Story behind Sgt. Pepper's, by the Beatles

It was twenty years ago today
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
They've been going in and out of style
But they're guaranteed to raise a smile

So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

We're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
We hope you will enjoy the show
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sit back and let the evening go
Sgt. Pepper's lonely, Sgt. Pepper's lonely
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

It's wonderful to be here
It's certainly a thrill
You're such a lovely audience
We'd like to take you home with us
We'd love to take you home

I don't really want to stop the show
But I thought that you might like to know
That the singer's going to sing a song
And he wants you all to sing along

So let me introduce to you the one and only Billy Shears
And Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles.

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
Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mmm, 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
Mmm, get high with a little help from my friends
Mmm, 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
Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Oh, I'm 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
Mmm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Yes, I get high with a little help from my friends
With a little help from my friends

With a Little Help from my Friends, by the Beatles.

In the years of my childhood, before we left the Philippines for the US in 1968, I had a vague memory of a Beatles scandal in our country.  I remembered my aunts, in particular, referring to them in sharp tones and angry scowls.  So apparently that's how it came to be for the Fab Four: As their popularity skyrocketed and peaked, they found themselves increasingly in controversy and it became too wearisome.  But as in keeping with their matchless musical genius, they came up with the concept of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, as a creative proxy for them.  The fact that it was lonely hearts must've spoken to the emotional toll and isolation that fame brought.  Nevertheless, this proxy allowed them to keep experimenting with their music, while avoiding what had come to be dreadful tours.

In November 1966, during a return flight to London from Kenya, where he had been on holiday with Beatles' tour manager Mal Evans, [Paul] McCartney had an idea for a song that eventually formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept.  His idea involved an Edwardian-era military band that Evans invented a name for in the style of contemporary San Francisco-based groups such as Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service. In February 1967 McCartney suggested that the Beatles should record an entire album that would represent a performance by the fictional band.  This alter ego group would give them the freedom to experiment musically. He explained: "I thought, let's not be ourselves. Let's develop alter egos."  [Producer George] Martin remembered:

"Sergeant Pepper" itself didn't appear until halfway through making the album. It was Paul's song, just an ordinary rock number ... but when we had finished it, Paul said, "Why don't we make the album as though the Pepper band really existed, as though Sergeant Pepper was making the record? We'll dub in effects and things." I loved the idea, and from that moment on it was as though Pepper had a life of its own.

Reference: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

With a Little Help from my Friends accompanied Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band so often, that I thought it was all one song.  I was a thoughtful young man, and began to command and love English in my early teenage years, especially as I dabbled in poetry.  On this note, I saw that if we were to alter this song title by just one letter, that is, With Little Help from my Friends, the meaning would change radically.