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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)
Encyclopedia
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is a song written by Paul McCartney
(credited to Lennon–McCartney), and first recorded and released in 1967, on the The Beatles
' album of the same name
. The song appears twice on the album: as the opening track (segueing into "With a Little Help from My Friends
"), and as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", the penultimate track (segueing into "A Day in the Life
"). As the title track, the lyrics introduce the fictional band that performs in the album.
Since its original album release, the song has also been released on singles, on compilation albums, and has been performed by several other artists including Jimi Hendrix
, U2
, and a comic interpretation by Bill Cosby
, using the opening to John Phillip Sousa's Washington Post March as the instrumental bridge.
assuming an alter-ego in the "Lonely Hearts Club Band", which would then perform a concert in front of an audience.
The inspiration is said to have come when roadie Mal Evans
innocently asked McCartney what the letters “S” and “P” stood for on the pots on their in-flight meal trays, and McCartney explained it was for salt and pepper. This then led to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
concept, as well as the song.
The group's road manager Neil Aspinall
suggested the idea of Sgt. Pepper being the compère
, as well as the reprise at the end of the album. According to his diaries, Evans may have also contributed to the song. John Lennon
attributed the idea for Sgt. Pepper to McCartney, although the song is officially credited to Lennon/McCartney
. The song was recorded in Abbey Road's number 2 studio, with Martin producing, and Geoff Emerick
engineering. Work on the song started on 1 February 1967, and after three further sessions the recording was complete on 6 March 1967.
album, the song opens to the sound of a chattering audience, and an orchestra tuning up, which was taken from the 10 February orchestra session for "A Day in the Life". The crowd sounds edited into the song were recorded in the early '60s by Martin, during a live recording of the stage show Beyond the Fringe
. When the song itself begins, the band introduces its members. The song's structure is:
The song is in G major, with a 4/4 meter. A horn
quartet
was used to fill out the instrumental sections. It may be considered in the chromatic-minor system, using dominant seventh chords built on every step of the natural minor scale. (for example, in G, IV7: C-E-G-D, with E being chromatic)
of the opening song at a faster tempo with heavier instrumentation. The track opens with McCartney's count-in (retained in the manner of "I Saw Her Standing There
", the first song on their first album); between 2 and 3, Lennon jokingly interjects "Bye!". Starr starts the song proper by playing the drum part unaccompanied for four bars, at the end of which a brief bass glissando cues the full ensemble of two distorted guitars, bass, drums and overdubbed percussion. While the original track had stayed largely in the key of G major (except for transient modulation to F and perhaps C in the bridges), the reprise starts in F and features a rare example in The Beatles' output of modulation
, to G. The mono and stereo mixes of the song differ slightly: the former has a fractionally different transition from the previous song, and includes crowd noise and laughter in the opening bars that are absent from the stereo mix.
The idea for a reprise was Aspinall's, who thought that as there was a "welcome song", there should be a "goodbye song". The song contains broadly the same melody as the opening version, but with different lyrics and omitting the "It's wonderful to be here" section. At 1:18, it is one of The Beatles' shorter songs (the shortest is "Her Majesty
" at 0:23). The reprise was recorded on 1 April 1967, two months after the version that opens the album. At the end of the track, Martin's pre-recorded applause sample segues into the final track of the album, "A Day in the Life
".
When The Beatles' recording contract with EMI
expired in 1976, EMI was free to re-release music from The Beatles' catalogue, and in 1978 – 11 years after the original album release – released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from My Friends" as the A-side
of a single with "A Day in the Life" as the B-side
.
The single was released on Capitol
in the US on 14 August (closely following the US release of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
film), reaching #71 on 30 September 1978 where it stayed for 2 weeks. The single was released on Parlophone
in the UK in September.
The original recording of the song is included on the following Beatles compilation albums: 1967-1970 (1973), Yellow Submarine Songtrack
(1999).
A run-through of the reprise is included on the outtakes album Anthology 2
(1996).
In 2006, the reprise was re-released on the album Love
, which was a theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil
. The updated version is a remix featuring samples
of other Beatles' songs.
The notebook used by McCartney containing the lyrics for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and other songs was put up for sale in 1998.
Reprise:
In 1967, Jimi Hendrix
played the song live at the Saville Theatre
in Shaftesbury Avenue, which was leased by Brian Epstein
, only three days after it had been released on record, with McCartney and George Harrison in the audience. Another live version by Hendrix recorded at the Isle of Wight Festival
was included on a posthumous live album, Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight
.
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was never performed live by The Beatles
. It was performed by three of The Beatles (McCartney, Harrison, and Starr) plus Eric Clapton
on 19 May 1979, at Clapton's wedding party. Paul McCartney played it live on the 1989/1990 Paul McCartney World Tour. On subsequent tours he would play the reprise version and use that as a segue into "The End
. When the performance is released, it usually is listed as "Sgt. Pepper's/The End," shortening the name of the song. When Paul performs it, he usually adds the count-in after the drum part begins, as opposed to Paul's count-in preceding the drum opening.
McCartney and U2
played the song at the start of the Live 8
concert in Hyde Park, London
on 2 July 2005. The song, starting with "It was twenty years ago" was chosen amongst others to commemorate that Live 8 took place approximately twenty years after Live Aid
. The single was released for charity on iTunes
, and set a world record for the fastest-selling online song of all time.
In 2007, Bryan Adams
and Stereophonics
recorded the album's two versions of the song for It Was 40 Years Ago Today, a television film with contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the same studio, technicians and recording techniques as the original.
On 4 April 2009, McCartney performed the song during a benefit concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall
and segued it into "With A Little Help From My Friends", sung by Ringo.
In 2009, Cheap Trick
released a live album
and DVD
called Sgt. Pepper Live
, which is a live performance of the entire original album, including the title song and reprise.
In 2011, Robbie Williams
performed the song on Take That
's Progress tour, replacing "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with "Robbie Williams and the Take That Band", and "Mr Martin told the Band to play", a reference to Take That's manager in the 90's Nigel Martin-Smith
.
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
(credited to Lennon–McCartney), and first recorded and released in 1967, on the The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' album of the same name
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
. The song appears twice on the album: as the opening track (segueing into "With a Little Help from My Friends
With a Little Help from My Friends
-Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...
"), and as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", the penultimate track (segueing into "A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life
"A Day in the Life" is a song by The Beatles, the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song comprises distinct segments written independently by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with orchestral additions...
"). As the title track, the lyrics introduce the fictional band that performs in the album.
Since its original album release, the song has also been released on singles, on compilation albums, and has been performed by several other artists including Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, and a comic interpretation by Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, using the opening to John Phillip Sousa's Washington Post March as the instrumental bridge.
Authorship and recording
In November 1966, on the flight back to England after a holiday, McCartney conceived an idea in which an entire album would be role-played, with each of The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
assuming an alter-ego in the "Lonely Hearts Club Band", which would then perform a concert in front of an audience.
The inspiration is said to have come when roadie Mal Evans
Mal Evans
Malcolm Frederick 'Mal' Evans was best known as the road manager, assistant, and a friend of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr....
innocently asked McCartney what the letters “S” and “P” stood for on the pots on their in-flight meal trays, and McCartney explained it was for salt and pepper. This then led to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
concept, as well as the song.
The group's road manager Neil Aspinall
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head The Beatles' company Apple Corps....
suggested the idea of Sgt. Pepper being the compère
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
, as well as the reprise at the end of the album. According to his diaries, Evans may have also contributed to the song. John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
attributed the idea for Sgt. Pepper to McCartney, although the song is officially credited to Lennon/McCartney
Lennon/McCartney
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history...
. The song was recorded in Abbey Road's number 2 studio, with Martin producing, and Geoff Emerick
Geoff Emerick
Geoffrey Emerick is an English recording studio audio engineer, who is best known for his work with The Beatles' albums Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road...
engineering. Work on the song started on 1 February 1967, and after three further sessions the recording was complete on 6 March 1967.
Song structure
On the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
album, the song opens to the sound of a chattering audience, and an orchestra tuning up, which was taken from the 10 February orchestra session for "A Day in the Life". The crowd sounds edited into the song were recorded in the early '60s by Martin, during a live recording of the stage show Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
. When the song itself begins, the band introduces its members. The song's structure is:
- IntroductionIntroduction (music)In music, the introduction is a passage or section which opens a movement or a separate piece. In popular music this is often abbreviated as intro...
(instrumental) - Verse
- BridgeBridge (music)In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
(instrumental) - RefrainRefrainA refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
- Bridge
- Verse
- Instrumental bridge and transition into "With a Little Help from My FriendsWith a Little Help from My Friends-Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...
".
The song is in G major, with a 4/4 meter. A horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
quartet
Quartet
In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...
was used to fill out the instrumental sections. It may be considered in the chromatic-minor system, using dominant seventh chords built on every step of the natural minor scale. (for example, in G, IV7: C-E-G-D, with E being chromatic)
Reprise
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" is a somewhat modified repeatReprise
Reprise is a fundamental device in the history of art. In literature, a reprise consists of the rewriting of another work; in music, a reprise is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the...
of the opening song at a faster tempo with heavier instrumentation. The track opens with McCartney's count-in (retained in the manner of "I Saw Her Standing There
I Saw Her Standing There
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and is the opening track on The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963....
", the first song on their first album); between 2 and 3, Lennon jokingly interjects "Bye!". Starr starts the song proper by playing the drum part unaccompanied for four bars, at the end of which a brief bass glissando cues the full ensemble of two distorted guitars, bass, drums and overdubbed percussion. While the original track had stayed largely in the key of G major (except for transient modulation to F and perhaps C in the bridges), the reprise starts in F and features a rare example in The Beatles' output of modulation
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
, to G. The mono and stereo mixes of the song differ slightly: the former has a fractionally different transition from the previous song, and includes crowd noise and laughter in the opening bars that are absent from the stereo mix.
The idea for a reprise was Aspinall's, who thought that as there was a "welcome song", there should be a "goodbye song". The song contains broadly the same melody as the opening version, but with different lyrics and omitting the "It's wonderful to be here" section. At 1:18, it is one of The Beatles' shorter songs (the shortest is "Her Majesty
Her Majesty (song)
"Her Majesty" is a song written by Paul McCartney that appears on The Beatles' album Abbey Road. "Her Majesty" is the final track of the album and appears fourteen seconds after the song "The End", but was not listed on the original sleeve...
" at 0:23). The reprise was recorded on 1 April 1967, two months after the version that opens the album. At the end of the track, Martin's pre-recorded applause sample segues into the final track of the album, "A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life
"A Day in the Life" is a song by The Beatles, the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song comprises distinct segments written independently by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with orchestral additions...
".
Releases
It was originally released in the UK on 1 June 1967, and in the US on 2 June 1967 on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP.When The Beatles' recording contract with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
expired in 1976, EMI was free to re-release music from The Beatles' catalogue, and in 1978 – 11 years after the original album release – released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from My Friends" as the A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of a single with "A Day in the Life" as the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
.
The single was released on Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
in the US on 14 August (closely following the US release of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a 1978 American musical film. Its soundtrack, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, features new versions of songs originally written and performed by The Beatles. The film draws primarily from two of their albums, 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club...
film), reaching #71 on 30 September 1978 where it stayed for 2 weeks. The single was released on Parlophone
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
in the UK in September.
| Country | Chart | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| UK | Music Week Music Week Music Week is a trade paper for the UK record industry.Founded in 1959 as Record Retailer, it was relaunched on 18 March 1972 as Music Week . On 17 January 1981 the title was again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to Music & Video Week... |
63 |
| US | Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
71 |
| US | Cash Box | 92 |
| US | Record World Record World Record World magazine was one of the three main music industry trade publications in the United States, along with Billboard and Cash Box magazines. It was founded in 1946 under the name Music Vendor, but since 1964 changed it to Record World, under the ownership of Sid Parnes and Bob Austin, both... |
103 |
The original recording of the song is included on the following Beatles compilation albums: 1967-1970 (1973), Yellow Submarine Songtrack
Yellow Submarine Songtrack
Yellow Submarine Songtrack is a compilation /soundtrack album by The Beatles for the 1999 re-release of the 1968 film Yellow Submarine...
(1999).
A run-through of the reprise is included on the outtakes album Anthology 2
Anthology 2
Anthology 2 is a compilation album by The Beatles, released by Apple Records in March 1996. It is the second of the three-volume Anthology collection, all of which tie-in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. The opening track is "Real Love", the second of the two recordings that...
(1996).
In 2006, the reprise was re-released on the album Love
Love (The Beatles album)
Love is a Grammy Award-winning soundtrack remix album of music recorded by The Beatles, released in November 2006. It features music compiled and remixed as a mashup for the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name...
, which was a theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil
LOVE (Cirque du Soleil)
Love is a 2006 theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil which combines the re-produced and re-imagined music of The Beatles with an interpretive, circus-based artistic and athletic stage performance. The show plays at a specially built theatre at The Mirage in Las Vegas.A joint venture between...
. The updated version is a remix featuring samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
of other Beatles' songs.
The notebook used by McCartney containing the lyrics for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and other songs was put up for sale in 1998.
Personnel
Full version:- Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
– lead vocalLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
– backing vocal, lead guitar - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
– backing vocal, lead guitar, rhythm guitar - Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
– drums - George MartinGeorge MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
– organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Neill SandersNeill SandersNeill Sanders was a British horn player, principal hornist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Melos Ensemble for 29 years. He was a professor in Kalamazoo, Michigan and founded a chamber ensemble and a festival there.-Biography:Neill Sanders...
– French horn - James W. Buck – French horn
- Tony Randell – French horn
- John Burden – French horn
Reprise:
- Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
– lead vocal, organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, bass guitar - John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
– lead vocal, backing vocal, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
– lead vocal, backing vocal, lead guitar - Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
– drums, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
, maracasMaracásMaracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
- Personnel per Ian MacDonaldIan MacDonaldIan MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...
, Mark LewisohnMark LewisohnMark Lewisohn is an English author and historian, regarded as the world's leading authority on the English rock band The Beatles.-The Beatles and related subjects:...
and Olivier Julien.
Live performances
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
played the song live at the Saville Theatre
Saville Theatre
The Saville Theatre is a former West End theatre at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a music venue during the 1960s, finally being converted to a cinema in 1970.-Theatre years:...
in Shaftesbury Avenue, which was leased by Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
, only three days after it had been released on record, with McCartney and George Harrison in the audience. Another live version by Hendrix recorded at the Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...
was included on a posthumous live album, Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight
Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight
Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight is a posthumous live album by Jimi Hendrix released on November 12, 2002, and re-released in 2004 as a 3-disc 'Deluxe Sound & Vision Edition' in a special box and slip cover format as part of Experience Hendrix's plan to re-release most of Jimi Hendrix's...
.
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was never performed live by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. It was performed by three of The Beatles (McCartney, Harrison, and Starr) plus Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
on 19 May 1979, at Clapton's wedding party. Paul McCartney played it live on the 1989/1990 Paul McCartney World Tour. On subsequent tours he would play the reprise version and use that as a segue into "The End
The End (The Beatles song)
"The End" is a song by The Beatles composed by Paul McCartney for the album Abbey Road. It was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles, and is the final song of the medley that dominates side two of the LP version of the album.-Composition and recording:McCartney said, "I wanted...
. When the performance is released, it usually is listed as "Sgt. Pepper's/The End," shortening the name of the song. When Paul performs it, he usually adds the count-in after the drum part begins, as opposed to Paul's count-in preceding the drum opening.
McCartney and U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
played the song at the start of the Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
concert in Hyde Park, London
Live 8 concert, London
The main Live 8 concert was held at Hyde Park, London, England on 2 July 2005, in front of over 200,000 people. The show's logistics were managed by famed promoter Harvey Goldsmith.The event is also referred to as "Live 8 London" or "Live 8 UK"....
on 2 July 2005. The song, starting with "It was twenty years ago" was chosen amongst others to commemorate that Live 8 took place approximately twenty years after Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
. The single was released for charity on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, and set a world record for the fastest-selling online song of all time.
In 2007, Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
and Stereophonics
Stereophonics
The Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band now living in turners x that formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in Cynon Valley, Wales. The band currently comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Kelly Jones, bassist and backing vocalist Richard Jones, drummer Javier Weyler, guitarist and backing...
recorded the album's two versions of the song for It Was 40 Years Ago Today, a television film with contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the same studio, technicians and recording techniques as the original.
On 4 April 2009, McCartney performed the song during a benefit concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
and segued it into "With A Little Help From My Friends", sung by Ringo.
In 2009, Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick
Cheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973. The band consists of members Robin Zander , Rick Nielsen , Tom Petersson , and Bun E...
released a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
called Sgt. Pepper Live
Sgt. Pepper Live
Sgt. Pepper Live is a performance by American band Cheap Trick with a full orchestra which was released on 25 August 2009, in commemoration of the forty-second anniversary of the release of the historic album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Both a live album and a companion...
, which is a live performance of the entire original album, including the title song and reprise.
In 2011, Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
performed the song on Take That
Take That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
's Progress tour, replacing "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with "Robbie Williams and the Take That Band", and "Mr Martin told the Band to play", a reference to Take That's manager in the 90's Nigel Martin-Smith
Nigel Martin-Smith
Nigel Martin-Smith is a Manchester-based musical band manager who formed 1990s British boy band Take That.-Biography:Martin-Smith entered the entertainment industry in the early 1980s working as a casting agent from offices in Manchester's Royal Exchange...
.