The Recording of Sgt. Pepper

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Page

The recording of Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band spanned 129 days, perhaps the most creative 129 days in the history of rock music.
Here, in the order in which the recording were tackled, is a guide to the way the album was made.
Three other songs were recorded during the sessions. The first two were taken for release as a single, the third didn't surface until the Yellow Submarine film soundtrack album.

'Strawberry Fields Forever'. Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey Road on November 24 1966.
'Penny Lane'. Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey Road on December 29 1966.
'It's Only a Northern Song'. Recording commenced in studio two at Abbey Road on February 13 1967.
 

The sequence of songs on Pepper is famous in itself, being - on the vinyl version - two continuous sides of music, without pauses between songs, or 'banding', to use recording parlance. But the line-up of side one, as first conceived, was different to how it finally evolved, and was as follows: 'Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'; 'With a Little Help From My Friends'; 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!'; 'Fixing a Hole'; 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'; 'Getting Better'; 'She's Leaving Home'.

Extracted from The Beatles at Abbey Road, by Mark Lewisohn, 1987.

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