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It's 25 years now since it was issued,
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and there aren't many records
which really last in the memory
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for a quarter of a century.
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00:00:22,055 --> 00:00:24,160
I suppose it is a museum piece.
6
00:00:29,329 --> 00:00:31,344
(George Martin)
It invoked the spirit of the age,
7
00:00:31,464 --> 00:00:33,880
of the Carnaby street and Mary Quant.
8
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It was a joyous spurting-out of life.
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It was colourful, and it was peace,
and it was love, and it was music.
10
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The songwriting team thing will keep
going on whatever happens, will it?
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Yeah, we'll probably carry on
writing music forever, you know?
12
00:01:06,199 --> 00:01:08,048
that's probably the big difference,
13
00:01:08,168 --> 00:01:10,517
is that people played it a bit safe
in popular music,
14
00:01:10,637 --> 00:01:13,709
but I think that's what we suddenly
realised, that you didn't have to.
15
00:01:38,231 --> 00:01:41,514
I remember track by track,
it was exciting at that time,
16
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nothing like it had ever been.
17
00:02:22,842 --> 00:02:24,190
(George Martin) In 1966,
18
00:02:24,310 --> 00:02:27,327
the Beatles had been working
most successfully for three years.
19
00:02:27,447 --> 00:02:30,621
they'd conquered the world in a way
nobody else had done before.
20
00:02:41,194 --> 00:02:43,076
And yet, things started to fall apart.
21
00:02:43,196 --> 00:02:45,345
All sorts of troubles beset them.
22
00:02:45,465 --> 00:02:46,946
John Lennon had made
his famous remark
23
00:02:47,066 --> 00:02:49,249
about being more popular
than Jesus Christ,
24
00:02:49,369 --> 00:02:54,045
which, although arguably true,
caused a great deal of upset in America.
25
00:03:05,251 --> 00:03:07,967
They were performing incessantly.
26
00:03:08,087 --> 00:03:10,363
They had heavy guards
wherever they went.
27
00:03:11,391 --> 00:03:14,340
And when they went to the Philippines,
they barely escaped with their lives
28
00:03:14,460 --> 00:03:16,543
after they'd offended President Marcos
29
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by not turning up
at one of his receptions.
30
00:03:19,299 --> 00:03:23,349
And Imelda Marcos was outraged
at the way the Beatles had ignored her.
31
00:03:23,469 --> 00:03:26,916
So, they decided they didn't want
to tour again. They were fed up.
32
00:03:27,473 --> 00:03:30,579
They really wanted to lead
something of a normal life.
33
00:03:33,479 --> 00:03:37,825
I remember we all used to run in the back
of these big vans they'd hired.
34
00:03:38,551 --> 00:03:42,035
And this one was like
a silver-lined van, chromium,
35
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nothing in it, like a furniture van
with nothing in it, just chrome.
36
00:03:45,825 --> 00:03:49,476
And we were all piled into this
after this really miserable gig.
37
00:03:49,596 --> 00:03:51,200
And I said, "Right, that's it!"
38
00:03:51,631 --> 00:03:53,947
No, we were absolutely fed up
with touring.
39
00:03:54,067 --> 00:03:56,149
And why were we fed up with touring?
40
00:03:56,269 --> 00:03:59,478
because we were turning
into such bad musicians.
41
00:04:00,340 --> 00:04:03,690
because the volume of the audience
42
00:04:03,810 --> 00:04:06,559
was always greater
than the volume of the band.
43
00:04:06,679 --> 00:04:10,063
And for me personally,
44
00:04:10,183 --> 00:04:13,533
on stage there was no chance in hell
I could do a fill,
45
00:04:13,653 --> 00:04:15,068
because it would just disappear.
46
00:04:15,188 --> 00:04:18,371
So I ended up just hanging on
to the off-beats
47
00:04:18,491 --> 00:04:20,306
and watching the other guys' bums
48
00:04:20,426 --> 00:04:23,476
and trying to lip-read
to see where we were, you know?
49
00:04:23,596 --> 00:04:26,880
It sounds marvellous,
being a multi-millionaire pop star,
50
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,316
having the whole world at your feet,
girls screaming wherever you go.
51
00:04:30,436 --> 00:04:32,211
In actual fact, it's hell.
52
00:04:32,772 --> 00:04:35,488
And that was happening
wherever we went, even in India.
53
00:04:35,608 --> 00:04:38,458
You know, we went to India
from the Philippines.
54
00:04:38,578 --> 00:04:41,320
I planned to go there
to buy a sitar, actually.
55
00:04:41,748 --> 00:04:43,930
I was thinking, "At least
this is going to be one place
56
00:04:44,050 --> 00:04:45,999
"where we can have a bit of peace."
57
00:04:46,119 --> 00:04:49,402
And when we got off the plane, there
was all these Indian faces in the night,
58
00:04:49,522 --> 00:04:52,105
all shouting, "Beatles! Beatles!"
59
00:04:52,225 --> 00:04:54,440
Paul went to Kenya,
60
00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,877
went on a safari trip
as I remember,
61
00:04:57,997 --> 00:05:02,482
and John had already been
booked by Richard Lester
62
00:05:02,602 --> 00:05:04,479
for a part in "How I Won The War".
63
00:05:04,871 --> 00:05:07,086
So he went off to Spain to film.
64
00:05:07,206 --> 00:05:11,245
And Ringo joined him there for a while,
just to hang around with him.
65
00:05:12,045 --> 00:05:16,329
George went to India
and worked with Ravi Shankar.
66
00:05:16,449 --> 00:05:19,832
There was no question
of disbanding at that point.
67
00:05:19,952 --> 00:05:21,968
It was just,
"We gotta get off this road."
68
00:05:22,088 --> 00:05:26,606
(Paul) And at that time, a lot of other things
were changing. Society was changing.
69
00:05:26,726 --> 00:05:31,072
The psychedelic era was coming in,
and we were very much part of that.
70
00:05:31,230 --> 00:05:32,712
And I think we really felt that
71
00:05:32,832 --> 00:05:36,712
it could be done better from a record
than from anything else.
72
00:05:37,370 --> 00:05:40,374
The record could go on tour,
was the theory.
73
00:05:41,207 --> 00:05:42,589
I think Paul made the phone call.
74
00:05:42,709 --> 00:05:45,291
Paul always made the phone call.
"Let's go back to the studio, lads."
75
00:05:45,411 --> 00:05:48,995
It used to terrify John and I
cos we'd be in the garden,
76
00:05:49,115 --> 00:05:53,063
and Paul would want us to work
all the time, cos he's the workaholic.
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00:05:54,921 --> 00:05:58,137
(George Martin)
On 24th November 1966, a Thursday,
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00:05:58,257 --> 00:06:02,909
the Beatles came into Abbey Road
studios to start the new album.
79
00:06:03,029 --> 00:06:06,813
And the track they started with
didn't appear on the album.
80
00:06:06,933 --> 00:06:09,115
It was a song called "strawberry Fields",
81
00:06:09,235 --> 00:06:12,685
and the way it was done that night,
that Thursday,
82
00:06:12,805 --> 00:06:16,048
was virtually complete,
we actually made virtually a master.
83
00:06:17,043 --> 00:06:19,726
And it was the way I heard it originally
when John sang it to me,
84
00:06:19,846 --> 00:06:23,296
and it was a sweet, gentle,
simple song,
85
00:06:23,416 --> 00:06:25,064
starting with the verse, you'll notice,
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00:06:25,184 --> 00:06:27,960
not the chorus.
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00:06:33,059 --> 00:06:37,377
We were still in our primitive state
in technology in those days, 1966.
88
00:06:37,497 --> 00:06:39,812
We were just recording on 4-track.
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00:06:39,932 --> 00:06:43,573
Bass and guitar, add to it.
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00:06:45,171 --> 00:06:48,021
Still nothing else.
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00:06:48,141 --> 00:06:50,143
Dead simple.
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00:06:55,381 --> 00:06:59,599
Now we have a slide guitar
played by George added.
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00:06:59,719 --> 00:07:02,461
curiously enough, on the vocal track.
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00:07:05,925 --> 00:07:08,235
Just on the vocal track.
95
00:07:24,777 --> 00:07:27,018
I think that version is very charming.
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00:07:29,649 --> 00:07:32,596
A very simple version
of a very simple song.
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00:07:33,486 --> 00:07:37,366
But in fact, it never appeared like that,
and no one's ever heard that one since.
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00:07:37,924 --> 00:07:39,172
We left that evening,
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00:07:39,292 --> 00:07:43,176
and John thought about it, and
Paul thought about it over the weekend,
100
00:07:43,296 --> 00:07:46,038
and on Monday we tackled it
again quite differently.
101
00:07:46,566 --> 00:07:48,981
John decided he wanted it
in a lower key.
102
00:07:49,101 --> 00:07:50,883
It had an introduction
for the first time
103
00:07:51,003 --> 00:07:54,520
which was played on that
weird instrument, the mellotron,
104
00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:56,813
and became a really key feature.
105
00:07:57,410 --> 00:08:00,414
And it started with the chorus
rather than the verse.
106
00:08:04,584 --> 00:08:06,586
"strawberry Fields" immediately, isn't it?
107
00:08:12,825 --> 00:08:16,170
double-tracked voice right away.
108
00:08:17,530 --> 00:08:20,477
Again, all rhythm instruments
on one track.
109
00:08:22,468 --> 00:08:24,812
voices on three and four.
110
00:08:28,774 --> 00:08:32,458
But John thought about it and said,
"I think I can do it better than that."
111
00:08:32,578 --> 00:08:36,062
He said, "I want to have
a bit more bite in it. Brass. strings."
112
00:08:36,182 --> 00:08:38,560
So, I said,
"OK, let's give it a whirl."
113
00:08:48,127 --> 00:08:53,805
double-tracked voices on three and four,
but with percussion as well on three.
114
00:08:58,137 --> 00:09:00,014
Swarmandala.
115
00:09:02,542 --> 00:09:05,925
An Indian instrument
that George had brought back.
116
00:09:06,045 --> 00:09:08,958
Like a kind of harp.
Had a marvellous effect.
117
00:09:14,387 --> 00:09:18,927
backward cymbal on track one.
118
00:09:21,761 --> 00:09:24,708
always sounds like
Russian language to me.
119
00:09:30,202 --> 00:09:32,852
Brass stabs and so on with a cello.
120
00:09:32,972 --> 00:09:36,977
But underlying it all,
this wonderful rhythm section.
121
00:09:40,780 --> 00:09:42,851
About nine or ten players there.
122
00:09:54,627 --> 00:09:57,543
Well, we finished up then with a track
123
00:09:57,663 --> 00:10:00,246
which would show the way
that "pepper" was going to be.
124
00:10:00,366 --> 00:10:03,883
This was our first psychedelic track.
125
00:10:04,003 --> 00:10:07,119
I mean, when I started songwriting,
it wasn't to write rock 'n' roll,
126
00:10:07,239 --> 00:10:09,322
it was to write for Sinatra.
127
00:10:09,442 --> 00:10:11,190
It was to write cabaret.
128
00:10:11,310 --> 00:10:14,757
In fact, one of my first songs was
"When I'm Sixty-Four", which was...
129
00:10:18,117 --> 00:10:20,366
You know, it's big band stuff
kind of thing.
130
00:10:20,486 --> 00:10:25,972
And so your aims weren't set
to doing rock 'n' roll.
131
00:10:26,092 --> 00:10:28,941
But when we started working together,
132
00:10:29,061 --> 00:10:32,042
I think... I certainly,
and I think John, too,
133
00:10:32,598 --> 00:10:35,982
wanted to be a Rodgers and
Hammerstein, a Lennon/McCartney.
134
00:10:36,102 --> 00:10:39,986
We consciously wanted to be a team.
135
00:10:40,106 --> 00:10:42,688
I mean, the funny things is,
I wanted McCartney/Lennon,
136
00:10:42,808 --> 00:10:45,124
but of course John was
always bossier and he said,
137
00:10:45,244 --> 00:10:48,494
"No, no, it sounds much better
the other way, Lennon/McCartney."
138
00:10:48,614 --> 00:10:49,829
So I gave in.
139
00:10:49,949 --> 00:10:52,532
The next song we did, actually,
was "When I'm Sixty-Four",
140
00:10:52,652 --> 00:10:56,469
but that was one that harked back
quite a long way.
141
00:10:56,589 --> 00:11:00,773
The one immediately after that was
curiously allied to "strawberry Fields".
142
00:11:00,893 --> 00:11:01,928
It was "Penny Lane".
143
00:11:02,361 --> 00:11:04,343
Penny Lane was a place
that John knew about,
144
00:11:04,463 --> 00:11:07,513
so for me to just say,
"I've got a song called 'Penny Lane"',
145
00:11:07,633 --> 00:11:09,482
he knew exactly what I was doing.
146
00:11:09,602 --> 00:11:11,150
similarly, "strawberry Fields".
147
00:11:11,270 --> 00:11:15,721
I knew about that from when I used
to go and visit him when we were kids.
148
00:11:15,841 --> 00:11:17,523
It was the place right opposite him,
149
00:11:17,643 --> 00:11:20,493
where you used to go and play
in the garden.
150
00:11:20,613 --> 00:11:24,063
So it was kind of a magical
childhood place for him.
151
00:11:24,183 --> 00:11:28,467
And we transformed it
into the sort of psychedelic dream.
152
00:11:28,587 --> 00:11:32,204
It's like everybody's magic place,
instead of just ours.
153
00:11:32,324 --> 00:11:36,442
We took them from being little localised
things and made them more global.
154
00:11:36,562 --> 00:11:40,339
(Johann Sebastian Bach:
"Brandenburg concerto No.2 In F Major")
155
00:11:45,771 --> 00:11:49,155
That actually was what
Paul heard me play on television.
156
00:11:49,275 --> 00:11:51,757
It's the second "Brandenburg concerto",
as you know.
157
00:11:51,877 --> 00:11:56,362
And he was obviously sitting at home
and saw this little trumpet,
158
00:11:56,482 --> 00:11:59,932
and thought, "Well, that's a new
gimmick and a new sound,"
159
00:12:00,052 --> 00:12:04,136
and he'd just written "Penny Lane"
and had had a rather bad backing track,
160
00:12:04,256 --> 00:12:07,601
so apparently that was
how I came to do it.
161
00:12:08,060 --> 00:12:10,509
And eventually, of course,
we got to what he liked,
162
00:12:10,629 --> 00:12:13,405
and this is what he wrote.
163
00:12:33,886 --> 00:12:36,402
(George Martin) The reason that
"Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane"
164
00:12:36,522 --> 00:12:37,903
didn't appear on the album
165
00:12:38,023 --> 00:12:40,239
was that Brian Epstein,
their manager, was worried,
166
00:12:40,359 --> 00:12:43,009
and said to me, "The boys need a lift.
They need a great single.
167
00:12:43,129 --> 00:12:44,744
"What have you got?"
168
00:12:44,864 --> 00:12:47,313
Well, I said,
"We've got two wonderful songs.
169
00:12:47,433 --> 00:12:49,115
"Let's issue them both."
170
00:12:49,235 --> 00:12:51,617
In those days, we didn't include
single releases on albums,
171
00:12:51,737 --> 00:12:53,886
as we thought that was
rather conning the public.
172
00:12:54,006 --> 00:12:56,422
One of the biggest errors I ever made.
173
00:12:56,542 --> 00:12:58,317
(ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK:
"Release Me")
174
00:13:06,252 --> 00:13:09,301
A newcomer with the unlikely name
of Engelbert Humperdinck
175
00:13:09,421 --> 00:13:11,904
had a song called "please release Me",
176
00:13:12,024 --> 00:13:17,804
and for the first time, a Beatles single
failed to reach No.1 in the UK charts.
177
00:13:31,310 --> 00:13:36,729
(George Harrison) We were in this
big white room that was very dirty.
178
00:13:36,849 --> 00:13:39,432
It hadn't been painted
for years and years,
179
00:13:39,552 --> 00:13:42,735
and it had all these old sound baffles
hanging down
180
00:13:42,855 --> 00:13:45,404
that were all dirty and broken.
181
00:13:45,524 --> 00:13:47,139
Not a very nice atmosphere.
182
00:13:47,259 --> 00:13:51,343
When you think of the songs
that were made in that studio, No.2,
183
00:13:51,463 --> 00:13:53,713
it's amazing, cos there was
no atmosphere in there.
184
00:13:53,833 --> 00:13:56,348
We had to make the atmosphere
ourselves.
185
00:13:56,468 --> 00:13:59,351
The great thing about these studios
in Abbey Road
186
00:13:59,471 --> 00:14:02,688
was that you were always
bumping into people.
187
00:14:02,808 --> 00:14:06,092
Sir Malcolm Sargent would look in
at the session and wave
188
00:14:06,212 --> 00:14:09,495
in his pin-striped suit and his carnation:
"Hello, boys."
189
00:14:09,615 --> 00:14:12,131
And George would say,
"Sir Malcolm would like to say hello."
190
00:14:12,251 --> 00:14:14,934
"Hello, Mal." "Hello, boys."
191
00:14:15,054 --> 00:14:17,670
I remember seeing Sir Tyrone Guthrie
on the steps here,
192
00:14:17,790 --> 00:14:19,739
you know, the great man himself.
193
00:14:19,859 --> 00:14:21,270
So, it was always very like that.
194
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:26,278
It was a joke, really.
They had this toilet paper like lino
195
00:14:26,398 --> 00:14:29,448
that had EMI on every piece.
196
00:14:29,568 --> 00:14:32,284
The refrigerator had a padlock on it,
197
00:14:32,404 --> 00:14:34,353
so if you wanted a cup of tea,
198
00:14:34,473 --> 00:14:38,290
we'd have to break open the padlock
on the fridge to get the milk out.
199
00:14:38,410 --> 00:14:42,128
EMI being this huge monster company,
200
00:14:42,248 --> 00:14:46,599
when they bought the 8-track,
the first 8-track in England,
201
00:14:46,719 --> 00:14:49,802
they were so cheap,
they didn't buy the plug to plug it in.
202
00:14:49,922 --> 00:14:52,538
It was going to be boring
to just make another Beatles album.
203
00:14:52,658 --> 00:14:57,409
And we'd stopped touring, we now had
this huge, liberated opportunity.
204
00:14:57,529 --> 00:14:59,445
We could do anything we wanted.
205
00:14:59,565 --> 00:15:02,748
I went on a trip to America
and came back
206
00:15:02,868 --> 00:15:04,984
and had this idea on the plane.
207
00:15:05,104 --> 00:15:07,353
"Sgt. pepper's
lonely hearts Club Band".
208
00:15:07,473 --> 00:15:11,123
It was all very
"Uncle Joe's medicine Show
209
00:15:11,243 --> 00:15:15,227
"with dancing bears
and elixir of life",
210
00:15:15,347 --> 00:15:17,530
you know,
those kind of jokey titles.
211
00:15:17,650 --> 00:15:19,932
everything about the album
will be imagined
212
00:15:20,052 --> 00:15:22,034
from the perspective of these people.
213
00:15:22,154 --> 00:15:23,869
So it doesn't have to be us,
214
00:15:23,989 --> 00:15:26,071
it doesn't have to be the kind of song
you want to write,
215
00:15:26,191 --> 00:15:28,432
it could be the song
they might want to write.
216
00:15:29,028 --> 00:15:31,443
(George Martin) "Sgt. pepper",
the opening track of the album,
217
00:15:31,563 --> 00:15:34,305
really a good, old-fashioned rocker,
218
00:15:34,767 --> 00:15:38,651
starts off with applause
or rather atmosphere noise
219
00:15:38,771 --> 00:15:42,721
from a recording I made up in Cambridge
with the beyond The fringe crowd,
220
00:15:42,841 --> 00:15:45,257
Dudley Moore and company,
221
00:15:45,377 --> 00:15:49,325
and this super electric guitar.
222
00:15:50,382 --> 00:15:54,533
And tied together beautifully
by a great rock voice from Paul.
223
00:15:54,653 --> 00:15:56,724
listen to this.
224
00:16:03,796 --> 00:16:07,141
He got sawdust in his voice there.
225
00:16:09,868 --> 00:16:14,214
And then a bit of classical work,
bringing in four French horns.
226
00:16:21,246 --> 00:16:25,251
always there's the audience
punctuating the whole thing.
227
00:16:29,388 --> 00:16:31,959
And then the chorus,
singing the chorus.
228
00:16:47,373 --> 00:16:49,488
And together with the audience
and the horns,
229
00:16:49,608 --> 00:16:52,992
it's an exciting thing saying,
"Come and join our show, listen to it.
230
00:16:53,112 --> 00:16:56,559
"We're a great band."
231
00:17:26,979 --> 00:17:28,661
(Ringo) I remember him
going up on the roof.
232
00:17:28,781 --> 00:17:31,819
John went up on the roof
and got lost and came back.
233
00:17:36,422 --> 00:17:39,960
He took an aspirin. Know what I mean?
And it turned out to be something else.
234
00:17:44,763 --> 00:17:47,046
(George Harrison)
He accidentally took some LSD.
235
00:17:47,166 --> 00:17:50,170
It'd certainly keep him awake
for a while.
236
00:17:57,342 --> 00:18:00,414
At that point, the session
was in effect over.
237
00:18:03,315 --> 00:18:05,864
I was rather offended
when the album came out
238
00:18:05,984 --> 00:18:09,034
and people said, "Lucy In The Sky
With diamonds - LSD, you know?"
239
00:18:09,154 --> 00:18:10,155
Which was nonsense.
240
00:18:12,524 --> 00:18:14,840
(Paul) The real story about
"Lucy In The Sky With diamonds" was
241
00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:17,509
I showed up at John's house one day,
242
00:18:17,629 --> 00:18:20,913
and he said to me, "Look at this
great drawing Julian's just done."
243
00:18:21,033 --> 00:18:22,948
And he showed me,
I remember it very well.
244
00:18:23,068 --> 00:18:27,419
It was a kid's drawing, and kids
always have people floating around
245
00:18:27,539 --> 00:18:30,489
like Chagall does in all his things.
they're always just floating.
246
00:18:30,609 --> 00:18:32,958
I think it's something to do
with kids not realising
247
00:18:33,078 --> 00:18:34,893
that people have to be put on the ground.
248
00:18:35,013 --> 00:18:38,063
I've seen the painting
that this little kid does.
249
00:18:38,183 --> 00:18:39,698
I don't know if you've got kids,
250
00:18:39,818 --> 00:18:42,634
but they just slap paint everywhere
and say it's a painting.
251
00:18:42,754 --> 00:18:46,759
And of course we put them in frames
and put them on the wall. And...
252
00:18:47,526 --> 00:18:50,442
And it was just this crazy little kid's
painting. "What is that?"
253
00:18:50,562 --> 00:18:52,644
John had said,
"what's it called, then?"
254
00:18:52,764 --> 00:18:56,248
And Julian had said,
"Lucy In The Sky With diamonds."
255
00:18:56,368 --> 00:18:57,813
And John went, "Ding!"
256
00:18:59,805 --> 00:19:02,721
(George Martin) They were able to
conjure up a wonderful, evocative image
257
00:19:02,841 --> 00:19:04,582
with very sparse material.
258
00:19:05,043 --> 00:19:07,614
And the opening to "Lucy"
is really a case in point.
259
00:19:13,719 --> 00:19:16,001
And it's a most wonderful phrase.
260
00:19:16,121 --> 00:19:19,967
I think, if Beethoven was around,
he wouldn't have minded one of those.
261
00:19:20,926 --> 00:19:23,542
And over that very, very simple
and beautiful phrase,
262
00:19:23,662 --> 00:19:26,445
John sang just one note.
263
00:19:26,565 --> 00:19:31,016
He developed it. He had a way
of finding out what he wanted to sing,
264
00:19:31,136 --> 00:19:32,885
even as we were recording.
265
00:19:33,005 --> 00:19:35,988
But to begin with, all he sang was,
266
00:19:36,108 --> 00:19:41,057
"picture yourself on a boat on a river..."
267
00:19:44,483 --> 00:19:47,232
notice the tape echo
on the voice already,
268
00:19:47,352 --> 00:19:49,958
even though this is
a very early rehearsal take.
269
00:19:54,059 --> 00:19:55,874
- No bass again.
- No.
270
00:19:55,994 --> 00:20:00,500
because it was much better for me
to work out the bass later, you know?
271
00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,244
And it allowed me to do...
272
00:20:04,903 --> 00:20:05,918
that's me.
273
00:20:06,038 --> 00:20:13,616
The good thing about doing it later was
it allowed me to get melodic bass lines.
274
00:20:15,914 --> 00:20:18,530
Which was always... All the bass lines
were always very interesting.
275
00:20:18,650 --> 00:20:22,325
On this album,
I think that was one of the reasons.
276
00:20:39,037 --> 00:20:40,185
Go for it!
277
00:20:40,305 --> 00:20:41,987
Hey!
278
00:20:42,107 --> 00:20:48,327
The climate was influenced
by the psychedelic era.
279
00:20:48,447 --> 00:20:52,531
I think the only difficulty about
talking honestly about that period
280
00:20:52,651 --> 00:20:55,701
is that now the drug scene
is a much heavier thing,
281
00:20:55,821 --> 00:21:03,542
and if you're now in any way seen
to incite or advocate drug-taking,
282
00:21:03,662 --> 00:21:06,945
you're now talking about crack,
you're now talking about glue sniffing,
283
00:21:07,065 --> 00:21:09,181
you're now talking about
life-threatening things.
284
00:21:09,301 --> 00:21:13,647
So, I don't actually like doing it,
because it can easily be misconceived.
285
00:21:14,406 --> 00:21:16,121
If you could get back to the period
286
00:21:16,241 --> 00:21:19,916
and everyone could understand how
the period was and how innocent it was,
287
00:21:20,445 --> 00:21:22,686
then it is easier to talk about it.
288
00:21:23,749 --> 00:21:28,133
It mightn't have affected creativity
for other people.
289
00:21:28,253 --> 00:21:30,702
I know it did for us,
and it did for me.
290
00:21:30,822 --> 00:21:38,544
I mean, the first thing that people who
smoked marijuana and were into music
291
00:21:38,664 --> 00:21:43,048
is that somehow it focuses
your attention better on the music.
292
00:21:43,168 --> 00:21:46,451
And so you can hear it clearer.
293
00:21:46,571 --> 00:21:48,881
Or that's how it appeared to be.
294
00:21:50,175 --> 00:21:53,659
You could see things much different,
295
00:21:53,779 --> 00:21:57,262
I mean, LSD was something else.
It wasn't just...
296
00:21:57,382 --> 00:22:01,433
I mean, marijuana was just like
having a couple of beers, really,
297
00:22:01,553 --> 00:22:04,369
but LSD was more like
going to the moon.
298
00:22:04,489 --> 00:22:08,073
We found out very early on that,
299
00:22:08,193 --> 00:22:11,376
you know, if you played stoned
or derelict in any way,
300
00:22:11,496 --> 00:22:14,246
it was really shitty music,
you know?
301
00:22:14,366 --> 00:22:19,315
So we would have the experiences
and then bring that into the music later.
302
00:22:20,005 --> 00:22:24,756
famous old story of one of the cleaners
at the Hammersmith Odeon saying,
303
00:22:24,876 --> 00:22:27,793
"That Ray Charles must be a mean git,
you know?
304
00:22:27,913 --> 00:22:32,130
"I just saw two of his musicians
in the toilets sharing a cigarette.
305
00:22:32,250 --> 00:22:33,732
"He can't pay them anything!"
306
00:22:33,852 --> 00:22:36,935
I knew that the boys smoked pot,
307
00:22:37,055 --> 00:22:41,106
and they equally knew that I disapproved,
and they never did it in front of me.
308
00:22:41,226 --> 00:22:43,508
They would always have Mal
roll them a joint
309
00:22:43,628 --> 00:22:46,211
and they'd nip out to the canteen
and lock it
310
00:22:46,331 --> 00:22:49,114
or else to the loo and have a smoke
and come back again,
311
00:22:49,234 --> 00:22:50,577
beaming all over their faces.
312
00:22:51,269 --> 00:22:52,951
(Paul) We mainly wrote
in the afternoons.
313
00:22:53,071 --> 00:22:55,621
I'd either go to John's house
or he'd come to mine.
314
00:22:55,741 --> 00:22:57,422
So I'd drive out to Weybridge.
315
00:22:57,542 --> 00:23:00,792
Now, you don't want
to be stoned doing that.
316
00:23:00,912 --> 00:23:03,862
So we'd go out, and we'd have
an afternoon of it,
317
00:23:03,982 --> 00:23:08,158
and it would be later, listening,
in the evening
318
00:23:08,687 --> 00:23:12,037
that the little wine might come out
and this and that might come out.
319
00:23:12,157 --> 00:23:14,573
But I say, you know...
it's very difficult for me
320
00:23:14,693 --> 00:23:17,843
because I realise now
being a father of four kids
321
00:23:17,963 --> 00:23:21,680
that if I make this sound
as exciting as it was,
322
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,149
the natural corollary is
for someone to say,
323
00:23:24,269 --> 00:23:26,451
"Well, why don't we write like that?"
324
00:23:26,571 --> 00:23:28,787
And I don't want to be seen to do that,
325
00:23:28,907 --> 00:23:31,723
cos now, as I say, it's a much more
dangerous ballgame.
326
00:23:31,843 --> 00:23:34,192
There was a kind of spirit of adventure
that they both had.
327
00:23:34,312 --> 00:23:36,061
They were going to conquer the world.
328
00:23:36,181 --> 00:23:38,597
But there was that element
of competition,
329
00:23:38,717 --> 00:23:42,000
and the competition was the essential
thing that made them work so well.
330
00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:45,537
He'd write "strawberry Fields",
I'd go away and write "Penny Lane".
331
00:23:45,657 --> 00:23:51,209
If I'd write "I'm Down", he'd go away
and write something similar to that,
332
00:23:51,329 --> 00:23:53,111
to compete with each other.
333
00:23:53,231 --> 00:23:55,447
But it was very friendly competition,
334
00:23:55,567 --> 00:23:58,083
because we were both going to share
in the rewards anyway.
335
00:23:58,203 --> 00:24:01,453
But it was a real... it was this.
It really helped step...
336
00:24:01,573 --> 00:24:04,383
So we were getting better and better
and better all the time.
337
00:24:05,444 --> 00:24:09,261
(George Martin) John and Paul always
wrote a song for Ringo on every album.
338
00:24:09,381 --> 00:24:12,419
"With A Little Help From My Friends"
proved to be the song.
339
00:24:12,818 --> 00:24:16,268
And Paul wrote that song
and wrote it beautifully simply
340
00:24:16,388 --> 00:24:19,171
with just five notes
that Ringo had to carry,
341
00:24:19,291 --> 00:24:24,070
all within one little phrase,
which was...
342
00:24:31,036 --> 00:24:33,038
All in those notes.
343
00:24:34,639 --> 00:24:37,176
terribly simple. terribly effective.
344
00:24:42,914 --> 00:24:45,831
Like his drumming,
Ringo's voice is most distinctive.
345
00:24:45,951 --> 00:24:48,667
And on this track,
he put in a really super performance
346
00:24:48,787 --> 00:24:50,824
that makes the song his very own.
347
00:25:03,034 --> 00:25:05,150
The original line was,
348
00:25:05,270 --> 00:25:07,285
"What would you do
if I sang out of tune,
349
00:25:07,405 --> 00:25:10,255
"would you stand up
and throw tomatoes at me?"
350
00:25:10,375 --> 00:25:12,324
Or "Would you throw tomatoes at me?",
351
00:25:12,444 --> 00:25:15,618
and I would not sing that line,
"tomatoes at me", because...
352
00:25:16,581 --> 00:25:18,230
I hated the line anyway,
353
00:25:18,350 --> 00:25:22,501
and in those days they used to throw
all sorts of stuff at us on stage,
354
00:25:22,621 --> 00:25:25,370
and I didn't want this
to become a habit either.
355
00:25:25,490 --> 00:25:28,673
And I just hated the line, so I refused
to sing that line, "tomatoes",
356
00:25:28,793 --> 00:25:33,037
so they changed it to, "Would you
stand up and walk out on me?"
357
00:25:42,107 --> 00:25:43,855
besides changing that line,
358
00:25:43,975 --> 00:25:48,117
it took a lot of coaxing from Paul
to get me to sing that last note.
359
00:25:48,747 --> 00:25:51,129
I just felt it was very high.
360
00:25:51,249 --> 00:25:53,432
I always worry about the vocals,
you know?
361
00:25:53,552 --> 00:25:57,402
I'm insecure when I do the vocals.
I still am, and I was then.
362
00:25:57,522 --> 00:26:03,302
And so he would get me up,
and we finally got that last note.
363
00:26:11,036 --> 00:26:13,685
(George Martin) The role of a producer
had changed over the years.
364
00:26:13,805 --> 00:26:16,054
I mean, when we started in 1962,
365
00:26:16,174 --> 00:26:18,890
my job was really an organiser
to get them into some kind of shape,
366
00:26:19,010 --> 00:26:22,294
make sure they were tidy in the studio,
musically, I mean.
367
00:26:22,414 --> 00:26:23,695
gradually that changed.
368
00:26:23,815 --> 00:26:25,730
By the time "pepper" had come along,
369
00:26:25,850 --> 00:26:29,821
I suppose I was a realiser
of their ideas,
370
00:26:30,488 --> 00:26:33,672
so that if John wanted
something really weird,
371
00:26:33,792 --> 00:26:35,340
I had to try and provide it for him.
372
00:26:35,460 --> 00:26:38,844
Or if Paul wanted some
extraordinary orchestration,
373
00:26:38,964 --> 00:26:41,513
I had to try and find out
what he wanted.
374
00:26:41,633 --> 00:26:46,685
What I think his great skill then was
to allow us to do what we wanted.
375
00:26:46,805 --> 00:26:50,655
So his role changed
from really deciding what was done
376
00:26:50,775 --> 00:26:52,413
to allowing us to do it.
377
00:26:52,777 --> 00:26:55,293
I think the role with George
became easier,
378
00:26:55,413 --> 00:26:59,331
because at first he was to us...
we were kind of frightened,
379
00:26:59,451 --> 00:27:01,433
because we were these nervous kids,
380
00:27:01,553 --> 00:27:05,070
and he was like this big
schoolteacher sort of person
381
00:27:05,190 --> 00:27:10,709
who we had to find
and have a relationship with.
382
00:27:10,829 --> 00:27:12,811
George was like the big cheese.
383
00:27:12,931 --> 00:27:15,213
He would come in as the producer,
384
00:27:15,333 --> 00:27:18,016
and we were all a little...
not afraid, but...
385
00:27:18,136 --> 00:27:20,318
We knew he was the man.
386
00:27:20,438 --> 00:27:24,456
And he was very good,
and he was very humorous, so...
387
00:27:24,576 --> 00:27:27,659
that's how George really got
into our good books,
388
00:27:27,779 --> 00:27:29,528
because we were very tight,
389
00:27:29,648 --> 00:27:32,219
the little four of us were
really tight together.
390
00:27:33,084 --> 00:27:35,462
Very seldom did we let anybody in.
391
00:27:35,954 --> 00:27:38,236
We always felt George
had just got off his spitfire:
392
00:27:38,356 --> 00:27:41,172
"Oh, hello, chaps.
Yes, it's chocks away."
393
00:27:41,292 --> 00:27:43,708
We always felt
he was a bit one of them.
394
00:27:43,828 --> 00:27:45,977
And I think we just grew
through those years together,
395
00:27:46,097 --> 00:27:49,635
him as the straight man
and us as the loonies.
396
00:27:50,902 --> 00:27:55,487
He was always there for us
to interpret our strangeness.
397
00:27:55,607 --> 00:27:57,109
Da, da...
398
00:27:58,176 --> 00:28:00,592
(Ravi Shankar)
When George Harrison came to me,
399
00:28:00,712 --> 00:28:02,623
I didn't know what to think.
400
00:28:04,015 --> 00:28:06,757
But I found he really wanted to learn.
401
00:28:10,221 --> 00:28:13,430
I never thought our meeting
would cause such an explosion.
402
00:28:14,025 --> 00:28:16,875
(George Harrison)
I'd heard the name of Ravi Shankar,
403
00:28:16,995 --> 00:28:21,846
it must have been around 1965,
maybe 1966.
404
00:28:21,966 --> 00:28:25,379
The third time I heard this name,
I went out and bought the record.
405
00:28:25,804 --> 00:28:29,854
It was strange, because intellectually
I didn't know what it was.
406
00:28:29,974 --> 00:28:31,523
It didn't make any sense to me,
407
00:28:31,643 --> 00:28:34,426
but somewhere inside of me,
it made absolute sense.
408
00:28:34,546 --> 00:28:37,026
It made more sense
than anything I'd ever heard before.
409
00:28:48,226 --> 00:28:51,176
I found it very fascinating, actually,
working with George on that.
410
00:28:51,296 --> 00:28:54,279
Him trying to get
from English musicians
411
00:28:54,399 --> 00:28:56,581
what the Indians
were already giving us.
412
00:28:56,701 --> 00:28:59,884
It started out by George working
with a dilruba player,
413
00:29:00,004 --> 00:29:02,787
which is a kind of Indian violin.
414
00:29:02,907 --> 00:29:08,593
And then I had to copy that
with a bank of English violinists.
415
00:29:08,713 --> 00:29:11,396
Here we have the dilrubas on two,
416
00:29:11,516 --> 00:29:15,834
and our English instruments joining in
on track three,
417
00:29:15,954 --> 00:29:18,798
but George answering on sitar.
418
00:29:21,993 --> 00:29:23,472
Here it is.
419
00:29:29,534 --> 00:29:32,879
And pizzicato strings
accompanying him.
420
00:29:35,874 --> 00:29:38,354
A bit of slurpy cello.
421
00:29:39,978 --> 00:29:42,322
Doing the same thing as the dilruba.
422
00:30:04,602 --> 00:30:08,319
And here he is singing the same tune
as the dilruba
423
00:30:08,439 --> 00:30:11,256
in exactly the same way,
the same kind of swoops
424
00:30:11,376 --> 00:30:13,525
that the dilruba does.
425
00:30:13,645 --> 00:30:15,193
You hear his voice.
426
00:30:15,313 --> 00:30:17,418
You hear the dilruba.
427
00:30:24,255 --> 00:30:26,938
(George Harrison) "within You,
without You" was just my way
428
00:30:27,058 --> 00:30:29,174
of trying to make a Western pop song
429
00:30:29,294 --> 00:30:32,510
using some of those instruments
and some of those sounds.
430
00:30:32,630 --> 00:30:34,913
We all knew George liked Indian music,
431
00:30:35,033 --> 00:30:37,816
and there was a kind of toleration,
if you like.
432
00:30:37,936 --> 00:30:42,385
But it was a welcome one,
because we actually liked the sounds.
433
00:30:43,474 --> 00:30:45,924
The joss sticks even were OK.
434
00:30:46,044 --> 00:30:48,684
They covered the smell of pot.
435
00:30:49,347 --> 00:30:51,156
(THE BEACH BOYS:
"wouldn't It Be Nice")
436
00:30:57,889 --> 00:31:01,539
(Paul) To me, the single biggest influence
on "Sgt. pepper"
437
00:31:01,659 --> 00:31:04,476
was the Beach Boys' record
"Pet sounds".
438
00:31:04,596 --> 00:31:07,805
And I think Brian Wilson
was a great genius.
439
00:31:17,075 --> 00:31:21,023
I think of "Pet sounds" in my head,
and I think of "Sgt. pepper's",
440
00:31:21,646 --> 00:31:24,092
and I think, "Gosh! that's not..."
441
00:31:24,782 --> 00:31:26,664
Those two albums
aren't very alike at all,
442
00:31:26,784 --> 00:31:29,000
only in that they're very creative.
443
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:33,905
They must've picked up on the creativity
of "Pet sounds", not the sound.
444
00:31:34,025 --> 00:31:36,474
It's actually very clever on any level.
445
00:31:36,594 --> 00:31:39,744
If you approach it from a writer's
point of view, it's very cleverly written.
446
00:31:39,864 --> 00:31:42,347
The harmonic structures
are very, very clever.
447
00:31:42,467 --> 00:31:44,883
If you approach it
from an arranger's point of view,
448
00:31:45,003 --> 00:31:50,321
the kind of instruments he's got
on there, an oscillator, a harpsichord...
449
00:31:50,441 --> 00:31:52,090
It's got some crazy stuff on there.
450
00:31:52,210 --> 00:31:57,629
Well, I remember...
I combined an organ with the guitar.
451
00:31:57,749 --> 00:32:01,132
And phew! What a sound,
It really worked great.
452
00:32:01,252 --> 00:32:05,537
We got them so that they were
absolutely enhancing each other.
453
00:32:05,657 --> 00:32:08,973
It was like a miracle,
a miraculous process.
454
00:32:09,093 --> 00:32:11,699
(THE BEACH BOYS:
"Here Today")
455
00:32:23,207 --> 00:32:25,790
because of the work they'd done,
456
00:32:25,910 --> 00:32:30,222
it didn't seem too much of a stretch
for us to get further out than they'd got.
457
00:32:45,997 --> 00:32:49,614
We always loved
the Morton Fraser harmonica Gang.
458
00:32:49,734 --> 00:32:51,549
When we were kids, it was a TV thing,
459
00:32:51,669 --> 00:32:53,952
a little bloke came on
and they all pushed him out of the way.
460
00:32:54,072 --> 00:32:58,056
But it was those giant big bass...
(imitates sound)
461
00:32:58,176 --> 00:33:01,526
And John used to play harmonica,
so we always liked that.
462
00:33:01,646 --> 00:33:04,362
But when I heard them
on "Pet sounds"...
463
00:33:04,482 --> 00:33:07,732
there's a lot of harmonica,
bass harmonica, he uses that...
464
00:33:07,852 --> 00:33:12,337
The instruments he uses and the way
he places them against each other,
465
00:33:12,457 --> 00:33:15,340
it's very cleverly done,
it's a really clever album.
466
00:33:15,460 --> 00:33:20,910
So we were inspired by it
and nicked a few ideas.
467
00:33:30,608 --> 00:33:35,293
I remember we walked into
an antique shop in Sevenoaks in Kent,
468
00:33:35,413 --> 00:33:38,263
and we were looking
at what they had there,
469
00:33:38,383 --> 00:33:40,632
and John pulled out this thing
that he found,
470
00:33:40,752 --> 00:33:43,301
which said, "The benefit of Mr Kite".
471
00:33:43,421 --> 00:33:46,571
And it was virtually
all the lyrics to that song.
472
00:33:46,691 --> 00:33:47,872
(George Martin) When I saw it,
473
00:33:47,992 --> 00:33:51,075
it was hanging up in the hall
in his house in surrey,
474
00:33:51,195 --> 00:33:53,745
and it had everything
that the song has on it.
475
00:33:53,865 --> 00:33:57,081
It had the Henderson Twins
and Pablo Fanque's Fair,
476
00:33:57,201 --> 00:33:59,181
all those words were written
on the poster.
477
00:34:00,038 --> 00:34:05,556
And it obviously inspired him to write
a song about a fairground or a circus.
478
00:34:05,676 --> 00:34:07,759
that's how you do it.
479
00:34:07,879 --> 00:34:10,561
You get ideas,
you hear people say stuff, or...
480
00:34:10,681 --> 00:34:14,766
you hear a phrase that sounds good
and you write it down or remember it.
481
00:34:14,886 --> 00:34:18,603
So I think he was just advanced
for those days
482
00:34:18,723 --> 00:34:23,141
in his awareness of putting...
everything could be put into a song.
483
00:34:23,261 --> 00:34:26,544
(George Martin)
He wanted to create a sound picture
484
00:34:26,664 --> 00:34:28,575
of what the song was all about.
485
00:34:29,100 --> 00:34:32,517
And he actually said to me,
"I want to smell the sawdust."
486
00:34:32,637 --> 00:34:34,953
But to get the smell of the sawdust,
487
00:34:35,073 --> 00:34:38,456
we, John and I,
both sat on different organs,
488
00:34:38,576 --> 00:34:42,126
Wurlitzers and Lowreys
and Hammonds,
489
00:34:42,246 --> 00:34:46,230
and with double-speed techniques
created a kind of whirly atmosphere.
490
00:34:46,350 --> 00:34:50,635
And the backing... I had visions
of Snow White and the Seven dwarfs
491
00:34:50,755 --> 00:34:53,004
who had a little pipey organ in their hut.
492
00:34:53,124 --> 00:34:55,707
John thought slightly differently.
He thought of "Magic roundabout".
493
00:34:55,827 --> 00:34:59,243
But it was a tooty kind of sound
that we were able to create,
494
00:34:59,363 --> 00:35:03,214
and together with that, we had
this weird and wonderful tape
495
00:35:03,334 --> 00:35:06,851
consisting of all little sections
of real steam organs,
496
00:35:06,971 --> 00:35:11,322
cut up, joined together in a very
haphazard manner, some back to front.
497
00:35:11,442 --> 00:35:13,458
To give us no tune at all,
498
00:35:13,578 --> 00:35:16,928
but just a noise that would convey
what we wanted.
499
00:35:17,048 --> 00:35:18,459
And this is what it is.
500
00:35:25,423 --> 00:35:27,596
double-tracked vocal form John.
501
00:35:32,864 --> 00:35:34,605
Ringo on his cymbals.
502
00:35:41,372 --> 00:35:45,115
And now, here, in come the whirly bits.
503
00:35:49,247 --> 00:35:51,696
This is the track
with all the little sounds on it,
504
00:35:51,816 --> 00:35:54,228
the melange of tapes.
505
00:35:59,524 --> 00:36:03,267
And along with that is the little
tooty backing on this track, track four.
506
00:36:12,036 --> 00:36:15,574
And that's it. A splendid time
is guaranteed for all.
507
00:36:16,674 --> 00:36:20,258
I mean, when I first met them,
they really couldn't write a decent song.
508
00:36:20,378 --> 00:36:22,527
"Love Me Do" was the best
they could give me.
509
00:36:22,647 --> 00:36:27,756
Yet they blossomed as songwriters
in a way that is breath-taking.
510
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:32,336
It had an amazing effect
on the way people saw records.
511
00:36:32,456 --> 00:36:35,506
I mean, people suddenly thought,
"Oh, you can do that?"
512
00:36:35,626 --> 00:36:37,308
Well, they've done it,
so of course you can do it.
513
00:36:37,428 --> 00:36:39,704
So I suppose it made...
514
00:36:40,698 --> 00:36:44,082
it opened a door and showed everybody
that there was another room
515
00:36:44,202 --> 00:36:46,851
and that you could play around
in that other room,
516
00:36:46,971 --> 00:36:50,384
and actually it could still be called
a commercial record.
517
00:36:58,349 --> 00:36:59,453
Ah, "Good morning".
518
00:37:00,017 --> 00:37:04,135
"Good morning" of course
was inspired by a commercial.
519
00:37:04,255 --> 00:37:05,903
You know, a breakfast commercial.
520
00:37:06,023 --> 00:37:10,041
And I suppose that triggered something
in John that made him write the song,
521
00:37:10,161 --> 00:37:12,443
and again he drew his inspiration
522
00:37:12,563 --> 00:37:16,314
from very mundane, ordinary things
like "Time for tea and 'Meet The Wife"'.
523
00:37:16,434 --> 00:37:18,282
"Meet The Wife"
was a television serial.
524
00:37:18,402 --> 00:37:23,121
It kind of indicates
the suburbanality of his songs
525
00:37:23,241 --> 00:37:25,278
and the very Englishness
of the whole thing.
526
00:37:25,743 --> 00:37:27,925
"Good morning" was typical of him
527
00:37:28,045 --> 00:37:32,530
that it was of odd meters,
but sounded perfectly natural.
528
00:37:32,650 --> 00:37:35,032
I mean, he would have
a 3/4 bar, 4/4 bar,
529
00:37:35,152 --> 00:37:36,995
5/4 bar even, without knowing it.
530
00:37:37,655 --> 00:37:40,037
One-two-three, one-two,
531
00:37:40,157 --> 00:37:44,709
one-two-three-four, one-two,
one-two-three-four.
532
00:37:44,829 --> 00:37:47,411
It was to be a very hard-driving,
punchy thing.
533
00:37:47,531 --> 00:37:50,011
The tune itself is quite simple.
534
00:37:53,170 --> 00:37:55,912
But it was full of accents
all over the place.
535
00:37:57,775 --> 00:38:02,293
John wanted to finish this song
with a collection of animal noises,
536
00:38:02,413 --> 00:38:05,496
starting off with a cock,
identifying with a Kellogg's commercial...
537
00:38:05,616 --> 00:38:09,133
- (cockerel crows)
- ...and then each animal was capable
538
00:38:09,253 --> 00:38:12,393
of either devouring
or frightening the one before it.
539
00:38:12,923 --> 00:38:14,630
And we had a whole string of them here.
540
00:38:28,673 --> 00:38:30,555
It took a long time,
541
00:38:30,675 --> 00:38:34,692
and it took longer for me,
because I would do the basic track.
542
00:38:34,812 --> 00:38:39,597
We would do the basic backing track.
We'd do the drums.
543
00:38:39,717 --> 00:38:43,301
And then it would be days or weeks,
544
00:38:43,421 --> 00:38:47,071
even months sometimes,
to come back to the track
545
00:38:47,191 --> 00:38:51,075
and put on overdubs like the hi-hat
546
00:38:51,195 --> 00:38:57,009
or, listening again,
there's lots of conga drums.
547
00:38:57,435 --> 00:38:59,417
I'm not a percussionist.
548
00:38:59,537 --> 00:39:01,744
that's another field of drums.
549
00:39:02,206 --> 00:39:05,690
I'm on playing the congas,
and there's lots of maracas,
550
00:39:05,810 --> 00:39:08,492
and all that stuff
sort of came on at the end.
551
00:39:08,612 --> 00:39:11,596
So there was lots of huge gaps.
552
00:39:11,716 --> 00:39:15,596
The biggest memory I have of "Sgt.
pepper" is, I learned to play chess on it.
553
00:39:16,821 --> 00:39:19,937
We were changing our method
of working at that time,
554
00:39:20,057 --> 00:39:24,475
and instead of now looking for catchy
singles, catchy singles, catchy singles,
555
00:39:24,595 --> 00:39:31,048
it was more like writing a novel,
"Sgt. pepper", I think for me, definitely.
556
00:39:31,168 --> 00:39:34,552
It was much more a kind
of an overall concept, "Wow...!"
557
00:39:34,672 --> 00:39:36,413
And you can see that in the packaging.
558
00:39:53,190 --> 00:39:55,439
(George Martin)
Cover art in the mid-sixties
559
00:39:55,559 --> 00:39:58,233
hadn't really been exploited
up to "pepper",
560
00:39:58,662 --> 00:40:01,946
and when the boys decided
what they wanted,
561
00:40:02,066 --> 00:40:05,349
they wanted really to put
all of their heroes on the album
562
00:40:05,469 --> 00:40:07,251
in some form or another.
563
00:40:07,371 --> 00:40:13,457
And by recruiting Peter Blake,
who was an avant-garde artist again,
564
00:40:13,577 --> 00:40:16,661
to assemble their ideas
and realise them,
565
00:40:16,781 --> 00:40:18,896
in the same way
I was realising the music,
566
00:40:19,016 --> 00:40:21,999
they did, I think, a pretty smart thing.
567
00:40:22,119 --> 00:40:27,138
I think what happened straightaway
was that it was very mysterious.
568
00:40:27,258 --> 00:40:28,706
It was like a game.
569
00:40:28,826 --> 00:40:32,143
There were quizzes to see
if you could spot who everyone was,
570
00:40:32,263 --> 00:40:34,745
and of course nobody could.
571
00:40:34,865 --> 00:40:37,748
And I think a kind of cult
built up around it,
572
00:40:37,868 --> 00:40:42,887
and then the myths and stories
that built up around it,
573
00:40:43,007 --> 00:40:47,114
it became an interesting talking point,
I think.
574
00:40:47,611 --> 00:40:50,528
I think we just thought
we'll do the best we can
575
00:40:50,648 --> 00:40:54,131
in this very far-out new way
that we had of thinking.
576
00:40:54,251 --> 00:40:55,533
Get it to be something...
577
00:40:55,653 --> 00:40:59,601
I still think that is the best philosophy,
to really try and please yourself.
578
00:41:00,191 --> 00:41:03,074
probably the most momentous song
on the album, "A Day In The Life",
579
00:41:03,194 --> 00:41:05,309
began in a very simple way.
580
00:41:05,429 --> 00:41:08,379
And we've got the rehearsal take,
take one,
581
00:41:08,499 --> 00:41:10,479
the very first time we heard it,
582
00:41:11,502 --> 00:41:14,752
with John giving a few instructions
to people, as usual,
583
00:41:14,872 --> 00:41:16,715
just before he starts it.
584
00:41:17,675 --> 00:41:20,458
(John) 'Have the mike on the piano
quite low.
585
00:41:20,578 --> 00:41:22,293
'Keep it like maracas, you know.'
586
00:41:22,413 --> 00:41:25,596
John was singing while he was playing
his acoustic guitar.
587
00:41:25,716 --> 00:41:29,333
Paul was on piano.
George was playing maracas, I think.
588
00:41:29,453 --> 00:41:31,869
And certainly Ringo was on bongos.
589
00:41:31,989 --> 00:41:35,232
John counts in by saying,
"Sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy."
590
00:41:39,563 --> 00:41:42,567
(John) 'Sugar plum fairy,
sugar plum fairy.'
591
00:42:04,221 --> 00:42:07,505
Even in this early take,
he has a voice...
592
00:42:07,625 --> 00:42:12,096
which sends shivers down the spine.
593
00:42:38,789 --> 00:42:41,633
(Phil Collins) Well, I think
he's vastly underrated, Ringo.
594
00:42:44,228 --> 00:42:48,472
The drum fills on "A Day In The Life"
are in fact very, very complex things.
595
00:42:48,966 --> 00:42:52,383
You could take a great drummer
from today
596
00:42:52,503 --> 00:42:55,746
and say, "I want it like that,"
and they really wouldn't know what to do.
597
00:43:06,784 --> 00:43:10,468
I could only play the drums
the best I could, you know?
598
00:43:10,588 --> 00:43:13,137
You know, I've said it before
that I was very lucky
599
00:43:13,257 --> 00:43:17,308
that I was surrounded
by three frustrated drummers.
600
00:43:17,428 --> 00:43:24,248
All three of them can play drums,
but only one sort of style.
601
00:43:24,368 --> 00:43:27,318
There was one great moment
with John who played a record to me
602
00:43:27,438 --> 00:43:29,753
and wanted me to...
"Well, play it like that, Ringo."
603
00:43:29,873 --> 00:43:33,991
I said, "But, John, there's two guys."
He says, "Don't let that bother you."
604
00:43:34,111 --> 00:43:36,927
(George Martin) The first part of the song
"A Day In The Life" was John's,
605
00:43:37,047 --> 00:43:38,395
but it was incomplete.
606
00:43:38,515 --> 00:43:41,632
He went to Paul and said, "Have you got
anything to pad it out in the middle?"
607
00:43:41,752 --> 00:43:43,868
Paul had another song
which he was working on,
608
00:43:43,988 --> 00:43:47,697
which really had no connection with
"A Day In The Life", but it was good.
609
00:44:01,972 --> 00:44:03,888
So John said,
"Well, let's shove it in the middle
610
00:44:04,008 --> 00:44:06,045
"and see if we can't connect them up
in some way."
611
00:44:06,677 --> 00:44:10,728
We connected them
with a series of empty bars
612
00:44:10,848 --> 00:44:16,033
on either side of Paul's section
before we came back into John's reprise,
613
00:44:16,153 --> 00:44:20,471
and we knew we had to fill those bars
with something sensational.
614
00:44:20,591 --> 00:44:22,264
And we didn't know
what it was going to be yet.
615
00:44:22,793 --> 00:44:24,542
In order to keep the 24 bars
616
00:44:24,662 --> 00:44:27,044
so that everybody knew
when to come back in again,
617
00:44:27,164 --> 00:44:30,581
dear old Mal Evans stood
by the piano counting the bars.
618
00:44:30,701 --> 00:44:35,452
(Mal) 'Seven, eight, nine, ten...'
619
00:44:35,572 --> 00:44:37,388
And just to add further weight to it,
620
00:44:37,508 --> 00:44:41,115
he set off an alarm clock at the end of it
to trigger everybody back into it.
621
00:44:42,046 --> 00:44:44,728
'seventeen, eighteen,
622
00:44:44,848 --> 00:44:48,955
- 'nineteen, twenty!'
- (Alarm clock rings)
623
00:44:49,319 --> 00:44:53,137
They told me they wanted an orchestral
climax to fill these empty bars,
624
00:44:53,257 --> 00:44:55,239
a giant orgasm of sound
625
00:44:55,359 --> 00:44:59,243
rising from nothing at all
to the most incredible noise.
626
00:44:59,363 --> 00:45:00,774
And this is what we came up with.
627
00:45:25,622 --> 00:45:28,933
And with that, we joined up
the two parts of the song.
628
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:40,417
I think there's lots of better songs
out on different records.
629
00:45:40,537 --> 00:45:43,921
It's just...
it was the time, the attitude,
630
00:45:44,041 --> 00:45:46,790
it was the concept,
the world was trying to change.
631
00:45:46,910 --> 00:45:49,413
It didn't quite make it,
but it made a small move.
632
00:45:50,114 --> 00:45:52,496
It was in the air...
633
00:45:52,616 --> 00:45:55,833
For me, the psychedelic years
were the most exciting.
634
00:45:55,953 --> 00:45:59,036
It's like a period. If you listen to music
from the '20 or the '30s,
635
00:45:59,156 --> 00:46:03,107
it has a sort of sound to it,
and I think that's important.
636
00:46:03,227 --> 00:46:09,313
If you want to listen to something like
a Hoagy Carmichael tune,
637
00:46:09,433 --> 00:46:13,083
well, it's partly the song that you like,
and it's partly the way he did it,
638
00:46:13,203 --> 00:46:15,753
and it's also partly the way
it was recorded,
639
00:46:15,873 --> 00:46:17,955
how the microphones
sounded in those days,
640
00:46:18,075 --> 00:46:20,624
how the tube amplifiers
in the boards...
641
00:46:20,744 --> 00:46:23,694
You know,
it's all that kind of atmosphere,
642
00:46:23,814 --> 00:46:25,953
and it becomes a little period piece.
643
00:46:26,617 --> 00:46:28,265
(Phil Collins)
The concept of the thing,
644
00:46:28,385 --> 00:46:30,734
I mean, before concept albums
became a dirty word,
645
00:46:30,854 --> 00:46:32,903
you'd put it on and sit down and say,
646
00:46:33,023 --> 00:46:36,507
"For the next 5O minutes,
I'm gonna be going there."
647
00:46:36,627 --> 00:46:38,698
So, it was very new
from that point of view.
648
00:46:46,203 --> 00:46:50,688
(Ringo) Well, you know, the whole
flower power thing fell apart in the end.
649
00:46:50,808 --> 00:46:54,258
I mean, there's still some
great, old hippies out there,
650
00:46:54,378 --> 00:46:56,527
travelling in their vans, but...
651
00:46:56,647 --> 00:47:00,618
It wasn't the movement
that I felt it could have been.
652
00:47:00,984 --> 00:47:03,534
I must confess that when we were
going through "pepper",
653
00:47:03,654 --> 00:47:06,303
people were saying, "How's it
coming along?" I'd say "Fine."
654
00:47:06,423 --> 00:47:10,040
And I must confess, as we were getting
longer and longer into the album
655
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:12,943
and more and more avant-garde,
656
00:47:13,063 --> 00:47:16,080
I was wondering whether we were
being a little bit over the top
657
00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:18,549
and a little bit... maybe pretentious.
658
00:47:18,669 --> 00:47:22,786
Just a slight niggle of worry. I thought,
"ls the public ready for this yet?"
659
00:47:22,906 --> 00:47:25,723
The musical papers
which I used to read
660
00:47:25,843 --> 00:47:28,659
were starting to slag us off,
because we hadn't done anything,
661
00:47:28,779 --> 00:47:31,061
because it took five months to record.
662
00:47:31,181 --> 00:47:34,164
And I remember with great glee
seeing in one of the papers,
663
00:47:34,284 --> 00:47:37,401
"Oh, the Beatles have dried up.
there's nothing coming from them.
664
00:47:37,521 --> 00:47:39,831
"they've been in the studio.
They can't think what they're doing."
665
00:47:39,923 --> 00:47:43,427
And I was sitting rubbing my hands,
saying, "You just wait."58706
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