- for him and me to do some
film music for The Family Way.
So, I had a look at the film.
I thought it was a great film. I still do.
It's a very powerful, emotional,
soppy, but good film,
I think, for its time.
We actually even got an Ivor Novello Award
for the "Best Film Song" that year
for a thing called "Love In The Open Air".
["Love In The Open Air" playing]
[music concludes]
[interviewer] Hey, can I have a word?
-Yeah.
-[interviewer chuckles]
Are the Beatles gonna go
their own ways in 1967?
We could be, uh, you know,
on our own or together.
We're always involved with each other,
whatever we're doing, really.
Could you ever see a time when,
in fact, you weren't working together?
I could see us working
not together for a period,
but we'd always get together
for one reason or another.
Like, I mean, you… [scoffs]
You need other people for ideas as well,
but you know, um, we all get along fine.
Will you… will you be…
will you be doing films
on your own next year?
Uh, no, I don't wanna make a career of it.
I did it just 'cause I felt like
doing it, and if some--
And Dick Lester asked me,
and I said "yes".
And I wouldn't have done it
if the others hadn't liked it, you know.
But they said, "Fine,
'cause we were on holiday anyway."
[interviewer] Do you foresee a time when,
in fact, the Beatles won't be together,
-and that you'll all be on your own?
-No, no.
[interviewer] Do you get--
Have you got tired of each other?
-No. [chuckles] No.
-[interviewer] No?
Have you got anything lined up
on your own?
-Film parts, for example?
-No…
Um, well, there may be one
if we don't do one together
early next year.
To say-- See, I'm sort of out of it there,
because with John and Paul,
they can still write
even though we're sort of
not working together,
and George can, you know,
learn his sitar and do things like that.
-And I've just been sitting 'round.
-[interviewer] Getting bored?
Uh, no. Getting fat. [chuckles]
[interviewer] Do you think that,
in the New Year,
that you're gonna be going
your own ways instead of
-being in the group? No?
-No, no.
-No. Definitely not.
-[interviewer] What about another word?
-Can I just have a brief word with you?
-Yeah.
[interviewer] If you never toured again,
would it worry you?
Uh… I dunno. No, I don't think so.
-[interviewer] Wouldn't worry you?
-But…
Because the only thing about
that, you see, is that, uh…
performance for us… see,
it's… it's gone downhill, performance,
'cause we can't develop when
no one can hear us, you know what I mean?
So, for us to perform is,
uh, it's difficult,
-gets difficult each time. More difficult.
-You mean they don't listen to you,
and therefore you don't want to do that?
Oh, yeah, we wanna do it,
but, uh, if we're not listened to,
then… and we can't even hear ourselves,
then we can't improve in that.
We can't get any better.
But it meant we could get into
the studio and start with, uh,
"Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane"
and that, and then Pepper.
Were they the first ones out,
do you remember?
I don't know. Where they?
I mean, I seem to remember
that was like what happened
once we'd get full-time into the studio,
and… and saying, at the time,
"Now, our performance is that record."
And that new record started
with "Strawberry Fields".
And that was going to be
what became Pepper.
It wasn't Pepper. No one heard of Pepper.
But it was gonna be a record
that was gonna be made in the studio,
and they… it was gonna be songs
which they had written,
which couldn't be performed live.
They were designed to be,
um, studio productions.
And that was the difference.
Well, "Strawberry Fields"
is a song that John had,
because he used to live next door
to this place called Strawberry Fields,
which was a Salvation Army place for kids.
And he used to bunk over,
and it was his little magic garden
to sort of play in.
So, whenever I went
to visit him, he'd sort of say,
"Hey, you know, there…"
and we'd go past, and he'd say,
"This is Strawberry Fields,"
and he'd give me the gen on it.
[John] "Strawberry Fields"
I wrote when I was making
How I Won the War in Almería, Spain.
It's a, um, Salvation Army home…
that was near the house
I lived in with my auntie in the suburbs,
although I took the name as a…
as an image.
We had this thing called
a Mellotron that we, uh,
did the intro of "Strawberry Fields" on.
This, in fact, is one of them.
We had flutes on there,
and, uh…
this was the intro.
[plays "Strawberry Fields Forever"]
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
-["Strawberry Fields Forever" playing]
-Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Living is easy with eyes closed ♪
Misunderstanding all you see ♪
It's getting hard to be someone ♪
But it all works out ♪
It doesn't matter much to me ♪
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
No one, I think, is in my tree ♪
I mean, it must be high or low ♪
That is, you can't, you know, tune in ♪
But it's all right ♪
That is, I think it's not too bad ♪
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Always, no, sometimes, think it's me ♪
But, you know,
I know when it's a dream ♪
I think, er, no, I mean, er, yes ♪
But it's all wrong ♪
That is, I think I disagree ♪
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
[music continues]
[Paul] And then, you know,
the nice thing is then
a lot of our stuff then started
to get a little bit more surreal.
And then "Penny Lane" was
a little bit more surreal too,
-although a sort of cleaner thing.
-[music concludes]
I was into-- I remember saying
to George Martin I wanted, like,
a very clean recording.
I was into, um, "clean" sounds,
maybe Beach Boy-y
kind of things, at that point.
But, you know,
"the fireman with his hourglass",
and all of that sort of stuff,
um, was us trying to get into
a bit of art, a bit of surrealism,
and they were all based on real things.
But I mean, whereas
there was a barber called--
What was he called? Bioletti?
Something like that.
Um, a little barber.
I think he's still there,
actually, in Penny Lane.
And he had these pictures
that all the barbers have
of the haircut you can have
if you ask for,
"I'll have Number Three there,"
you know. Um, and--
Only, instead of saying,
"The barber with pictures
of haircuts in his windows",
you know, then it was--
you'd change it 'round to, uh,
"Every head he's had
the pleasure to know".
"A barber showing photographs",
like it's an exhibition.
It was all just twisting it
to a little bit slightly more artsy angle.
[John] Penny Lane is not only
a street, but it's a district.
I lived in Penny Lane
in a street called Newcastle Road,
so I was the only actual person
that lived in Penny Lane.
["Penny Lane" playing]
In Penny Lane
there is a barber showing photographs ♪
Of every head he's had
the pleasure to know ♪
And all the people that come and go ♪
Stop and say hello ♪
On the corner
is a banker with a motor car ♪
The little children laugh at him
behind his back ♪
And the banker never wears a mac ♪
In the pouring rain, very strange ♪
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
There, beneath the blue suburban skies ♪
I sit, and meanwhile back ♪
In Penny Lane
there is a fireman with an hourglass ♪
And in his pocket
is a portrait of the Queen ♪
He likes to keep his fire engine clean ♪
It's a clean machine ♪
[music continues]
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
A four of fish and finger pies ♪
In summer, meanwhile back ♪
Behind the shelter
in the middle of the roundabout ♪
The pretty nurse
is selling poppies from a tray ♪
And though she feels
as if she's in a play ♪
She is, anyway ♪
In Penny Lane the barber shaves
another customer ♪
We see the banker sitting,
waiting for a trim ♪
And then the fireman rushes in ♪
From the pouring rain, very strange ♪
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
There, beneath the blue suburban skies ♪
I sit, and meanwhile back ♪
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
There, beneath the blue suburban skies ♪
-Penny Lane ♪
-[music concludes]
[Brian Matthew] And right now,
we're going to say hello
-to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
-[John and Paul] Look out! Look out!
[Brian Matthew]
Now, that number, "Penny Lane",
failed to make No. 1
in Britain, fellas.
Did you feel at all put out by that?
[Paul] No. It's--
I don't know. The main thing is,
it's fine if you're kept sort of
from being number one by, uh,
-sort of a record like "Release Me"…
-["Release Me" playing]
…'cause, uh, you're not trying
to do the same kind of thing
as "Release Me"
is trying to do, you know.
So, that's a completely
different scene altogether,
that kind of thing. Uh…
[Brian Matthew] But you have a little…
[Paul] So, it do--
doesn't really matter anyway.
[Brian Matthew]
But you have in the past said,
or at least been recorded as having said,
that in the event of a record
not going to No. 1,
you'd seriously think about
packing it all in.
Do you feel like that?
It was a relief.
Uh, you know, everything we did just went
straight to No. 1.
And, of course,
then you have that pressure,
and I… I believe we had,
like, seven on the row,
-I'm… I'm not really sure.
-[music concludes]
It was something, six or seven,
uh, was out, was in,
was out, was one, you know.
So, actually, uh, within the group,
it… it took the pressure off.
[Brian Matthew] The thing is, I mean,
you've obviously reached the stage
where you don't have to write
any more songs for any reason at all
-other than you like doing it, so…
-[Paul] But it's always been like that,
-that's the good thing.
-[Brian Matthew] Yeah?
[Paul] That's the-- You know,
'cause it has been a hobby…
-[Brian Matthew] Mm-hmm.
-…and it still is, you know.
[Brian Matthew] Can you,
without giving away any trade secrets,
tell us anything about the numbers
that you're engaged on at the moment?
Well, really, it was Paul
who'd been on a train journey,
or a plane journey, with Mal Evans,
and come up with this idea of Sgt. Pepper,
and he was just kind of…
To… To me, we were just in the studio
to make the next record,
and he was going on
about this idea of, um,
you know, some fictitious band.
[Paul] At the time, there were lots of
those sort of bands that were,
you know-- Laughing Joe
and his Medicine Band,
"Thank you! Wham! Bam! Ma'am!"
kind of group names, you know.
Colonel Tucker's Medicinal Brew
and Compound.
So, I just thought, "Oh well,
you know, if there was a band,
what would be a mad name for it?"
["Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band" playing]
Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band ♪
It was basically Paul's idea
to… to call Pepper--
He came in and said, you know,
he had this song,
-[music concludes]
-"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band",
and he… he… he was kind of
identifying it with the band,
the Beatles, themselves.
And the… the…
I think we recorded the song first,
and then the idea came to make it into a…
an idea for the album,
which was also triggered
by Neil, Neil Aspinall,
who said at that time…
"Why don't we have Sgt. Pepper
as the compère?
You know, he comes on
at the beginning of the show,
he introduces the band, right?"
And then at the end of every Beatles show,
Paul always used to say, "It's, uh…"
You know, "It's time to go,"
you know, "We've gotta go to bed,"
and, uh, you know,
"This is our last number," you know.
Do the last number and go.
And, uh, I said to… to Paul,
"Why doesn't Sgt. Pepper come on
at the end of the album,
and say, you know,
'Well, that's it, we've gotta go,'
you know,
'Here's our last number,' right,
and, uh, send the album on tour
instead of the band, right?"
So, uh, we liked that idea.
It was gonna be, uh, a "show" album.
I mean, it was Sgt. Pepper
and his Lonely Hearts Club Band,
and all these other acts.
And it was gonna all run,
you know, like a rock opera.
And, uh, we got as far
as, uh, Sgt. Pepper,
and then Billy Shears. [chuckles]
"A Little Help From My Friends",
and then everyone said,
"Oh, sod it! Let's just do tracks."
So, it started out with its own, you know…
that it was gonna be
something totally different.
But it still then kept the title,
and… and… like, uh,
also the feel that it's…
it's all connected.
[John] It's called
the first "concept" album.
It doesn't go anywhere.
"Mr. Kite!", all my contributions
have abs-- absolutely nothing
to do with this idea
of Sgt. Pepper and his band.
But it works 'cause we said it worked,
and that's how it appeared.
["Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band" playing]
It was twenty years ago today ♪
Sergeant Pepper taught
the band to play ♪
They've been going in and out of style ♪
But they're guaranteed
to raise a smile ♪
So, may I introduce to you ♪
The act you've known
for all these years? ♪
Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band ♪
[crowd cheering, applauding]
Billy Shears ♪
["With A Little Help
From My Friends" playing]
What would you think
if I sang out of tune? ♪
Would you stand up and walk out on me? ♪
Lend me your ears
and I'll sing you a song ♪
And I'll try not to sing out of key ♪
Oh, I get by with
a little help from my friends ♪
Mm, I get high with
a little help from my friends ♪
Mm, gonna try with
a little help from my friends ♪
[music concludes]
[John] It starts out with Sgt. Pepper
and introduces Billy Shears,
and that's the end,
apart from the so-called reprise.
Otherwise, every other song
could have been on any other album.
"Mr. Kite!" could have gone anywhere.
["Being For The Benefit
Of Mr. Kite!" playing]
For the benefit of Mister Kite ♪
There will be a show tonight
on trampoline ♪
The Hendersons will all be there ♪
Late of Pablo Fanque's fair ♪
What a scene ♪
Over men and horses, hoops and garters ♪
Lastly through a hogshead of real fire ♪
In this way, Mister K.
will challenge the world ♪
The celebrated Mister K.
performs his feat on Saturday ♪
At Bishopsgate ♪
The Hendersons will dance and sing ♪
As Mister Kite flies through the ring ♪
Don't be late ♪
Messrs K. and H. assure the public ♪
Their production
will be second to none ♪
And, of course, Henry the Horse ♪
Dances the waltz! ♪
[Ringo] We were really spending
a long time in the studio,
and we were still doing
the basic tracks like we always did,
and then it would take weeks
for the overdubs.
And also the great thing
about this band was,
whoever had the idea, that was okay.
Whoever had the best idea,
it didn't matter who,
that's the one we'd use.
[music concludes]
[Paul] For instance, "Day In The Life",
John and I sat down,
and he had, um, this opening verse,
I think he'd got the idea,
or-- or-- or we then took
the idea from like
the Daily Mirror, or something.
[John] So, it had two stories.
One was the Guinness child
that killed himself in a car,
that was the main headline story.
Uh, on the next page was about
4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.
[Paul] So, the-- the-- the…
[in Lancashire accent]
…Blackburn, Lancashire…
[in normal accent]
…the holes, Albert Hall,
all just sort of--
just got mixed, you know.
Just a little poetic jumble
that sounded nice.
And we've got
the rehearsal take, Take 1,
the very first time we heard it,
um, with John giving
a few instructions to people,
as usual, just before he starts it.
[crew member] Is the mic not too?
[John] Could have the mic
on the piano, and quite low,
just-- Just keep it
beside maracas, you know.
John was singing while
he was playing his acoustic guitar.
Paul was on piano.
George was playing maracas, I think,
and certainly Ringo was on bongos.
John counts in by saying,
"Sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy."
[John speaks indistinctly]
[John] Sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy.
["A Day In The Life" playing]
I read the news today, oh boy ♪
About a lucky man… ♪
Even in this early take,
he has a voice
which sends shivers down the spine.
…was rather sad ♪
Well, I just had to laugh ♪
I saw the photograph ♪
[Paul] It was mainly a John song,
and he had the, uh…
I read the news today, oh boy ♪
And he'd taken a lot of it
from a newspaper.
And then I had another bit, um…
Woke up, fell out of bed,
dragged a comb across my head ♪
That was a little bit I had,
but it wasn't doing anything.
And so we thought, "Well, that'd be good.
We could put that in the middle."
And we got the concept
of sort of building it
a little bit like a sort of mini operetta.
["A Day In The Life" continues]
Woke up, fell out of bed ♪
Dragged a comb across my head ♪
Found my way downstairs
and drank a cup ♪
And, looking up, I noticed I was late ♪
[George Martin] John said,
"Well, let's shove it in the middle
and see if we can't
connect them up in some way."
-[music concludes]
-We connected them
with a series of empty bars
on either side of Paul's sec--
section before we came back
into John's as a reprise,
and we knew we had to fill
those bars with something sensational,
and we didn't know
what it was going to be yet.
And in order to keep the 24 bars
so that everybody knew
when to come back in again,
dear old Mal Evans stood
by the piano counting the bars.
-[piano playing]
-[Mal Evans] …seven, eight, nine, ten.
[George Martin] And just to add
further weight to it,
he set off an alarm clock at the end of it
to trigger everybody back into it again.
-[piano continues]
-[Mal Evans] …17, 18…
-19, 20!
-[alarm clock ringing]
[music concludes]
They told me they wanted
an orchestral climax
to fill these empty bars,
a giant orgasm of sound,
rising from nothing at all
to the most incredible noise.
And this is what we came up with.
[orchestral cacophony playing]
[volume gradually increases]
[music climaxes]
["A Day In The Life" playing]
And with that, we joined up
the two parts of the song.
The moment I remember best
outside of, say, him bringing the song,
it was obviously a gorgeous song
when he brought it.
And I say, I was a big fan of John's.
You've got to remember that, you know?
-[music concludes]
-It wouldn't just be, "Oh, yes,
a professional person will write this."
It'd be like, "Oh, yeah…
I can't wait to get my hands on this."
And we'd… we'd…
I'd learn the chords off him,
and we'd develop it.
Um, but the moment I remember
was when, um,
we got to a little bit
that he didn't have,
where we sort of said…
I'd love to turn you on ♪
And we, like, looked at each other,
thinking like… [inhales sharply]
"We know what we're doing here, don't we?"
We were actually saying
for the first time ever, like,
words like "turn you on",
you know, and-- which had--
which was in the culture anyway,
but no one had actually
said it on record yet.
And there was a little sort of look
of recog-- recognition between us, like,
"Do it. Do it. Get it down!"
-["A Day In The Life" continues]
-I read the news today, oh boy ♪
Four thousand holes
in Blackburn, Lancashire ♪
And though the holes were rather small ♪
They had to count them all ♪
Now they know how many holes
it takes to fill the Albert Hall ♪
I'd love to turn you on ♪
Four, five, six, seven ♪
Eight, nine, ten ♪
11, 12, 13, 14, 15… ♪
[orchestral cacophony playing]
The big, grand pianos
at the end. I was very into…
-[music concludes]
-If you… if you listen on--
[resonating chord]
Uh… If you stick a mic on that,
that'll go on
for about a minute and a half.
Shall we listen?
No, well, we, you know,
we haven't got time.
It's still there,
and that'll go on forever.
And that was just one of
the little things that fascinated me,
so I kind of brought that
to the session. I said, "How about--"
Still there. Can you hear it?
Bring the mic in.
And if you bring the mic in
and in and in…
-[resonating chord]
-…it's still there.
So, you know, I did this thing,
so-- so-- so we got everyone
on grand pianos all doing a big…
[loud piano chord plays]
[chord fades gradually]
[Ringo] So, you know, the sleeve came,
and we wanted to dress up,
and we wanted to be
these people, you know,
the Peppers. [chuckles]
And, uh, you know,
had to get suits, and, you know,
it was Flower Power, I mean,
coming into its fullest.
You know, that's… that's what it was.
And anyway, you know,
then, uh, Mal and I
just went to all the different libraries
and got prints and, uh,
Peter Blake blew 'em up
and tinted them and, uh, made the collage.
["Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band" playing]
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely,
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely ♪
Hearts Club ♪
Band ♪
Whoo! ♪
And if you look closely
at the album cover,
you'll see two people who are flying
and two who aren't. [chuckles]
That's just a little in-joke.
[interviewer laughs]
Two of them didn't share it
with two others.
And I remember the weekend
it was, um, released,
getting, like, a telegram off people
like, sort of, James Fox,
"Long Live Sgt. Pepper!"
And, you know, people would
come 'round and say, "Great album, man."
So, it got very noticed as sort of…
It was like you were making it
for us, our crowd.
It sort of linked up
with Mary Quant and miniskirts
and all that kind of thing.
And dope, to a certain extent.
You know, the… the freedom of sex,
the freedom of-- of, um,
soft drugs like marijuana and so on.
Um, I suppose it was all
a bit exciting and it…
I think it did reflect its time.
And the biggest single
sort of tribute for me was that,
uh, it was released on the Friday,
and on the Sunday we went
to the Saville Theatre
which, uh, Brian Epstein, uh, rented on--
and ran some rock shows
'cause nothing ever happened on a Sunday,
and Jimi Hendrix opened
with "Sgt. Pepper",
and he'd only had since
the Friday to-- to learn it.
So may I introduce to you ♪
The one and only Billy Shears ♪
Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band ♪
Pepper… Of course,
we're looking back on Pepper,
it was quite an icon,
it was the record of that time,
and it probably did change
the face of recording,
but we didn't do it consciously.
It wasn't like nine months in the studio.
It was nine months over a period
and we'd do a section, and then stop,
and then come back in,
if I can remember it right.
And, uh, I liked to just get in and out.
You know, I get a bit bored.
It's a fine album,
but I did learn to play chess on it,
because I'd have so much
spare time, you know.
We'd do the basic track,
and then we'd put other stuff on,
and then the percussion
would be overdubbed later.
-["Within You Without You" playing]
-I had a few moments
in there that I enjoyed,
but generally, I didn't really
like that album much.
My heart was still in India, you know?
I mean, that was the big thing for me,
when that-- it happened in '66.
Uh, it was the--
After that, everything else
seemed like hard work.
You know, it was a job.
It was like doing something
I didn't really, uh, want to do.
I was losing interest
in being "fab" at that point.
[John] It wasn't that spectacular,
I mean, when you look back on it.
I mean, like anything, it was great then.
But, uh, people just had
this dream about Pepper,
-and it was good for then, you know.
-[music concludes]
I was very cross that the BBC,
in their infinite wisdom,
decided to ban some of the tracks
and they wouldn't play it.
They wouldn't play "A Day In The Life".
Why? I don't know, but they wouldn't.
And they wouldn't play
"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
because this rumor went round that
it was all connected with drugs, and, uh,
"Lucy In The Sky" actually stood for LSD,
which wasn't true.
And that it was, uh, a--
an album which actually
was promoting the use of drugs
amongst the young.
["Lucy In The Sky
With Diamonds" playing]
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
[George Martin]
I was aware of them smoking pot.
I wasn't aware that they did
anything really serious.
Um, in fact, I was so innocent
that I actually took John up
onto the roof when he was having
a… an LSD trip,
not knowing what it was.
[John] I never took it in the studio.
Once I did, accidentally.
I thought I was taking some uppers
and, uh, I-- I was not in
a state of handling it,
you know, but I took it.
And then I just-- I just, you know,
I was so scared on the mic,
you know. I said, "What was it?"
You know, I said, "I feel ill."
I thought I felt ill. And--
And I was goin'--
I thought I was goin' cracked, you know.
And then I-- I said,
"I must get some air."
And they all took me upstairs on the roof,
and George Martin was looking
at me funny, you know.
And then it dawned on me,
"I must have taken acid!"
[George Martin] So, the only place
I could take him to get fresh air
was on the roof.
[music concludes]
And we went up there
and it was a wonderful starry night,
and he looked up,
went to the edge of the, uh,
about 18-inch parapet
and looked up at the stars,
and said, "Isn't-- Aren't they fantastic?"
And, of course, to him,
they would have been
especially fantastic, I suppose.
Um, they were just
little stars to me at the time.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
[music fades]
[Ringo] I feel to this day that, you know,
we did take certain substances,
uh, but never to a great extent
at the sessions.
At-- You know, we took a little,
but whenever we'd overdid our intake,
-the music we made was absolutely shit.
-[music concludes]
And we… You know,
we'd go home real happy with the tape,
and we'd play it when we got home, and…
you'd play it the next day, and…
it was just every time
we'd come back to record again,
we'd all look at each other and say,
"Well, we have to do that again,"
because, you know, it… didn't work.
It didn't work for the…
for the Beatles, uh, to be…
too deranged when making music.
[John] Now, the point about
the whole drug scene was,
the press asked Paul,
"Have you taken LSD?"
This is how it all came out,
otherwise we didn't say
a word about it, you know?
I mean, it was just a--
a personal thing, right?
But I did talk to him beforehand,
and I said, "Look, you know
what's gonna happen here.
I'm gonna get the blame
for telling everyone 'I take drugs'."
I said, "But you're the people
who are gonna--
to distribute this thing."
I said, "I'll tell you," I said,
"but if you've got any worries about this
having an effect on kids,
then you don't show it."
[interviewer] Do you think
you have now encouraged
your fans to take drugs?
I don't think it'll make
any difference, you know.
I don't think my fans
are gonna take drugs
just 'cause I did, you know.
But the thing is, that's not
the point anyway, you know.
I was asked whether I had or not.
And then from then on,
the whole bit about w--
how far it's gonna go
and how many people it's gonna encourage
is up to the newspapers
and up to you, you know, on television.
I mean, you're spreading this
now at this moment.
This is going into all the homes,
you know, in Britain,
and I'd rather it didn't, you know.
But you're asking me the question.
You want me to be honest.
I'll be honest, you know.
I don't know, it just seemed strange to me
because we'd been trying
to get him to take it for about 18 months,
and then it just seemed funny that one day
he's on the television
talking all about it.
The problem was
it then gave the press a field day,
to be on all our cases, you know?
I personally didn't think
it was any of their business,
uh, but, you know, once he said it, uh,
you know, whoever said anything
in the Beatles,
the other three
had to deal with it, you know,
which we did in… with all love,
because, you know, we loved each other.
["All You Need Is Love" playing]
[John] We're sorry, you know,
but there's plenty of people in England
who haven't seen us unless they get--
we do a world telly show
and everybody watches at once
through a satellite.
That's the only way everybody'd see us.
[George] It was supposedly
the very first satellite hook-up
around the world.
And I don't know
how many millions of people,
but it was supposed to be some
phenomenal amount of people
-[music concludes]
-and it was probably
the very earliest technology
that enabled that kinda satellite link.
It was a commission that was--
Brian suddenly wa-- whirled in and said,
"We are to represent Britain
in this round-the-world hook-up
and you've got to…
you've gotta write a song."
And it was a challenge.
Um, it was within two weeks,
I think, we had to get it together.
And then we learned it was going to be,
for that time, uh, a phenomenal figure
of over 200 million people watching.
And I don't know if the song
was written before that,
because we were making
an album at the time,
so there was kind of
lots of songs in circulation.
Paul may know more about that.
Over to you, Paul.
Um, I'm not sure.
It was John's song, mainly.
Um, I don't think
it was written specially for it,
but it was one of the songs
we had and… and…
I don't know. Actually, George Martin
might have a bit better idea on that.
It was certainly tailored to it
once we had it.
But I've got a feeling it was just one
of John's songs that was coming there.
We went down to Olympic Studios in Barnes
and, uh, recorded it, uh…
Um, and then it became the song.
They said,
"Ah, this is the one we should use."
I don't actually think
it was written for it.
Yeah, they wrote it specifically for that.
And we all dressed up again.
See, we were getting into--
We loved dressing up!
[laughs]
And we had another suit.
But mine was so bloody heavy
'cause, you know,
Simon and Marijke
from The Fool was the company,
and I had all this beading on,
as we'll cut to right now,
and, uh, it just weighed a ton.
It was a fabulous time,
musically and spiritually.
We decided to get, um…
some people in who looked
like the Love Generation.
And I think if you look close
on the floor, I know there's--
Mick Jagger's there,
but there's also Eric Clapton, I believe,
in full psychedelic regalia
and permed hair,
sitting right there.
And there was an orchestra that was live,
and the singing was live
and certain of audience, and so on.
And we knew it was going to be
a live television show.
And just at the la--
And there was also a camera
in the control room on us doing our bits.
And just about 30 seconds
to go on the air,
and there was a phone call,
and it was the producer
of the show on to me, saying,
"I'm afraid I've lost
all contact with the… with the studio.
You're gonna have to relay
instructions to them,
'cause we're going on air
any moment now!"
And I thought, "My God!
If you're gonna make a fool of yourself,
you might as well do it properly
in front of 200 million people!"
The man upstairs pointed his finger,
and that's it. We did it. One take.
[crew member] One, two, three.
["All You Need Is Love" playing]
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
There's nothing you can do
that can't be done ♪
Nothing you can sing
that can't be sung ♪
Nothing you can say
but you can learn how to play the game ♪
It's easy ♪
Nothing you can make
that can't be made ♪
No one you can save
that can't be saved ♪
Nothing you can do
but you can learn how to be you in time ♪
It's easy ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
All you need is love ♪
-Whoo! ♪
-All you need is love ♪
Yeah! ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
Love ♪
There's nothing you can know
that isn't known ♪
Nothing you can see that isn't shown ♪
There's nowhere you can be
that isn't where you're meant to be ♪
It's easy ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
All you need is love ♪
All together now ♪
All you need is love ♪
Everybody ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all… ♪
Because the mood of the time,
it seemed to be a great idea
to do that song
because while everybody else
was showing people knitting in Canada
and Irish clog dancers in Venezuela,
we thought, "Well,
we'll just sing 'All You Need Is Love'
because it's a kind of
subtle bit of PR for, um, God."
Oh yeah! ♪
Love is all you need ♪
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Love is all you need ♪
She loves you, yeah, yeah… ♪
[music fades]
["Strawberry Fields Forever" playing]
Living is easy with eyes closed ♪
Misunderstanding all you see ♪
It's getting hard to be someone ♪
But it all works out ♪
It doesn't matter much to me ♪
No one, I think, is in my tree ♪
I mean, it must be high or low ♪
That is, you can't, you know, tune in ♪
But it's all right ♪
That is, I think it's not too bad ♪
Let me take you down ♪
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Always, no, sometimes, think it's me ♪
But you know I know when it's a dream ♪
I think, er, no, I mean, er, yes ♪
But it's all wrong ♪
That is, I think I disagree ♪
Let me take you down ♪
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
[music continues]
[music concludes]
-["Help!" playing]
-…not so self-assured ♪
Now, I find I've changed my mind ♪
I've opened up the doors ♪
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down ♪
And I do appreciate you being 'round… ♪
[music concludes]
The Beatles made a statement
in all the newspapers
that they're getting more better
than, uh, Jesus himself
and the Ku Klux Klan,
being a religious order,
is gonna come out here
the night that they appear
at the Coliseum here,
and we're gonna demonstrate with, uh…
different ways and tactics
to stop this performance.
The Klan is gonna come out here,
because we're the only organization
that will come out,
and make a stop to these accusations.
This is nothing but blasphemy.
I mean, early in 1966,
John gave an interview to Maureen Cleave,
do you remember her?
of the Evening Standard,
in which he made
the chance remark saying,
"'We are-- Je-- The Beatles
are more popular than Jesus Christ."
I have prepared a statement,
which I will read, which has had
John Lennon's absolute approval
this afternoon,
uh, with myself, by telephone,
uh, and this is as follows…
"The quote which John Lennon made
to a London columnist
more than three months ago,
has been quoted
and represented entirely out of context."
He said, "Oh, I don't know
what's wrong with the Church.
At the moment, the Beatles
are bigger than Jesus Christ,"
you know, like, they're not
building Jesus enough.
They ought to do more
like gospel and all this stuff.
Well, that was taken
out of context over in America.
The repercussions were big.
I mean, there was…
particularly in what they call
the Bible Belt,
you know, these, um…
down in the South there,
they were having a field day,
and, you know, we've got this footage
as well, of the disc jockey saying,
"Come and bring your Beatle trash
and deposit it here."
Don't forget to take your Beatle records
and your Beatle paraphernalia
to any one of our 14 pick-up points
in Birmingham, Alabama,
and turn 'em in this week, if possible.
[George] So, there was, you know,
all this big palaver going on,
and I think we did a press conference
where John basically,
under the pressure of, um,
the cameras and the press,
and, uh, you know, just the stress
of having to deal with this thing
that he, in effect, had caused.
If it had said, "We're more, uh--
Television is more popular than Jesus,"
I might have got away with it.
-[laughter]
-You know?
But as I just happened
to be talking to a friend,
I used the word "Beatles"
as a remote thing, not as what I think,
as Beatles as though those other Beatles,
like other people see us.
I just said, "They are having more in--
more influence on kids and things
than anything else, including Jesus."
But I said it in that way,
which was the wrong way,
yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
[interviewer] Well, some teenagers
have said that--
have repeated your statement,
said, "The Beatles…
I like the Beatles
more than Jesus Christ."
What do you think about that?
Well, originally, I was, um…
I was pointed out that fact
in reference to England,
that we meant more to kids than Jesus did,
or religion, at that time.
I wasn't knocking it or putting it down,
I was just saying it as a fact,
and it sort of--
It is true, esp-- more for England
than here, you know?
But I'm not saying that
we're better, or greater,
or comparing us
with Jesus Christ as a person,
or God as a thing, or whatever it is.
You know, I just said
what I said and it was wrong,
or was taken wrong, and now it's all this.
["I'm Only Sleeping" playing]
When I wake up early in the morning ♪
Lift my head, I'm still yawning ♪
When I'm in the middle of a dream ♪
Stay in bed, float upstream ♪
Float upstream ♪
Please don't wake me,
no, don't shake me ♪
Leave me where I am ♪
I'm only sleeping ♪
Everybody seems to think I'm lazy ♪
I don't mind, I think they're crazy ♪
Running everywhere at such a speed ♪
Till they find there's no need ♪
There's no need ♪
Please don't spoil my day,
I'm miles away ♪
And after all, I'm only sleeping ♪
[music concludes]
[John] People always got the image
I was anti-Christ or anti-religious.
I'm not at all.
I'm a most religious fellow.
All along this time,
there were also death threats
they were getting.
I mean, it wasn't long
since President Kennedy
had been assassinated.
And I remember going
to one of their concerts
at the Red Rock stadium, uh,
where I climbed up on one of the gantries
overlooking the stage with Brian,
and looked down at the boys below me
during the-- during the performance,
and the amphitheater
at Red Rocks is such that
you could have a sniper on the hill
could pick off any of those fellows
at any time, no problem.
And I was very aware of this,
and so was Brian, and so were the boys.
You know, I was always on that…
on a high riser,
and I had a cop, plainclothes policeman,
sitting there with me.
Now, I was worried. It's the first time--
It's one of the times
I was really worried,
'cause I had the cymbals
a bit like this, you know, so--
give me a bit of protection.
You know, usually they're
like this, but I had 'em up.
But this guy-- And then
I started getting hysterical,
because I thought, "Well, you know,
if someone in the audience has
a pop at me, what is this guy gonna do?
I mean, is he gonna catch the bullet?
What is he gonna do?"
You know? And I… I just found this…
It was getting funnier
and funnier all the time.
And this guy was just sitting there.
There were some people that
would set off firecrackers in the hall,
and you'd think one of the others
had got shot, or something.
[John] But on stage, I always…
I always feel safe, you know.
I just feel as though I'm all right when…
when I'm plugged in
and I don't feel as though they'll get me.
Now, tell me the truth,
are you really a Beatles fan,
or are you here
because it's the right thing to do?
Oh, I love the Beatles.
[reporter] I bet there's a group
you like better now?
No, I don't like any group
better than the Beatles.
[reporter] Honestly, aren't the Beatles
on their way out?
I don't think so.
I think they're still strong.
Well, that's really surprising,
because I thought
we only played there once. [laughs]
You mean we played Shea Stadium twice?
You know, I'll get…
It was just getting all blended here.
Okay, I don't ever remember
going there twice.
How was it?
Last year, not an empty seat
in Shea Stadium.
This year, thousands.
Perhaps 15 or 20,000 empty seats
in this arena that holds 56,000.
Oh dear, what a failure.
We only sold 50,000?
Miserable.
See, we were… we were dying,
dying on our feet out there.
Yeah, and… and there was big news
about that, you know.
"They've only sold 50,000 seats!"
[laughs] You know?
"It's all over for the Beatles!"
[reporter] I bet there's another group
you like better now
-than the Beatles. Is there?
-There is.
-[reporter] Which one?
-Herman and the Hermits.
[reporter] Tell me the truth now,
which group do you like better
than the Beatles?
The Beatles all the time. I love them!
[reporter] Tell me this, how long
do you think the Beatles can last?
Well, I wish they'd last forever.
They could bring happiness to everybody.
How long do you think they're gonna last?
As long as they keep playing,
they'll last.
Even going back to '65,
that's when I was saying,
"I don't wanna do this anymore.
I don't like this," you know,
these ticker-tape parades
that they were trying to do
and the… You know, I mean,
it was that, um…
It was nice to be popular,
but when you saw the size of it,
it was just ridiculous. It was dangerous.
It felt dangerous, you know,
because everybody
was out of hand and out of line,
-even the cops were out of line, you know.
-["Run For Your Life" playing]
They were all just caught up in the mania.
You know, it was like
they were in this big movie,
and it was like we were the ones
trapped in the middle of it
while everybody else was going mad.
So, for a year or… or so, you know,
I'd been saying,
"Let's not do this anymore."
And then, anyway, it played itself out.
But by '66, everybody
was feeling that that's it,
you know, we've gotta, um, stop this.
I don't think anyone
didn't wanna stop touring,
uh, probably…
Paul would've gone on longer
than George and I.
But you'll have to ask Paul about that.
Yeah, I'd been trying to say,
"Ah, no, you know,
touring's good and it keeps us sharp,
and we need touring,
and musicians need to play,"
you know, I'd… "Keep music live!"
I'd been sort of a bit that attitude.
Well, finally,
I agreed with them, you know,
and it was like, "Oh, you were right."
You know, I think it was George
and John who were particularly against it,
you know, particularly got fed up.
[John] We might have been waxworks
for half…
for half the… you know,
what the good we did there.
You know, nobody heard anything,
or not even, you know,
a basic beat, I don't think.
They were too busy tearing each other up.
[George] We were just tired,
you know. It had been…
uh, how many?
four years for us,
of legging around, you know,
screaming in this mania.
You know, we were tired, we needed a rest.
By the time we got to Candlestick Park,
I think we… we knew now,
"Yeah, sure," you know,
this wasn't, uh… this wasn't fun anymore.
I think that was the main point.
And, you know, we'd…
we'd always try to keep--
You've got to, really,
try and keep some fun in it
for yourself in anything you do, you know?
So, by then it was like,
"Yeah, well, don't tell anyone,
but this is probably our last gig."
[George] I certainly felt that
that was it, you know,
that we weren't gonna tour again
like that.
I never really projected into the future.
I was just thinking,
"This is gonna be such a relief
to… you know, to not have to go
and go through that madness."
[Paul] I don't remember having
a negative feeling
about the band, but about touring.
But you always forget the bad bits anyway.
So, I generally, about the band,
remember it being quite good.
[John] You know, I'm just sorry
for the people that can't see us live.
You know, sometimes
you haven't missed anything,
-because you… you wouldn't have heard us…
-[music concludes]
…but sometimes I think
you might have enjoyed it.
I'm sorry for them, yeah.
["For No One" playing]
Your day breaks, your mind aches ♪
You find that all her words
of kindness linger on ♪
When she no longer needs you ♪
She wakes up, she makes up ♪
She takes her time
and doesn't feel she has to hurry ♪
She no longer needs you ♪
And in her eyes you see nothing ♪
No sign of love behind the tears ♪
Cried for no one ♪
A love that should have lasted years ♪
You stay home, she goes out ♪
She says that long ago
she knew someone ♪
But now he's gone,
she doesn't need him ♪
Your day breaks, your mind aches ♪
There will be times
when all the things she said ♪
Will fill your head,
you won't forget her ♪
And in her eyes you see nothing ♪
No sign of love behind
the tears cried for no one ♪
A love that should have lasted years ♪
[music concludes]
[Brian Epstein] The Beatles were then
just four lads
on that rather dimly-lit stage.
You know, you're saying, like,
we were getting worse and worse as a band,
while all those people were screaming.
It was lovely that they liked us, but…
we couldn't hear to play.
So, the only place we could develop
was in the studio
-where we could hear ourselves.
-But also, we were losing interest
-to play on stage. Was just no fun.
-And I think the most important thing
was the safety aspect,
'cause soon after that,
it became terrorism,
and all that kind of stuff.
When we were going,
there was only us and two people.
We said all those things that happened,
like people threatening Ringo,
or threatening us,
or saying the plane…
Snipping bits of hair off
and stuff, and all that.
…the plane was gonna crash,
hurricanes hitting,
-race riots, student riots.
-[Paul] Wings on fire.
There was always something
that we pulled into town.
There was always some big thing going on,
and we'd come in the middle
with this mania,
and then it'd just be like chaos.
So, it was just becoming
too difficult, um, you know,
on the nervous system, that's what I felt.
And remember, when we'd all decided it,
we said, "Well, how…
what are we gonna do, like, announce it?
'The Beatles have given up touring'?"
We said, "No. Just don't say anything."
[John] But I was really too scared
to walk away.
I was thinking, "Well, this is
like the end really, you know.
There's no more touring."
And I was dead nervous,
so I… I said "yes" to Dick Lester,
that I would make this movie with him.
I went to Almería, Spain,
for six weeks just to…
because I didn't know
what to do, you know.
What do you do when you don't tour?
There's no life.
Well, our officer calls me up,
and he says to me,
he says, "Musketeer Gripweed?"
He was a tall chap.
Some would call him weedy.
I did. He said to me, and bear in mind,
we were some few hundred miles
behind enemy lines,
he said, "Green, green, green."
So, I did.
[Neil Aspinall]
Ringo came to… to Spain,
right, to Almería,
when John and I were down there.
Yeah, I went and hung out
'cause he was lonely.
And, you know, we really
supported each other a lot,
and so, you know, he was out
there being this… this actor.
You know, John was doing
How I Won the War.
So, I went to India.
And I think I went for about six weeks.
-And, uh, it was a fantastic time.
-[♪"Raga Charu Keshi" playing]
[George] I just would go out
and look at temples
and go shopping, and,
you know, we traveled all over.
We went to various places.
And eventually, we went up to Kashmir,
and stayed on these houseboats
up in the middle of the Himalayas.
It was incredible, you know,
I'd wake up in the morning,
this little, um, Kashmiri fella
would bring us tea and biscuits,
and then I could hear Ravi
in the next room,
he'd be doing his practice,
-and that was incredible times for me.
-[music concludes]
George, like he said,
was doing the Indian stuff,
and-- and what was Paul doing?
I don't know what he was doing.
["The Family Way"
(Incidental Music) playing]
[Paul] To me, you know, if you are blessed
with the ability to sort of write music…
like, film scores were kind
of an interesting diversion.
And George Martin, being able to write
and being able to orchestrate
and being pretty good at that,
um, I think got an offer
through the Boulting brothers…
[music concludes]
…to-- for him and me to do some
film music for The Family Way.
So, I had a look at the film.
I thought it was a great film. I still do.
It's a very powerful, emotional,
soppy, but good film,
I think, for its time.
We actually even got an Ivor Novello Award
for the "Best Film Song" that year
for a thing called "Love In The Open Air".
["Love In The Open Air" playing]
[music concludes]
[interviewer] Hey, can I have a word?
-Yeah.
-[interviewer chuckles]
Are the Beatles gonna go
their own ways in 1967?
We could be, uh, you know,
on our own or together.
We're always involved with each other,
whatever we're doing, really.
Could you ever see a time when,
in fact, you weren't working together?
I could see us working
not together for a period,
but we'd always get together
for one reason or another.
Like, I mean, you… [scoffs]
You need other people for ideas as well,
but you know, um, we all get along fine.
Will you… will you be…
will you be doing films
on your own next year?
Uh, no, I don't wanna make a career of it.
I did it just 'cause I felt like
doing it, and if some--
And Dick Lester asked me,
and I said "yes".
And I wouldn't have done it
if the others hadn't liked it, you know.
But they said, "Fine,
'cause we were on holiday anyway."
[interviewer] Do you foresee a time when,
in fact, the Beatles won't be together,
-and that you'll all be on your own?
-No, no.
[interviewer] Do you get--
Have you got tired of each other?
-No. [chuckles] No.
-[interviewer] No?
Have you got anything lined up
on your own?
-Film parts, for example?
-No…
Um, well, there may be one
if we don't do one together
early next year.
To say-- See, I'm sort of out of it there,
because with John and Paul,
they can still write
even though we're sort of
not working together,
and George can, you know,
learn his sitar and do things like that.
-And I've just been sitting 'round.
-[interviewer] Getting bored?
Uh, no. Getting fat. [chuckles]
[interviewer] Do you think that,
in the New Year,
that you're gonna be going
your own ways instead of
-being in the group? No?
-No, no.
-No. Definitely not.
-[interviewer] What about another word?
-Can I just have a brief word with you?
-Yeah.
[interviewer] If you never toured again,
would it worry you?
Uh… I dunno. No, I don't think so.
-[interviewer] Wouldn't worry you?
-But…
Because the only thing about
that, you see, is that, uh…
performance for us… see,
it's… it's gone downhill, performance,
'cause we can't develop when
no one can hear us, you know what I mean?
So, for us to perform is,
uh, it's difficult,
-gets difficult each time. More difficult.
-You mean they don't listen to you,
and therefore you don't want to do that?
Oh, yeah, we wanna do it,
but, uh, if we're not listened to,
then… and we can't even hear ourselves,
then we can't improve in that.
We can't get any better.
But it meant we could get into
the studio and start with, uh,
"Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane"
and that, and then Pepper.
Were they the first ones out,
do you remember?
I don't know. Where they?
I mean, I seem to remember
that was like what happened
once we'd get full-time into the studio,
and… and saying, at the time,
"Now, our performance is that record."
And that new record started
with "Strawberry Fields".
And that was going to be
what became Pepper.
It wasn't Pepper. No one heard of Pepper.
But it was gonna be a record
that was gonna be made in the studio,
and they… it was gonna be songs
which they had written,
which couldn't be performed live.
They were designed to be,
um, studio productions.
And that was the difference.
Well, "Strawberry Fields"
is a song that John had,
because he used to live next door
to this place called Strawberry Fields,
which was a Salvation Army place for kids.
And he used to bunk over,
and it was his little magic garden
to sort of play in.
So, whenever I went
to visit him, he'd sort of say,
"Hey, you know, there…"
and we'd go past, and he'd say,
"This is Strawberry Fields,"
and he'd give me the gen on it.
[John] "Strawberry Fields"
I wrote when I was making
How I Won the War in Almería, Spain.
It's a, um, Salvation Army home…
that was near the house
I lived in with my auntie in the suburbs,
although I took the name as a…
as an image.
We had this thing called
a Mellotron that we, uh,
did the intro of "Strawberry Fields" on.
This, in fact, is one of them.
We had flutes on there,
and, uh…
this was the intro.
[plays "Strawberry Fields Forever"]
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
-["Strawberry Fields Forever" playing]
-Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Living is easy with eyes closed ♪
Misunderstanding all you see ♪
It's getting hard to be someone ♪
But it all works out ♪
It doesn't matter much to me ♪
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
No one, I think, is in my tree ♪
I mean, it must be high or low ♪
That is, you can't, you know, tune in ♪
But it's all right ♪
That is, I think it's not too bad ♪
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Always, no, sometimes, think it's me ♪
But, you know,
I know when it's a dream ♪
I think, er, no, I mean, er, yes ♪
But it's all wrong ♪
That is, I think I disagree ♪
Let me take you down
'cause I'm going to ♪
Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
[music continues]
[Paul] And then, you know,
the nice thing is then
a lot of our stuff then started
to get a little bit more surreal.
And then "Penny Lane" was
a little bit more surreal too,
-although a sort of cleaner thing.
-[music concludes]
I was into-- I remember saying
to George Martin I wanted, like,
a very clean recording.
I was into, um, "clean" sounds,
maybe Beach Boy-y
kind of things, at that point.
But, you know,
"the fireman with his hourglass",
and all of that sort of stuff,
um, was us trying to get into
a bit of art, a bit of surrealism,
and they were all based on real things.
But I mean, whereas
there was a barber called--
What was he called? Bioletti?
Something like that.
Um, a little barber.
I think he's still there,
actually, in Penny Lane.
And he had these pictures
that all the barbers have
of the haircut you can have
if you ask for,
"I'll have Number Three there,"
you know. Um, and--
Only, instead of saying,
"The barber with pictures
of haircuts in his windows",
you know, then it was--
you'd change it 'round to, uh,
"Every head he's had
the pleasure to know".
"A barber showing photographs",
like it's an exhibition.
It was all just twisting it
to a little bit slightly more artsy angle.
[John] Penny Lane is not only
a street, but it's a district.
I lived in Penny Lane
in a street called Newcastle Road,
so I was the only actual person
that lived in Penny Lane.
["Penny Lane" playing]
In Penny Lane
there is a barber showing photographs ♪
Of every head he's had
the pleasure to know ♪
And all the people that come and go ♪
Stop and say hello ♪
On the corner
is a banker with a motor car ♪
The little children laugh at him
behind his back ♪
And the banker never wears a mac ♪
In the pouring rain, very strange ♪
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
There, beneath the blue suburban skies ♪
I sit, and meanwhile back ♪
In Penny Lane
there is a fireman with an hourglass ♪
And in his pocket
is a portrait of the Queen ♪
He likes to keep his fire engine clean ♪
It's a clean machine ♪
[music continues]
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
A four of fish and finger pies ♪
In summer, meanwhile back ♪
Behind the shelter
in the middle of the roundabout ♪
The pretty nurse
is selling poppies from a tray ♪
And though she feels
as if she's in a play ♪
She is, anyway ♪
In Penny Lane the barber shaves
another customer ♪
We see the banker sitting,
waiting for a trim ♪
And then the fireman rushes in ♪
From the pouring rain, very strange ♪
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
There, beneath the blue suburban skies ♪
I sit, and meanwhile back ♪
Penny Lane is in my ears
and in my eyes ♪
There, beneath the blue suburban skies ♪
-Penny Lane ♪
-[music concludes]
[Brian Matthew] And right now,
we're going to say hello
-to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
-[John and Paul] Look out! Look out!
[Brian Matthew]
Now, that number, "Penny Lane",
failed to make No. 1
in Britain, fellas.
Did you feel at all put out by that?
[Paul] No. It's--
I don't know. The main thing is,
it's fine if you're kept sort of
from being number one by, uh,
-sort of a record like "Release Me"…
-["Release Me" playing]
…'cause, uh, you're not trying
to do the same kind of thing
as "Release Me"
is trying to do, you know.
So, that's a completely
different scene altogether,
that kind of thing. Uh…
[Brian Matthew] But you have a little…
[Paul] So, it do--
doesn't really matter anyway.
[Brian Matthew]
But you have in the past said,
or at least been recorded as having said,
that in the event of a record
not going to No. 1,
you'd seriously think about
packing it all in.
Do you feel like that?
It was a relief.
Uh, you know, everything we did just went
straight to No. 1.
And, of course,
then you have that pressure,
and I… I believe we had,
like, seven on the row,
-I'm… I'm not really sure.
-[music concludes]
It was something, six or seven,
uh, was out, was in,
was out, was one, you know.
So, actually, uh, within the group,
it… it took the pressure off.
[Brian Matthew] The thing is, I mean,
you've obviously reached the stage
where you don't have to write
any more songs for any reason at all
-other than you like doing it, so…
-[Paul] But it's always been like that,
-that's the good thing.
-[Brian Matthew] Yeah?
[Paul] That's the-- You know,
'cause it has been a hobby…
-[Brian Matthew] Mm-hmm.
-…and it still is, you know.
[Brian Matthew] Can you,
without giving away any trade secrets,
tell us anything about the numbers
that you're engaged on at the moment?
Well, really, it was Paul
who'd been on a train journey,
or a plane journey, with Mal Evans,
and come up with this idea of Sgt. Pepper,
and he was just kind of…
To… To me, we were just in the studio
to make the next record,
and he was going on
about this idea of, um,
you know, some fictitious band.
[Paul] At the time, there were lots of
those sort of bands that were,
you know-- Laughing Joe
and his Medicine Band,
"Thank you! Wham! Bam! Ma'am!"
kind of group names, you know.
Colonel Tucker's Medicinal Brew
and Compound.
So, I just thought, "Oh well,
you know, if there was a band,
what would be a mad name for it?"
["Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band" playing]
Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band ♪
It was basically Paul's idea
to… to call Pepper--
He came in and said, you know,
he had this song,
-[music concludes]
-"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band",
and he… he… he was kind of
identifying it with the band,
the Beatles, themselves.
And the… the…
I think we recorded the song first,
and then the idea came to make it into a…
an idea for the album,
which was also triggered
by Neil, Neil Aspinall,
who said at that time…
"Why don't we have Sgt. Pepper
as the compère?
You know, he comes on
at the beginning of the show,
he introduces the band, right?"
And then at the end of every Beatles show,
Paul always used to say, "It's, uh…"
You know, "It's time to go,"
you know, "We've gotta go to bed,"
and, uh, you know,
"This is our last number," you know.
Do the last number and go.
And, uh, I said to… to Paul,
"Why doesn't Sgt. Pepper come on
at the end of the album,
and say, you know,
'Well, that's it, we've gotta go,'
you know,
'Here's our last number,' right,
and, uh, send the album on tour
instead of the band, right?"
So, uh, we liked that idea.
It was gonna be, uh, a "show" album.
I mean, it was Sgt. Pepper
and his Lonely Hearts Club Band,
and all these other acts.
And it was gonna all run,
you know, like a rock opera.
And, uh, we got as far
as, uh, Sgt. Pepper,
and then Billy Shears. [chuckles]
"A Little Help From My Friends",
and then everyone said,
"Oh, sod it! Let's just do tracks."
So, it started out with its own, you know…
that it was gonna be
something totally different.
But it still then kept the title,
and… and… like, uh,
also the feel that it's…
it's all connected.
[John] It's called
the first "concept" album.
It doesn't go anywhere.
"Mr. Kite!", all my contributions
have abs-- absolutely nothing
to do with this idea
of Sgt. Pepper and his band.
But it works 'cause we said it worked,
and that's how it appeared.
["Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band" playing]
It was twenty years ago today ♪
Sergeant Pepper taught
the band to play ♪
They've been going in and out of style ♪
But they're guaranteed
to raise a smile ♪
So, may I introduce to you ♪
The act you've known
for all these years? ♪
Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band ♪
[crowd cheering, applauding]
Billy Shears ♪
["With A Little Help
From My Friends" playing]
What would you think
if I sang out of tune? ♪
Would you stand up and walk out on me? ♪
Lend me your ears
and I'll sing you a song ♪
And I'll try not to sing out of key ♪
Oh, I get by with
a little help from my friends ♪
Mm, I get high with
a little help from my friends ♪
Mm, gonna try with
a little help from my friends ♪
[music concludes]
[John] It starts out with Sgt. Pepper
and introduces Billy Shears,
and that's the end,
apart from the so-called reprise.
Otherwise, every other song
could have been on any other album.
"Mr. Kite!" could have gone anywhere.
["Being For The Benefit
Of Mr. Kite!" playing]
For the benefit of Mister Kite ♪
There will be a show tonight
on trampoline ♪
The Hendersons will all be there ♪
Late of Pablo Fanque's fair ♪
What a scene ♪
Over men and horses, hoops and garters ♪
Lastly through a hogshead of real fire ♪
In this way, Mister K.
will challenge the world ♪
The celebrated Mister K.
performs his feat on Saturday ♪
At Bishopsgate ♪
The Hendersons will dance and sing ♪
As Mister Kite flies through the ring ♪
Don't be late ♪
Messrs K. and H. assure the public ♪
Their production
will be second to none ♪
And, of course, Henry the Horse ♪
Dances the waltz! ♪
[Ringo] We were really spending
a long time in the studio,
and we were still doing
the basic tracks like we always did,
and then it would take weeks
for the overdubs.
And also the great thing
about this band was,
whoever had the idea, that was okay.
Whoever had the best idea,
it didn't matter who,
that's the one we'd use.
[music concludes]
[Paul] For instance, "Day In The Life",
John and I sat down,
and he had, um, this opening verse,
I think he'd got the idea,
or-- or-- or we then took
the idea from like
the Daily Mirror, or something.
[John] So, it had two stories.
One was the Guinness child
that killed himself in a car,
that was the main headline story.
Uh, on the next page was about
4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.
[Paul] So, the-- the-- the…
[in Lancashire accent]
…Blackburn, Lancashire…
[in normal accent]
…the holes, Albert Hall,
all just sort of--
just got mixed, you know.
Just a little poetic jumble
that sounded nice.
And we've got
the rehearsal take, Take 1,
the very first time we heard it,
um, with John giving
a few instructions to people,
as usual, just before he starts it.
[crew member] Is the mic not too?
[John] Could have the mic
on the piano, and quite low,
just-- Just keep it
beside maracas, you know.
John was singing while
he was playing his acoustic guitar.
Paul was on piano.
George was playing maracas, I think,
and certainly Ringo was on bongos.
John counts in by saying,
"Sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy."
[John speaks indistinctly]
[John] Sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy.
["A Day In The Life" playing]
I read the news today, oh boy ♪
About a lucky man… ♪
Even in this early take,
he has a voice
which sends shivers down the spine.
…was rather sad ♪
Well, I just had to laugh ♪
I saw the photograph ♪
[Paul] It was mainly a John song,
and he had the, uh…
I read the news today, oh boy ♪
And he'd taken a lot of it
from a newspaper.
And then I had another bit, um…
Woke up, fell out of bed,
dragged a comb across my head ♪
That was a little bit I had,
but it wasn't doing anything.
And so we thought, "Well, that'd be good.
We could put that in the middle."
And we got the concept
of sort of building it
a little bit like a sort of mini operetta.
["A Day In The Life" continues]
Woke up, fell out of bed ♪
Dragged a comb across my head ♪
Found my way downstairs
and drank a cup ♪
And, looking up, I noticed I was late ♪
[George Martin] John said,
"Well, let's shove it in the middle
and see if we can't
connect them up in some way."
-[music concludes]
-We connected them
with a series of empty bars
on either side of Paul's sec--
section before we came back
into John's as a reprise,
and we knew we had to fill
those bars with something sensational,
and we didn't know
what it was going to be yet.
And in order to keep the 24 bars
so that everybody knew
when to come back in again,
dear old Mal Evans stood
by the piano counting the bars.
-[piano playing]
-[Mal Evans] …seven, eight, nine, ten.
[George Martin] And just to add
further weight to it,
he set off an alarm clock at the end of it
to trigger everybody back into it again.
-[piano continues]
-[Mal Evans] …17, 18…
-19, 20!
-[alarm clock ringing]
[music concludes]
They told me they wanted
an orchestral climax
to fill these empty bars,
a giant orgasm of sound,
rising from nothing at all
to the most incredible noise.
And this is what we came up with.
[orchestral cacophony playing]
[volume gradually increases]
[music climaxes]
["A Day In The Life" playing]
And with that, we joined up
the two parts of the song.
The moment I remember best
outside of, say, him bringing the song,
it was obviously a gorgeous song
when he brought it.
And I say, I was a big fan of John's.
You've got to remember that, you know?
-[music concludes]
-It wouldn't just be, "Oh, yes,
a professional person will write this."
It'd be like, "Oh, yeah…
I can't wait to get my hands on this."
And we'd… we'd…
I'd learn the chords off him,
and we'd develop it.
Um, but the moment I remember
was when, um,
we got to a little bit
that he didn't have,
where we sort of said…
I'd love to turn you on ♪
And we, like, looked at each other,
thinking like… [inhales sharply]
"We know what we're doing here, don't we?"
We were actually saying
for the first time ever, like,
words like "turn you on",
you know, and-- which had--
which was in the culture anyway,
but no one had actually
said it on record yet.
And there was a little sort of look
of recog-- recognition between us, like,
"Do it. Do it. Get it down!"
-["A Day In The Life" continues]
-I read the news today, oh boy ♪
Four thousand holes
in Blackburn, Lancashire ♪
And though the holes were rather small ♪
They had to count them all ♪
Now they know how many holes
it takes to fill the Albert Hall ♪
I'd love to turn you on ♪
Four, five, six, seven ♪
Eight, nine, ten ♪
11, 12, 13, 14, 15… ♪
[orchestral cacophony playing]
The big, grand pianos
at the end. I was very into…
-[music concludes]
-If you… if you listen on--
[resonating chord]
Uh… If you stick a mic on that,
that'll go on
for about a minute and a half.
Shall we listen?
No, well, we, you know,
we haven't got time.
It's still there,
and that'll go on forever.
And that was just one of
the little things that fascinated me,
so I kind of brought that
to the session. I said, "How about--"
Still there. Can you hear it?
Bring the mic in.
And if you bring the mic in
and in and in…
-[resonating chord]
-…it's still there.
So, you know, I did this thing,
so-- so-- so we got everyone
on grand pianos all doing a big…
[loud piano chord plays]
[chord fades gradually]
[Ringo] So, you know, the sleeve came,
and we wanted to dress up,
and we wanted to be
these people, you know,
the Peppers. [chuckles]
And, uh, you know,
had to get suits, and, you know,
it was Flower Power, I mean,
coming into its fullest.
You know, that's… that's what it was.
And anyway, you know,
then, uh, Mal and I
just went to all the different libraries
and got prints and, uh,
Peter Blake blew 'em up
and tinted them and, uh, made the collage.
["Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band" playing]
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely,
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely ♪
Hearts Club ♪
Band ♪
Whoo! ♪
And if you look closely
at the album cover,
you'll see two people who are flying
and two who aren't. [chuckles]
That's just a little in-joke.
[interviewer laughs]
Two of them didn't share it
with two others.
And I remember the weekend
it was, um, released,
getting, like, a telegram off people
like, sort of, James Fox,
"Long Live Sgt. Pepper!"
And, you know, people would
come 'round and say, "Great album, man."
So, it got very noticed as sort of…
It was like you were making it
for us, our crowd.
It sort of linked up
with Mary Quant and miniskirts
and all that kind of thing.
And dope, to a certain extent.
You know, the… the freedom of sex,
the freedom of-- of, um,
soft drugs like marijuana and so on.
Um, I suppose it was all
a bit exciting and it…
I think it did reflect its time.
And the biggest single
sort of tribute for me was that,
uh, it was released on the Friday,
and on the Sunday we went
to the Saville Theatre
which, uh, Brian Epstein, uh, rented on--
and ran some rock shows
'cause nothing ever happened on a Sunday,
and Jimi Hendrix opened
with "Sgt. Pepper",
and he'd only had since
the Friday to-- to learn it.
So may I introduce to you ♪
The one and only Billy Shears ♪
Sergeant Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band ♪
Pepper… Of course,
we're looking back on Pepper,
it was quite an icon,
it was the record of that time,
and it probably did change
the face of recording,
but we didn't do it consciously.
It wasn't like nine months in the studio.
It was nine months over a period
and we'd do a section, and then stop,
and then come back in,
if I can remember it right.
And, uh, I liked to just get in and out.
You know, I get a bit bored.
It's a fine album,
but I did learn to play chess on it,
because I'd have so much
spare time, you know.
We'd do the basic track,
and then we'd put other stuff on,
and then the percussion
would be overdubbed later.
-["Within You Without You" playing]
-I had a few moments
in there that I enjoyed,
but generally, I didn't really
like that album much.
My heart was still in India, you know?
I mean, that was the big thing for me,
when that-- it happened in '66.
Uh, it was the--
After that, everything else
seemed like hard work.
You know, it was a job.
It was like doing something
I didn't really, uh, want to do.
I was losing interest
in being "fab" at that point.
[John] It wasn't that spectacular,
I mean, when you look back on it.
I mean, like anything, it was great then.
But, uh, people just had
this dream about Pepper,
-and it was good for then, you know.
-[music concludes]
I was very cross that the BBC,
in their infinite wisdom,
decided to ban some of the tracks
and they wouldn't play it.
They wouldn't play "A Day In The Life".
Why? I don't know, but they wouldn't.
And they wouldn't play
"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
because this rumor went round that
it was all connected with drugs, and, uh,
"Lucy In The Sky" actually stood for LSD,
which wasn't true.
And that it was, uh, a--
an album which actually
was promoting the use of drugs
amongst the young.
["Lucy In The Sky
With Diamonds" playing]
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
[George Martin]
I was aware of them smoking pot.
I wasn't aware that they did
anything really serious.
Um, in fact, I was so innocent
that I actually took John up
onto the roof when he was having
a… an LSD trip,
not knowing what it was.
[John] I never took it in the studio.
Once I did, accidentally.
I thought I was taking some uppers
and, uh, I-- I was not in
a state of handling it,
you know, but I took it.
And then I just-- I just, you know,
I was so scared on the mic,
you know. I said, "What was it?"
You know, I said, "I feel ill."
I thought I felt ill. And--
And I was goin'--
I thought I was goin' cracked, you know.
And then I-- I said,
"I must get some air."
And they all took me upstairs on the roof,
and George Martin was looking
at me funny, you know.
And then it dawned on me,
"I must have taken acid!"
[George Martin] So, the only place
I could take him to get fresh air
was on the roof.
[music concludes]
And we went up there
and it was a wonderful starry night,
and he looked up,
went to the edge of the, uh,
about 18-inch parapet
and looked up at the stars,
and said, "Isn't-- Aren't they fantastic?"
And, of course, to him,
they would have been
especially fantastic, I suppose.
Um, they were just
little stars to me at the time.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪
[music fades]
[Ringo] I feel to this day that, you know,
we did take certain substances,
uh, but never to a great extent
at the sessions.
At-- You know, we took a little,
but whenever we'd overdid our intake,
-the music we made was absolutely shit.
-[music concludes]
And we… You know,
we'd go home real happy with the tape,
and we'd play it when we got home, and…
you'd play it the next day, and…
it was just every time
we'd come back to record again,
we'd all look at each other and say,
"Well, we have to do that again,"
because, you know, it… didn't work.
It didn't work for the…
for the Beatles, uh, to be…
too deranged when making music.
[John] Now, the point about
the whole drug scene was,
the press asked Paul,
"Have you taken LSD?"
This is how it all came out,
otherwise we didn't say
a word about it, you know?
I mean, it was just a--
a personal thing, right?
But I did talk to him beforehand,
and I said, "Look, you know
what's gonna happen here.
I'm gonna get the blame
for telling everyone 'I take drugs'."
I said, "But you're the people
who are gonna--
to distribute this thing."
I said, "I'll tell you," I said,
"but if you've got any worries about this
having an effect on kids,
then you don't show it."
[interviewer] Do you think
you have now encouraged
your fans to take drugs?
I don't think it'll make
any difference, you know.
I don't think my fans
are gonna take drugs
just 'cause I did, you know.
But the thing is, that's not
the point anyway, you know.
I was asked whether I had or not.
And then from then on,
the whole bit about w--
how far it's gonna go
and how many people it's gonna encourage
is up to the newspapers
and up to you, you know, on television.
I mean, you're spreading this
now at this moment.
This is going into all the homes,
you know, in Britain,
and I'd rather it didn't, you know.
But you're asking me the question.
You want me to be honest.
I'll be honest, you know.
I don't know, it just seemed strange to me
because we'd been trying
to get him to take it for about 18 months,
and then it just seemed funny that one day
he's on the television
talking all about it.
The problem was
it then gave the press a field day,
to be on all our cases, you know?
I personally didn't think
it was any of their business,
uh, but, you know, once he said it, uh,
you know, whoever said anything
in the Beatles,
the other three
had to deal with it, you know,
which we did in… with all love,
because, you know, we loved each other.
["All You Need Is Love" playing]
[John] We're sorry, you know,
but there's plenty of people in England
who haven't seen us unless they get--
we do a world telly show
and everybody watches at once
through a satellite.
That's the only way everybody'd see us.
[George] It was supposedly
the very first satellite hook-up
around the world.
And I don't know
how many millions of people,
but it was supposed to be some
phenomenal amount of people
-[music concludes]
-and it was probably
the very earliest technology
that enabled that kinda satellite link.
It was a commission that was--
Brian suddenly wa-- whirled in and said,
"We are to represent Britain
in this round-the-world hook-up
and you've got to…
you've gotta write a song."
And it was a challenge.
Um, it was within two weeks,
I think, we had to get it together.
And then we learned it was going to be,
for that time, uh, a phenomenal figure
of over 200 million people watching.
And I don't know if the song
was written before that,
because we were making
an album at the time,
so there was kind of
lots of songs in circulation.
Paul may know more about that.
Over to you, Paul.
Um, I'm not sure.
It was John's song, mainly.
Um, I don't think
it was written specially for it,
but it was one of the songs
we had and… and…
I don't know. Actually, George Martin
might have a bit better idea on that.
It was certainly tailored to it
once we had it.
But I've got a feeling it was just one
of John's songs that was coming there.
We went down to Olympic Studios in Barnes
and, uh, recorded it, uh…
Um, and then it became the song.
They said,
"Ah, this is the one we should use."
I don't actually think
it was written for it.
Yeah, they wrote it specifically for that.
And we all dressed up again.
See, we were getting into--
We loved dressing up!
[laughs]
And we had another suit.
But mine was so bloody heavy
'cause, you know,
Simon and Marijke
from The Fool was the company,
and I had all this beading on,
as we'll cut to right now,
and, uh, it just weighed a ton.
It was a fabulous time,
musically and spiritually.
We decided to get, um…
some people in who looked
like the Love Generation.
And I think if you look close
on the floor, I know there's--
Mick Jagger's there,
but there's also Eric Clapton, I believe,
in full psychedelic regalia
and permed hair,
sitting right there.
And there was an orchestra that was live,
and the singing was live
and certain of audience, and so on.
And we knew it was going to be
a live television show.
And just at the la--
And there was also a camera
in the control room on us doing our bits.
And just about 30 seconds
to go on the air,
and there was a phone call,
and it was the producer
of the show on to me, saying,
"I'm afraid I've lost
all contact with the… with the studio.
You're gonna have to relay
instructions to them,
'cause we're going on air
any moment now!"
And I thought, "My God!
If you're gonna make a fool of yourself,
you might as well do it properly
in front of 200 million people!"
The man upstairs pointed his finger,
and that's it. We did it. One take.
[crew member] One, two, three.
["All You Need Is Love" playing]
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
There's nothing you can do
that can't be done ♪
Nothing you can sing
that can't be sung ♪
Nothing you can say
but you can learn how to play the game ♪
It's easy ♪
Nothing you can make
that can't be made ♪
No one you can save
that can't be saved ♪
Nothing you can do
but you can learn how to be you in time ♪
It's easy ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
Love, love, love ♪
All you need is love ♪
-Whoo! ♪
-All you need is love ♪
Yeah! ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
Love ♪
There's nothing you can know
that isn't known ♪
Nothing you can see that isn't shown ♪
There's nowhere you can be
that isn't where you're meant to be ♪
It's easy ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
All you need is love ♪
All together now ♪
All you need is love ♪
Everybody ♪
All you need is love, love ♪
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all you need ♪
Love is all you need
Love is all… ♪
Because the mood of the time,
it seemed to be a great idea
to do that song
because while everybody else
was showing people knitting in Canada
and Irish clog dancers in Venezuela,
we thought, "Well,
we'll just sing 'All You Need Is Love'
because it's a kind of
subtle bit of PR for, um, God."
Oh yeah! ♪
Love is all you need ♪
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Love is all you need ♪
She loves you, yeah, yeah… ♪
[music fades]
["Strawberry Fields Forever" playing]
Living is easy with eyes closed ♪
Misunderstanding all you see ♪
It's getting hard to be someone ♪
But it all works out ♪
It doesn't matter much to me ♪
No one, I think, is in my tree ♪
I mean, it must be high or low ♪
That is, you can't, you know, tune in ♪
But it's all right ♪
That is, I think it's not too bad ♪
Let me take you down ♪
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Always, no, sometimes, think it's me ♪
But you know I know when it's a dream ♪
I think, er, no, I mean, er, yes ♪
But it's all wrong ♪
That is, I think I disagree ♪
Let me take you down ♪
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields ♪
Nothing is real ♪
And nothing to get hung about ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
Strawberry Fields forever ♪
[music continues]
[music concludes]