7thGen

Beatles的《Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band》顶着“摇滚史上No.1专辑”等一系列吓人的光环，作为摇滚艺术化的集大成者，Beatles凭借这张概念专辑完成了自身的蜕变。。。但是说到底，这本质上只不过是一张好听的音乐——当然，对于那些只知道“Let it Be”、“Yesterday”、“A Hard Day’s Night”的人来说，好好品味一下真正的Beatles还是有必要的。

应该说比起稍后的那张双唱片《White Ablum》来，《Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band》算是很平实浅显和容易理解的多了，所以从这里开始是个不错的选择。

历来对于《Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band》评论多如牛毛，一般来说认定的有几点：
1、Beatles从这里开始具有了“社会性视角”，不再是男男女女和舞会派对的Beatles了。
2、迷幻摇滚的元素开始出现，而且是大量出现。
3、印度音乐和密宗的一些思想开始出现。
4、乐队三巨头（除了老实的Ringo Starr）的个人风格开始成熟。
其中2和3两点对整个西方摇滚的影响尤为深远，只要看看1960年代后半冒出来的那一大堆迷幻大师们就知道了：《The Doors》（by The Doors, 1967）、《Saucerful of Secrets》（by Pink Floyd, 1968）、etc.。（顺便说一句，关于致幻剂在这里面起了多少作用，一直没有定论，不过Beatles在这张专辑的创作中使用了“非正常的生理幻觉”是毫无异意的。）第4点则决定了Beatles从此不再是一个简单的band，而是几个天才凑在一起，此后愈演愈烈直至1970年Paul McCartney正式退出为止。另外这张专辑还使用了当时十分突破的一些录音技术——这个咱就不研究了。

回到专辑本身，首先这是一张“概念专辑（conceptual album）”，也就是说整张专辑的歌曲从头到尾是有其内在的逻辑顺序的，一首接一首，说的是一个完整的概念/故事/意念。从一开始的“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”宣布那个虚拟的“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club”乐队登台表演开场，到“With A Little Help From My Friend”开始一句“如果我跑调了你会怎么想？”，这也是我很喜欢的一首歌，那种不紧不慢的节奏和随随便便的吟唱，这构成了专辑的序幕，让人觉得似乎真的坐在一个嘈杂的酒吧中听一群有趣的年轻人歌唱。

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”则仿佛是乐队开始从童年开始讲述自己的一生，这首歌来自Lennon的儿子Julian Lennnon的一幅涂鸦中得到的灵感，这个Julian来头可不小，Paul后来那首经典的“Hey Jude”中的Jude也是他！所以他后来也成了一个摇滚歌手就一点不奇怪了。。。“Getting Better”和“Fixing A Hole”则是讲述青春期少年的叛逆和幻想，艺术家的创造性来源于其无法为常人理解的意念和追求——而“常人”杀掉了多少创造呢？

“She’s Leaving Home”表面上是承接上面讲述年轻人的离家出走，但其实它的主旨是站在父母的一边，只要听听母亲那句“Daddy our baby’s gone”，我想已为人父/母或者将为人父/母的人很容易就能理解这一点。另外这首歌十分十分的像Pink Floyd的风格，连Lennon的嗓音都有点像David Gilmour！

另一首值得一提的是这张专辑中唯一一首出自George Harrison创作的“Within You Without You”，这首完全取自印度音乐的歌曲充分体现了George对东方音乐和哲学的着迷，George是一个非常纯真和率直的人，他内心的博爱不在Lennon之下，而他表现出来的宽厚和仁爱甚至比Lennon还要纯洁。他的歌词平实简单，却有着深刻的思考蕴含其中。

“Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!”、“When I’m Sixty-Four”、“Lovely Rita”和“Good Morning, Good Morning”都是一些精致的小品，仔细聆听你会体会到Beatles的伟大之处，其实就在于对社会大众的感悟，把他们的生活和意念用摇滚的语言表达出来。在“Good Morning, Good Morning”的一片鸡叫声中，“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”又回来了，仿佛告诉人们——演出结束了，人生就是这样！

俗话说，最后的未必是最不重要的，这张专辑的核心就是最后这首，整张专辑中最长的歌，“A Day In The Life”，一个充满幻想的人把现实作为过场，而幻想才是他真正的生命体验，我一直觉得这就是《Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band》带给我们的最重要的认识。

What would you think if I sang out of tune,
would you stand up and walk out on me
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song,
and I’ll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends.
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends.

What do I do when my love is away
(Does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(Are you sad because you’re on your own)

No, I get by with a little help from my friends.
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends.
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends.

Do you need anybody
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.

Would you believe in a love at first sight
Yes, I’m certain that it happens all the time.
What do you see when you turn out the light
I can’t tell you but I know it’s mine.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends.
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends.

Do you need anybody
I just need someone to love.
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends.
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends.
…with a little help from my friends.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
McCartney/Lennon

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she’s gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmellow pies,
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers,
That grow so incredibly high.
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you’re gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds,
Picture yourself on a train in a station,
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties,
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstyle,
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes.

She’s Leaving Home
McCartney/Lennon

Wednesday morning at five o’clock as the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen clutching her hankerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside she is free.
She (We gave her most of our lives)
Is leaving (Sacrificed most of our lives)
Home (We gave her everything money could buy)
She’s leaving home after living alone
For so many years. Bye, bye
Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown
Picks up the letter that’s lying there
Standing alone at the top of the stairs
She breaks down and cries to her husband
Daddy our baby’s gone.
Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly
How could she do this to me.
She (We never thought of ourselves)
Is leaving (Never a thought for ourselves)
Home (We struggled hard all our lives to get by)
She’s leaving home after living alone
For so many years. Bye, bye
Friday morning at nine o’clock she is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made
Meeting a man from the motor trade.
She (What did we do that was wrong?)
Is having (We didn’t know it was wrong)
Fun (Fun is the one thing that money can’t buy)
Something inside that was always denied
For so many years. Bye, bye
She’s leaving home. Bye, bye

Within You Without You
Harrison

We were talking-about the space between us all
And the people-who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth-then it’s far too late-when they pass away.
We were talking-about the love we all could share-when we find it
To try our best to hold it there-with our love
With our love-we could save the world-if they only knew.
Try to realise it’s all within yourself
No-one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small,
And life flows within you and without you.
We were talking-about the love that’s gone so cold and the people,
Who gain the world and lose their soul-
They don’t know-they can’t see-are you one of them?
When you’ve seen beyond yourself-then you may find, peace of mind,
Is waiting there-
And the time will come when you see
we’re all one, and life flows on within you and without you.

A Day In The Life
McCartney/Lennon

I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh and
I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car
He didn’t notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They’d seen his face before,
Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of lords.

I saw a film today oh, boy
The english army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had a look
Having read the book,
I’d love to turn you on…

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.

Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

Ah

I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in blackburn, lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all,
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall.
I’d love to turn you on…