“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” Album Turns 40
(Pic from full screen iTunes on my Mac)
The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper Album Turned Forty Years Old this last Friday. It was on the News and in the papers and all over the internet. One of the best links that I surfed up on the internet was from the Press Enterprize.
I chose it because it has some interesting trivia about the Album’s Songs, and some of the misinterpretations about them. Like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The press and rumor mills of the time, spin if you will, had interpreted the song’s title to be associated with LSD. When actually, and I quote from the Press Enterprize Article, “It came instead from Lennon’s son, Julian, not quite 4 at the time, who brought a drawing home from school and told his father it was “Lucy in the sky, with diamonds.” The Lucy involved was a classmate named Lucy O’Donnell.”
This woke up some memory traces in the old noggin’. A Few Months back I recieved a nice email from Mary Kate, my niece. She gave some feedback on the Site and Blog pages, suggesting a few things that she would like to see. One of the items she suggested was to include stories on the Blog about our youthful Dreams and aspirations, we had when we were young. Although I have not received any stories from our relatives on their aspirations, for some reason it reminded me of one of mine.
At the time of the Sgt. Peppers Album, I was 18 Years Old, and had just Graduated from Sinton High School. Our Country was waist deep into the Vietnam War. I was into music, bell bottom paints and being, as the Kink’s song goes a “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”, a psuedo Flower Power Kid, Love, Peace, and Ecology were the topics that filled the minds of my generation, by the way there is a song, “My Generation”, from The Who. Back then, my aspiration in those golden years was to be a Disc Jockey, and spin the tunes and entertain the listers with my wit.
I had visited the local Radio Station and talked to the DJ’s and even would visit the station in the evenings and sit in on the shows. Watching, learning and helping when allowed, it was neat to see it all come together. The commercials prerecorder on eight track tapes were queued up in the stacked 8-Track players. Two Turntables alternated between the playing of records, which the Disc Jockey had pulled from the Library prior to the begining of his show. He would also take request while on the air, and then run back to the Record Library or send me, as other request were being played. I know that all this is automated now, but it was some what manually operated then. It was exciting and in those days, or maybe due to the budget of the Radio Station, but the DJ performed all of this. He was a one man band.
I had even went so far as to send a tape with a sampling of my voice to a Broadcasting School in San Antonio. They had accepted the tape, and indicated I had a good voice, and that they would scheduled me for a visit, for me to review the circulum and sign up for the school when I was ready. But an ever growing abiguity began to get in the way, between the thoughts of my generation, and becoming a DJ, and the thoughts imprinted inside my brain from my Father.
From my perspective. My Father had a total disdained for all of these things my generation embraced, and thought one should not put down, or protest against the actions that our Country’s Leaders had chosen to take. As for the idea that I wanted want to be a Disc Jockey, and spin records, well I do not beleive my Dad thought it was a job a Man ought to have. Now, to further complicate and confuse the ambiguity, as to which allegence I should take, my older Brother Ralph had been drafted, and was headed to Vietnam.
So, I was torn between these thoughts and ideas. I had two ways to chose.
I tried discussing my Father’s idealogy with Friends and did not get very far. So I decided that the only way to know, was to take the question in Jimi Hendrix’s album, and its title track, “Are You Experienced”, and go see for myself.
I saw a lot, by joining the Air Force and Going to Vietnam, and I can now answer Jimi’s Question with a resounding, “YES !”
But I digress, The Beatles’ Album, “Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band” was, and still is today a great album. It signalled not only a change in the Beatles and their and others music at that time, but also a time in my life.
This choice when I think back on it, is like one of my favorite poems, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. Not that it was a road less travelled by, but that it, along with all the other pathes and choices I have made, have lead me to where i am today, and as the poem says. made all the diference in my life.
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We all make choices in our lives to take one path over another. Some choices have greater impact on ones life than others.
Anyway, though this rambling of mine is for Mary Kate, I hope you all enjoyed it, and that you have taken something from it.
Mike
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The Poppadillo Blog, is the blog page for the Texas Tortilla Factory website, and its stories have been written by Mike Vauthier, and Administratively Approved Authors.
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