It was forty-seven years ago today
That the Beatles took our breath away.
They released a groundbreaking album -
It was great until the final strum.
So may I introduce to you
The post you’ve all been waiting for:
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club’s poll!
It’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club’s poll,
I hope you will enjoy your vote.
It’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club’s poll,
Please consider each and every note.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely,
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely,
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club’s poll.
This series had been quite fun,
Though voting’s very hard.
You’re such a lovely message board
You win all of the internets
All of the internets.
I don’t really want to stop the thread,
But I thought a fun fact should be said:
You know the song about Mr. Kite?
It’s from a poster seen at this site.
So now please choose your favorite track,
And discuss what’s on the album
of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band!
I almost pulled the trigger on A Day in the Life, but instead went with She’s Leaving Home.
SLH, which I used to dismiss as average, has really grown on me over the years. Outstanding harmonizing from the lads and heartbreaking lyrics with a message.
Perhaps one needs to be a parent to fully appreciate the song.
mmm
I voted for Lucy. It’s a fantastic song. Almost voted for She’s Leaving Home. I think there was a time when I would have voted for A Day in the Life. Maybe I have heard it a little too often. I’m disappointed no one has voted for the title track yet.
Voting for the title track is a bit awkward since there’s two of them - the reprise is almost the same song. I almost voted for Lucy, but there’s something about A Day in the Life. It’s funny, because I never thought much of it as a song until I heard tons of people raving about it. After that, I went back and really tried to listen to it, and it grew on me. Then again, it could just be a kind of placebo effect - “lots of people love, therefore it’s good”.
Great LP! Tuff picking a winner. I went with “within you without you”. But it was difficult. Don’t know what I am gonna do when the white album comes up for the vote.
I’d even argue with it being a great album - “Fixing A Hole”, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", “Within You Without You”, “Lovely Rita”, “Good Morning, Good Morning” - all fall short of being great songs, IMO (I don’t even think “With A Little Help from My Friends” or “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” are top-tier songs, but I realize I’m in the minority). Good songs, sure. But overall, I’ve always found it one of their weaker efforts.
I have to agree with this. It’s heralded as one of the first concept albums, but it’s only an attempted concept album. The title tracks only make sense in the context of the “concept,” but they didn’t follow through and the rest of the album is a collection of unrelated songs. That leaves several good songs, and a few weak ones. I had to vote for “A Day in the Life,” but even here I have to subtract some points because it’s essentially just two different songs stitched together. On a scale of 1 to 10, I only give it 11.
An undeniable artistic achievement (there just aren’t that many fusions of psychedelia, English music hall and Indian sitar music, much less successful ones), but I always found SPLHCB rather airless due to the heavily massaged production and the preciousness of many of the lyrics, and I find it very hard to listen to with interest these days.
With that said, the album was on Air France’s sound system on my flight back to the States yesterday, so I went through the whole experience and have decided that my vote goes to…Getting Better, for the ringing guitars, ethereal chorus, sunny-without-being-sappy tone, and IMO one of Paul’s best vocals. Runner-up? Uh, Fixing a Hole, probably. It really doesn’t matter. If I’m wrong, I’m right.
I have no doubt, however, that A Day in the Life will be the overwhelming choice (though I can’t complain).
