, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band promo poster: Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison.Photo:Bill Waterson / Alamy
Bill Waterson / Alamy
Paul McCartneyshares how the title of one album came from a miscommunication with the band’s roadie.
On the March 13episodeofThe Beatlesmember’s podcast from iHeartPodcasts and Pushkin,Paul McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, McCartney discussed the composition of the 1967 hit, “A Day in the Life” with Paul Muldoon.
“I was withour roadie Mal [Evans], a big bear of a man,” the music legend began to recall. “I was coming back on the plane, and he said, ‘Will you pass the salt and pepper?’ And I misheard him. I said, ‘What? Sgt. Pepper?’ He said, ‘No, salt and pepper.’”
He continued: “And I always returned to one of the things about the Beatles, and me andJohn [Lennon], was that we noticed accidents.”
The Beatles pose for a portrait wearing suits in 1964.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
The renowned songwriter shared that the album pulled inspiration from the radio medium and encouraged listeners to use their imagination when listening to the album — even dreaming up what “Sgt. Pepper” himself looked like.
“That was why no one could ever visualize Sgt. Pepper,” he continued, adding how there was a failed film focused on the album, “It was like, ‘Oh, don’t do that because everyone’s already got their own picture.’”
Paul McCartney in Glastonbury, England in June 2022.Samir Hussein/WireImage
As for the sole image they provided audiences — the album artwork — he explained to Muldoon what he wanted the visuals to be. McCartney recalled that he told his bandmates: “I want each of us to come up with a list of favorite people… because we’ll have pictures of them.”
“If you’ve got a passion for something, you want to be thorough,” he continued. “I think that’s the thing sticking with it means that you’re actually thinking about it and thinking, ‘Well, if we’re going to call itSgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,what does it look like?’”
“I do think that I have always had the totality thing where music, theater, performances, are concerned,” said the singer. “So I’ve always been very involved in that, the Beatles thing. The idea that we had a uniform was sort of one of the original ideas.”
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“The Beatles” album entitled “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
McCartney added that the idea and approach to the band’s eighth album was that they were “these four space cadets,” adding, “We’re just these four people in this slightly weird band.”
source: people.com
