The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper - Why was Harrison only allowed One song?

Mr. Kite is one of the best songs on the album, along with A Day in The Life.
Even without the amazing production it would still be great, but with it's sublime.

I would trust my ears and judgement above a quote from some random interview where he was bitter about the whole thing.

 

Oh come on...you may not like the song, that's totally fine, but you also have to know there's just a little more to it than that...and you also have to know that what artists say about the merit of their own work ultimately means diddly squat, once they release it for general consumption.

I love it, my 6 year old loves it, it's the bloody BEATLES, so shut up! (well kiddin' about this last part of course)

EXACTLY.

 

I had made up my mind about 'Mr. Kite" before I read the Lennon Rolling Stone interview. I don't agree that he was bitter about the whole thing - even in that interview, he stands up for songs such as "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" that he was still proud of. Tellingly, "Mr. Kite" was not one of those songs that he was still proud of.

 

The only thing that "tells" us is that John apparently didn't like "Mr. Kite" in 1970.

There are a lot more things that his interview doesn't "tell" us, though.

Like, it doesn't tell us anything about the broader artistic merit or appeal of the song, which millions of other people continue to be knocked out by to this day.

I'll let others draw their own conclusions about which of these things is ultimately most "telling" in determining the relative merit/worth of a piece of art.

Personally I've never understood the high appeal of "Help!" - a decent but in my opinion relatively weak Beatles album opener and single, sloppily sung, played, and recorded. John loved it primarily because it was all about him, ostensibly more honest (whatever that means). That doesn't mean it speaks to people any more strongly than "Mr. Kite."

 

None of those songs were written when they were working on "Pepper" (well, maybe "The Inner Light" I can't remember when it was written off the top of my head).

 

Paraphrasing Macca's comments about the White Album, love it! Of course, the same could be said about WYWY, but then it would be bloody Beatle, George alone.

 

After writing "SFF" and "PL" McLen considered working on an album related to their childhood, etc. IIRC but that didn't pan out.

 

I'm quite sure he was purposefully limited to one track. As many have said, Only A Northern Song was recorded first, back in February 1967. It should be noted that the version on Anthology 2 is the one that was a contender for the album, the Yellow Submarine version had overdubs added a day or two after the sessions for Sgt. Pepper ended. A decent song, but really much less interesting than Within You Without You, even for those of you who aren't into Indian music. I don't think George was into writing much during this time, no songs or fragments from the era have surfaced that I'm aware of. Of course we'll never know if he "offered" up See Yourself or Art Of Dying to the group. The nagras weren't running in 1967

For those interested, It's All Too Much was recorded about a month after the Pepper sessions had ended. I'm not convinced the burst of activity in April/May 1967 was all to do with the the embryonic Yellow Submarine project either. More likely they felt free to record as much as possible with no summer tour or live dates scheduled. It's interesting that Magical Mystery Tour, the song, was recorded almost immediately after the last sessions for Pepper. Ron

 

What, so you don't think the lyrics of WYWY have any validity at all? I disagree.

When I was younger this was my least favourite Pepper track; I like it a lot now - lyrically and musically - it's one of those that grows on you (if you want it).

 

Since they recorded When I'm 64 between the other 2 songs, the album must have been about their past and future!

 

My snappy answer to the OP question:

Because although George was VERY talented, he was in a band with two other musicians whose enormous gifts had merged into genius.

I don't mean that as a slam on George- after 45 years, he's still my favorite Beatle.


.

 

When I first heard Sgt. Pepper on the radio, it was 2 in the morning of May 15, 1967, on WIBG in Philadelphia. They took a phone poll for favorite song after the album was done, and WYWY won. Odd in retrospect, but if the poll was valid it showed that people liked that it was so different and well-constructed, and fit the mood of the album well.

 

Lennon also referred to And Your Bird Can Sing a piece of garbage----one of my favorites.

You have to admit he was a pretty tough critic of his Beatles work.

 

I think It's All Too Much is a masterpiece and that Only A Northern Song is rather horrible---too bad more care seemed to be put into the recording of the latter. George only having one tune on Pepper is an accurate reflection of his interest in the band---it was on the wane.

 

Lennon had the attention span of a baby. He tended to like whatever he was into at the moment—Yoko, peace, confessional songwriting, political songwriting, etc—usually at the expense of whatever phase had come before. It's important to remember that in these same interviews (I haven't read the full interviews though I've seen most of these quotes before), he was probably hyping tracks off Mind Games or Walls and Bridges that thirty-plus years of hindsight tells us are not generally on the same level…

It's All Too Much was the best thing to come out of George's acid period and also the best "Western" song he had written by then. I can understand having a soft spot for something like "I Need You" but this love for OANS has really taken me by surprise—it's one of the few Beatles songs that strikes me as really, truly below par, especially in the A2 incarnation that it would have taken on Pepper.

 

There's an old saying...trust the art NOT the artist. They're often too close to their own work to give it a fair apraisal.

Having said that, I think it has to do with the fact that Lennon cribbed the lyrics from the Kite poster and didn't come up with all of them himself. Also, it was more an exercise for him compared to his more personal songs.

Lennon's affinity to his work is directly proportional to how personal the lyric and song is.

 

I agree with Lennon.

 

only allowed ...why this terms?
if George had 3 musics for any album(not for Peppers only), who and why reject or allow?!?

ps: for me OANS is very good and different, better than lots of musics from some famous bands/artists.

 

to me WYWY is absolutely essential to Pepper. No better song on the album for me. (I love the whole album, and I realize many consider this a lesser song - I don't). For me its right up there with anything the band ever did.

 

For some reason I'm enjoying Pepper so much more than the other remasters...and so much more than I ever have, period. I was never a "fan" of this album...liked it...but not a fan. Now...I'm smitten. I take back all my "overrated" comments over the years. Revolver seems kind of trite compared to this. I'm not a Beatlemaniac but I'm really getting into Pepper -- thanks to the remaster. For some reason the depth, body and texture that are in this remaster -- and not on the 87 disc, have really given this work a foundation.

I don't know. This one's really good, and as for the remasters in general, has really gotten the most benefit.

 

yes.
i never saw(or heard) that one "bad music" was chosed by the musicians(producer,etc) to start "side 2".

 

I remember in one of Stereophile magazine's annual 'Records To Die For'
features, one writer put up Sgt. Pepper's and said something silly about WYWY along the lines of:

"You can revel in Sgt. Pepper and just forget that there's something called 'Within You, Without You' on it. No one I know even considers it part of the album."

 

I can't understand how all these people dislike WYWY but they give Lovely Rita a free pass.

LOL, no accounting for taste...

 

20 years ago I'd skip over WYWY. Now I'm more like, how could they follow such a great song with WI64?!?! In fact, the SONGS on Pepper are collectively one of the weaker bunches the group produced. The album is definitely more than the sum of its parts - a landmark of time, technology and experimentation.

My dream Pepper running order would include an edited, tightly-played "It's All Too Much" (the endless, sloppy version that got dumped into Yellow Submarine was recorded a couple days before SPLHCB hit the streets).

 

You misunderstood me, I wasn't saying that specifically about you personally-- almost everyone I hear talking about fantasy sequencing, playlists or what have you lists these two together, as if they are necessary partners or some indestructible artistic dichotomy. I think this is one way of looking at these two singles, but in the grand scheme of a full album, can imagine other ways they may have fit in.

I LOVE the idea of starting side one with Getting Better and Side two with WYWY, that's why I complemented your choice in the beginning of my post