Reprise » My Only and One: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

With this month’s release of The Beatles U.S. albums by Capitol Records and my ongoing re-appreciation of the group’s library of songs, I’ve decided to reprise a series arc from the archives. Each a short post of the British albums on The Lads official list.

From these, in the order as they are in 2009’s remastered stereo set, I’ll list their songs from the spotlighted album and pick two:

• the only – if I could only listen to one track, the best song that exemplifies the album, it would be this number
• the one – if I could pick a single tune that doesn’t get either the play or the credit it deserves, it’s this one

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
With A Little Help From My Friends
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
Fixing A Hole
She’s Leaving Home
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Within You Without You
When I’m Sixty Four
Lovely Rita
Good Morning Good Morning
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
A Day In The Life

The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album’s vital stats: Recorded December 1966 through April 1967. Released 2nd June, 1967. Weeks at #1 — 27 (UK) and 15 (U.S.), with 175 weeks on the charts. And NYT critic Richard Goldstein labeled it “fraudulent”. What can I say, he was definitively and for all-time, wrong.

My Only: A Day In The Life. If I picked it last week as the top song of the 60s, or my all-time top selection for The Lads, I sure as heck wasn’t going to leave it off as my Only pick, now was I? Along with the title track, With A Little Help From My Friends, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, and When I’m Sixty Four, this track comes to the front as the Only when I remember the album. My cousin and I would wear this LP out on the turntable during the summer of ’67.

My One: Good Morning Good Morning. Though it may have been inspired by a cereal commercial, it remains an underrated favorite of mine. I continue to be drawn to it for the predominant drum work, along with its notable use of brass instruments in the piece. But, it’s George’s distinctive guitar riff at the halfway mark that broke the tie I was having with Fixing A Hole for this selection. Plus, no farm animals were hurt in the making of this song, either.

What would be your Only and One for this album?

The entire series can be found here.