Friday, June 01, 2007

It was forty years ago today....


It was twenty years ago today,
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
They've been going in and out of style
But they're guaranteed to raise a smile.
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years,
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...


Sorry, but this is one bandwagon I just can't help jumping on. I heard the news actually at about 11:45 (4:45 GMT) listening to BBC World News Overnight that June 1, 1967 was the official release date for the amazing Beatles album.

And yes, I admit, I was only 10 at the time.

But the music - especially With A Little Help From My Friends, which has been kind of a life anthem - has played an integral part in my journey.

It's been a long time since I've been a real Beatles geek. Once upon a time, in my misspent youth, friends of mine and I would sit in a local park in Niantic, Connecticut, drinking ghastly things like Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill and singing along to the Beatles on my buddy's new cassette tape player.

There's a great article about it here, and there are now internet guitar charts and lyrics available here. (Stuff we would have killed for as kids, I might add...)

Happy 40th, Sgt. Pepper...

3 comments:

Peter said...

I was 19, and heard A Day in the Life (full version) on the radio--my hair stood on end. Got the album as soon as I could and played it. There was something we Canadians enjoyed in the "big photo" you've shown here, too. I think one of the Beatles had a Royal Canadian Mounted Police emblem on his uniform or something like that...

Peter said...

Just remembered: one of the Beatles, John, I think, or Paul, was wearing a shoulder badge from the Ontario Provincial Police, which was and is a police force serving the province of Ontario (Canada). We Ontarians speculated endlessly as to how they got hold of the badge...

BentonQuest said...

Thanks for the memeories! I have the special privledge of being born not only on my grandma's birthday, but also John Lennon's.