Beatles' music philosophy: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

"There was no enjoyment in it, you know. The music wasn't being heard. It wasn't doing anything, it was just a sort of freak show. We felt, if we're gonna be Beatles, the only reason to be Beatles is to make music, and not be in a circus." -George Harrison

In 1966, being drained and disappointed from endless touring and concerts, and feeling drifted away from their musical ideals, The Beatles announced a permanent halt to live performances. For the first time, they were free from the relentless intensity of Beatlemania, giving them time to reflect and question their inner nature. There is a vast difference between their increasingly profound and complex musical artistry and philosophy and the public's expectation of them as popular artists.

They had to find a way to escape. One year later, May 27, 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. This was right before the "Summer of Love".

In 1967, the Western world was undergoing hard cultural transformations: the Vietnam War led to waves of anti-war movements, and the civil rights movements gave rise to new political consciousness. That summer, known as the "Summer of Love," tens of thousands of young people gathered in San Francisco’s Haight–Ashbury district, advocating peace, love, and counterculture ideas while rejecting the materialism and values of mainstream society.

Jefferson Airplane performing at the fantasy fair, 1967

Rock music was, of course, a great part of it; bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and The Beatles gave voice to rebellion, youth spirits, and love.

George Harrison in the Summer of Love

That is the era when Sgt. Pepper was created.

Sgt. Pepper, as it's widely known, is a concept album in which the Beatles invented a flamboyant band and a psychedelic performance by them. They were tired of being the "Beatles" that was perceived by the world. Paul McCartney came up with this idea:

"I thought, Let’s not be ourselves. Let’s develop alter egos so we’re not having to project an image which we know. It would be much more free. What would really be interesting would be to actually take on the personas of this different band. We could say, ‘How would somebody else sing this? He might approach it a bit more sarcastically, perhaps.’"

The concept of Sgt. Pepper is a kind of spiritual escape from reality for the Beatles. Under the virtual, bombastic robes and shells, the real Beatles were able to expose themselves and sing their music for those of the era who needed to escape.

In addition to its conceptual experiments, the album was also musically revolutional; it was produced entirely in the studio, with over seven hundred hours of production time invested. They systematically applied the synchronizing and overdubbing four-track recorders to create a layered soundscape, and used the ADT to add a sense of space to the vocals (to mimic the "live" sound effects), which were all experimental for their time. Most notably music-wise, the Bealtes combined extremely diverse musical genres, including plenty of classical music elements, as well as circus music, prog rock, opera and drama excerpts, and Indian traditional music.

This combination of genres, and the whole album's music, is an attempt to blur the boundaries of time and space, comedy and seriousness, illusion and reality; no matter what, it provides a strong sense of detachment, psychedelic, and magical realism. You listen to this album as if the real world doesn't exist.

On the album's cover, a collection of portraits of many historical figures, artists, and celebrities stands with wax figures of the Beatles.

Thematic Analysis: Identity and Illusions Under Modern Narrative

Beneath the psychedelic theatrics, the album is concerned with a modernist anxiety: the nature of identity in a new, young world where traditions are dissolving. The voice from the album is reviewing our identities that we crafted to understand ourselves and connect with others, to combat an everlasting modern loneliness.

In that regard, the genius of the album's framework is that it makes this theme explicit from the outset: Sgt. Pepper's band is a literal fabrication, a fiction. The first song is like a curtain rise; it introduces the fictional band:

"We’re Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,

We hope you will enjoy the show,

We’re Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,

Sit back and let the evening go."

And there is applause, screams, and whistles, continued by a French horn quartet; it built a lively stage. This stage is great for the audiences of this album, because it is fake and therefore safe.

An important song

"A Day in the Life," the album's finale, is the absolute climax of the entire album; the absurd comparison of reality and illusion deepens considerably. The song put two different songs together, operating on two distinct planes of consciousness: John Lennon singing about public events he sees in the newspaper, and Paul McCartney singing mundane private routines.

"I saw a film today, oh boy / The English Army had just won the war.

A crowd of people turned away,

But I just had to look,

Having read the book"

A 40-person orchestra improvised in this song; a lot of syncopation and triplets were used, and there are complex drums, maracas, alarm clocks, etc. And in the end, there was a forty-second dissonant long note played by the whole orchestra, ending the whole album. That is Crazy. This ending is extremely important and iconic because it finally pushes the illusion to the edge of reality; if we go a little further, this artificial world will no longer exist.