Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

Thematically it touches on music, numbers and dance, and the writing is sung in a persona. The lyric reaches back into the Beatles' own catalogue (bookends the album's band-within-a-band concept), 12 songs do it, and 1969 has more of them than any other year. The title is the album's title too and also is unusually long, and the writing takes after music hall. The language is sparse. Coincidence or not, the line "One two three four" turns up in 7 Beatles songs, among them 'Taxman', 'You Never Give Me Your Money' and 'Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!'.

'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)' is a psychedelic and hard rock piece that moves at about 118 BPM, in F major. The harmony reaches for a seventh sharp ninth chord, heard on five Beatles records in all. Then, the record features guitars pushed hard in the mix (two distorted electric guitars) and group vocals (all four Beatles share lead). The key moves from F major to G major in the verse. Listen for call and response, the backing vocals answering the lead singer (Group shouts, Bye!, What?, Ah, Shake it, in intro). Verse after verse and nothing else, which makes the song strophic, one of sixteen, such as 'Words of Love' and 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy'. Listen to the intro (count-in and shouted interjections instead of sung lyrics). By accident or design, the harmony moves B♭ → F → B♭ → F → B♭ → C → F, the same shape 'Act Naturally' takes as G → D7 → G → D7 → G → A7 → D7.

Recorded and mixed in a single all-night session on April 1 1967, finishing around 6 a.m. The track segues directly into 'A Day in the Life'. It is one of only fifteen Beatles records cut at EMI Studio 1, and the Hammond RT-3 was played by George Martin and Paul McCartney. Only five Beatles recordings reach for direct injection, and this is one. It was the 13th of the 25 songs they recorded in 1967, and the 134th of their career.

McCartney wrote it, shares the lead with Lennon and Harrison. It was played the way the band normally lined up, with Lennon on rhythm guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on lead guitar and Starr on drums, with maracas (played by Starr) in the arrangement. The record has two distorted electric guitars on it, and 1967 is the year they reached for it most.

This song was never a single, and it reached the public with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, on May 26, 1967. This is the Beatles' 132nd record, and the 14th of the 24 they released in that year.