So Sgt. Pepper Took You By Surprise?
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(1) I always thought of Sgt. Pepper as the story of people who throw away their entire lifetime by living within a fantasy world, in this case, the fantasy world of a rock band. (2) The line, "You must have learned something in all those years ". Could that be "Something"? George is on the track. (3) Sir Paul may have spent most of his time in England, but he owned at least one house in Los Angeles. The Beatles also maintained a house in Los Angeles in 1966. (4) As for serious meaning from John, he may be teasing those of us who are looking? It is said, that a man who has big ears has a big pen*s.
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beatlesfanrandy:
dappa-macca:
Back to my note, I do believe that Sgt Pepper is in reference to drugs. LSD took Paul by surprise, not in a good way. The others were into the drugs and Paul preferred to stay away from LSD. The next line, you better see right through that mothers eyes, I think, means LSD helps "see" right, open the mind, etc. (that mother referencing the mother of all drugs, LSD). My take is that he was knocking Paul for being more straight through the LSD period and not partaking, thereby not being as open and artistic. The rest of the song is about how he's on a pedestal yet not making good music.
I disagree. John talked years later about how he kept "seeing" Paul when he was tripping. Like Paul was on the same awareness level as John and the others, even though he hadn't taken the drug yet. The line is about the album and its impact, not drugs.
That may be so, but Paul still didn't like LSD. And SPLHCB is known as the psychadelic album so i don't see it as a stretch to be referencing LSD. Another thought... Sgt Pepper was wildly imaginative, extraordinarily creative. And it was kinda Paul's album. Maybe John's just jabbing that Sgt Pepper showed he could push himself creatively and that took him by surprise. Second line about mother's eyes... Maybe that was referencing Your Mother Should Know, which John lumped in to Paul's granny music, just saying he could do better. I don't know.
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We're getting closer...every...day
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^^ and it is about time.
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hey_kittay:
^^ and it is about time.
Are we looking for someone to save us...or are we looking for someone to save?...think about it
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hey_kittay:
I think John was speaking to the listening audience when he is speaking the first two lines: "So Sergeant Pepper took you by surprise, You better see right through that mother's eyes..." I think he is referring to Paul. The rest of the song seems to be directed to Paul himself. So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise You better see right through that mother's eyes
I think you are right and that's the way I always looked at it. It seems like the simplest most logical explanation! You phrased it well, thanks! To Randy's point the line "Pretty soon they'll see what you can do" is most certainly a sarcastic put down meaning "pretty soon they'll see that you really have little to no talent." To Audley's Piano's point "You must have learned something in all those years" is also most certainly not a reference to the song Something. But it's saying "you must have learned something from me in all those years we worked together, but your music is so bad it doesn't sound like you learned anything at all." Ironically maybe John should have tried to learn a bit more from Paul and his solo career might have gone better! With albums like Band on the Run John soon must have realized how wrong he was and how badly this song reflected on *him*.
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I agree with Randy that the "pretty soon they'll see what you can do" was an acknowledgment of Paul's talent. In "Lennon Remembers," John, while talking about Paul's first solo album, said he "expected just a little more." When asked what he thought that Paul would think of John's new album (Plastic Ono Band), John replied, "I think it'll probably scare him into doing something decent...I think he's capable of great work."
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John always knew Paul had talent. So when he came up with a "but pretty soon they'll see what you can do".... he might at the time have been having a dig, and it could be taken, and might have been meant at the time as degrading, but no doubt, he was cognisant of how good Paul was. In fact, I think John was in awe of him at the time. Just as Paul was, and still is, in awe of John. Rightfully so. On both accounts. A frozen moment in time. Which was thawed in the ensuing years.
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ps. I think John's solo career was going just fine. He might've been the last of the Fab Four to have a Number One hit post-Beatles, but he has beauties locked into those first five years... some misses... but some absolute gems. Brilliant gems.
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John saying you won't last long without me?
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steven ambrozat:
I agree with Randy that the "pretty soon they'll see what you can do" was an acknowledgment of Paul's talent.
It's a unique way of looking at it just like the "something" line, but I strongly disagree with your interpretation of these lyrics. It was most certainly a "pretty soon they'll see that the Emperor has no clothes" line. There is nothing positive in the song at all and that's the spirit in which it was written. It was meant to hurt Paul hard. It was a direct shot at him and it accomplished it's nefarious task. Paul put on a brave face regarding the song saying "he knows I've written a lot of good songs other than Yesterday" but I would guess that on the inside it hurt him very deeply.
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steven ambrozat:
In "Lennon Remembers," John, while talking about Paul's first solo album, said he "expected just a little more." When asked what he thought that Paul would think of John's new album (Plastic Ono Band), John replied, "I think it'll probably scare him into doing something decent...I think he's capable of great work."
John was a jealous and insecure man who talked big especially in interviews to try and cover these traits. Typical Lennon bravado that POB should "scare" Paul into doing good work. It should have scared Lennon into doing something better. That album, like a lot of Lennon's solo work, has not aged well. Band on the Run and even Ram still sounds fresh. I think when BOTR came out Lennon realized he could never compete with Paul and nothing he would do as a solo artist would be as good--in fact nothing the other three could do would be as good. Band on the Run and the Wings Over America tour simply blew the roof off of the tacit "competition" with Lennon. Lennon basically retired after this until years later with Double Fantasy which wasn't bad but it was half an album that he had over 10 years to work on and again not in the same league as BOTR.
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^^ Then we go back on the merry go round of the fact John was murdered and so we will never know what could have been. It really is an unfair and inaccurate argument to compare the talents of Lennon and McCartney due to that fact alone.
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Well let's just stick to their solo careers pre-1980 then to level the playing field. John came out with a great song now and then whereas Paul consistently created great catchy tunes. Most of Lennon's stuff has a pedantic depressing air to it in retrospect and like I said those songs have generally not aged well. Paul's hits during those years still sound fresh for the most part and still sound great at parties. E.g. Helen Wheels vs. Steel and Glass
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I like both artists as soloists, but I will take Lennon's Gimme Some Truth compilation over McCartney's Wingspan any day. We know what Paul's output was in the 80's and 90's. My personal view is that Paul's best solo work other than Wings has been during the 2000's. We can only wonder with sadness what Lennon's output in the 80's and beyond might have been.
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steven ambrozat:
I agree with Randy that the "pretty soon they'll see what you can do" was an acknowledgment of Paul's talent. In "Lennon Remembers," John, while talking about Paul's first solo album, said he "expected just a little more." When asked what he thought that Paul would think of John's new album (Plastic Ono Band), John replied, "I think it'll probably scare him into doing something decent...I think he's capable of great work."
I think both John's & Paul's first solo albums (not including John's avant-garde stuff ) are similar in their raw, back to basics sound. It's ironic that when they were supposedly going in different musical directions, which was said to be one of the main reasons for the break-up, that they would produce albums not dissimilar in musical attitude. The main difference is of course Plastic Ono Band was a much more lyrical album. It is virtually John's political & philosophical manifesto. Paul's "McCartney" was more a musical statement in that it has a wide range of styles, which would typify Paul's whole career, from simple acoustic tunes like The Lovely Linda to epics like Maybe I'm Amazed and throw in some sound experimentation like Kreen Akrore. It was also a statement that he was quite self reliant musically in that he did all the instruments and vocals except for some harmonies from Linda.
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I think there was tremendous pressure on each one of them to get a solo album out and be the first ex-Beatle to show that they didn't need the others. I don't believe either of them had the capital for a major studio production because all their money was tied up in the lawsuits. This is perhaps why they sounded somewhat stripped down and a bit similar. As Apollo mentioned Paul was quite proficient on many instruments so it was also probably quite refreshing to do most of the recording in his home studio.
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Erik in NJ:
I think there was tremendous pressure on each one of them to get a solo album out and be the first ex-Beatle to show that they didn't need the others. I don't believe either of them had the capital for a major studio production because all their money was tied up in the lawsuits. This is perhaps why they sounded somewhat stripped down and a bit similar. As Apollo mentioned Paul was quite proficient on many instruments so it was also probably quite refreshing to do most of the recording in his home studio.
Good points, however, I also believe that John and mainly Paul after creating a very "lavish" album with Abbey Road along with the "Spectorized" Let It Be, were looking to get back (no pun intended) to basics on their first solo releases.
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Erik in NJ:
Well let's just stick to their solo careers pre-1980 then to level the playing field. John came out with a great song now and then whereas Paul consistently created great catchy tunes. Most of Lennon's stuff has a pedantic depressing air to it in retrospect and like I said those songs have generally not aged well. Paul's hits during those years still sound fresh for the most part and still sound great at parties. E.g. Helen Wheels vs. Steel and Glass
Personally, I think John's first 2 albums beat the living daylights out of Paul's. But then John's output went steadily downhill and Paul began to hit his stride.
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Bruce M.:
Erik in NJ:
Well let's just stick to their solo careers pre-1980 then to level the playing field. John came out with a great song now and then whereas Paul consistently created great catchy tunes. Most of Lennon's stuff has a pedantic depressing air to it in retrospect and like I said those songs have generally not aged well. Paul's hits during those years still sound fresh for the most part and still sound great at parties. E.g. Helen Wheels vs. Steel and Glass
Personally, I think John's first 2 albums beat the living daylights out of Paul's. But then John's output went steadily downhill and Paul began to hit his stride.
I concur... I think John's first solo album romps all over Paul's first outing. And that's even without the brilliant "Instant Karma" being in the mix. I love Ram but I also love Imagine. There are some timeless classics on the latter... And, yes, from there, Paul regathered his mojo, many of the songs and albums taking on a life of their own, and John put out less-than-classic albums in the next 70's' instalments, albeit with some great songs thrown into the mix.... As an aside, his contributions to Double Fantasy are sublime.