Worst Beatles song on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

I vividly remember "Fixing a Hole" explaining psychedelic experience to me when I first heard it, aged about 8 or 9.

Note that the hole stops his mind from wandering, rather than allowing it to roam further.

It’s curious to me how little Fixing a Hole gets mentioned – by myself includesd. It’s not a showy song but it’s absolutely one of my favourites on the album, and one of McCartney’s best lyrics, unusually personal, particularly for the period. I’m out without my headphones and now I’m eager to get home and play it.

Note that the hole *stops* his mind from wandering, rather than allowing it to roam further.

He's obsessed with this hole, so fixing it will free him from his obsession and allow his mind to drift off elsewhere.

"Fixing a hole where the rain gets in" vs. "Rain, I don't mind."

It's the rain that stops his mind from wandering.

Raining on him through the hole, evidently.

it really doesn't matter if you're wrong you're right

"good morning good morning" has a great bridge but the rest of it is mostly irritating imo

well, John hated it too.

ha well john usually had the worst beatles opinions of anyone, but a broke clock etc.

IIRC, Lennon wrote it in annoyance after hearing a cereal commercial. It's supposed to be irritating.

That said, there are no bad songs on this album, Beatles or otherwise.

yes, it is successfully irritating but again, the bridge is good, and the solo is freaky enough.

xps Yeah "Fixing A Hole" definitely feels underrated. I love the harpsichord, and the vocal melody and performance feels like the most soulful thing on the album to me.

My least favorite track is easily "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" because I have a personal aversion to circus music.

the chords are very cool in that one, tho

My brain tut-tuts their "read shit off of things" like Mr. Kite or Savoy Truffle.

But gotta admit, those are some of my favorites.

yeah, I can't think of any songs I dislike, but the album has a few that I never want to hear again ("With a Little Help...," "When I'm 64") and others in which I've no interest ("Fixing a Hole," "Mr. Kite," "She's Leaving Home").

As someone who grew up on the Muppets (and whose wife loves Coronation Street), I have to defend "When I'm 64."

Even though Lennon and Ringo admitted that they gave up on the narrative concept after two songs, aurally the entire album feels conceptually bound together. Except for a few songs, I rarely listen to any of these on their own - they all seem to benefit immensely when heard together as an album.

I know it became fashionable to knock Pepper - not without good reason thanks to Rolling Stone constantly hyping it as some insurmountable achievement in pop culture - but I always thought it was a great album regardless.

Listened to it last night (1986 Capitol Vinyl), great album indeed.

The narrative aspect is a bit of a red herring, but I think the songs are of a piece thematically. The are all songs about different aspects of day-to-day British life seen through the same winking mod/hippie lens.

I know it became fashionable to knock Pepper - not without good reason

For instance having Lovely Rita, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, Good Morning Good Morning and When I'm 64 on it.

have always adored “mr kite” and surprised ppl hate it lol

I love "Lovely Rita" — just the sound of the vocals is totally classic.

and McCartney's loopy bass playing! what's not to love.

Yeah I love all of those tracks except When I'm 64, and even then the song does fit into the album's general world.

And Tyler's right, one thing I've really grown to appreciate is Paul's bass-playing on Beatle records, especially on Pepper.

FWIW, with "Good Morning Good Morning," I always thought it was a great lead-in to the finale. It's got a buried anger that feels like it's going to erupt as Lennon details the tedium of everyday rituals, like he's itching for something more out of life.

I dig "Rita" too. "Took her home, I nearly made it / Sitting on the sofa with a sister or two" - Paul's gentle ribaldry is an underrated aspect of his songwriting.

"When I'm Sixty-Four" is cute. Cool piece of trivia: Paul McCartney ended up turning 64 himself a few years ago!

no way

And yet he wrote the song when he was 14, wikipedia tells me. That strain of old-timey songs of Paul's (64, Honey Pie, You Gave Me The Answer etc) has been a constant throughout his career, interesting to see it was there right from the beginning

At least Paul made it to 64. Fuck cancer and psycho fans.

all songs about different aspects of day-to-day British life seen through the same winking mod/hippie lens.

Yep, and “Rita,” “Good Morning,” and “Mr. Kite” all end with, “By the way, I’m observing this while baked”: “Rita”’s reverb-drenched coda, the animals at the end of “Good Morning,” the randomly-cut-up organ in “Mr. Kite.”

I’m not an audiophile but listening to a clean vinyl copy of this on my parents decent stereo with really good headphones was an immersive experience for 8 year old me. Nothing since has sounded as good as that record did then.

I used to listen to my dad's copy on my GE foldout record player. I would immerse myself in the lyrics printed inside the gatefold cover as though they were a holy text.

Ringo sounds so awesome on much of this album.

I love the proto-Roy Wood overdriven horns in “good morning good morning”

proto-Roy Wood yes!

Ringo sounds so awesome on much of this album.

― lets hear some blues on those synths (brimstead), T

Particulary on "A Day in the Life" while John goes ayyyyyyyyyyy-ahhhh

Enjoying a really nice headphone listen to this album r/n, prompted by this revive. For the first time I'm really noticing the stereo (it's my mom's old 60s copy that I grew up with, but I don't know if I've ever done the attentive headphone thing before), which can be pretty distracting in some places!

In my mind the album has a kind of unifying blanket of psychey haze, but it doesn't always. Some parts, like the verses in Lucy, feel oddly almost empty versus the versions in my head! If you can't also hear the stuff that's not there, I get how it could hit your ears as plodding. Good Morning Good Morning has WAY less punch this way, with the chorus just being this thing that happens rather than this enveloping wall of multitasked GOOD MORNINGS ringing out like electrified church bells. OTOH, being able to hear the seams between everything just makes it MORE trippy and unsettling that the lead guitar parts all over the album keep popping up out of the ground for a couple seconds before disappearing again...

But, I'm also noticing lots of specific sonic details that I'm loving! The reverb/decay on virtually everything. Some of the string arrangement on She's Leaving Home (especially under "waiting to keep the appointment she made"). The way Fixing A Hole could almost already be a Ram song, and A Day In The Life, at the beginning, could basically be a John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band song. Everything Ringo does for Getting Better. The charming little guitar part that sneaks into When I'm Sixty-Four in like the last thirty seconds. Lots of the bass parts. Just how good the album-concluding tone is as it sits there, becomes less about the hugeness of its arrival, and becomes, briefly, a womblike ambient wash...

Great album, no bad songs, but She's Leaving Home for "worst."

crazy talk, She's Leaving Home is the 2nd best track on the album after A Day in the Life!

^ that’s what I tend to think too. The only question is would it have been better had George Martin done the strings instead of Mike Leander.

Lovely Rita is a decent enough song, but the production, arrangement and performance elevate it so far above it's compositional worth it's ridiculous. The layered harmonies.. Parts of this song are aural bliss. There's really no need for it to sound this good, and I honestly think it's one of their best recordings.

I should add it's basically a skiffled-up George Formby song

When I'm Sixty Four is some Mr. Bean bullshit

I’ll be honest, “Within You Without You” is the one I’m most tempted to skip.

i am biased towards that one because sonic youth did the cover. takes all sorts...

Which one is the most Qanon song?