Moma said, “Don’t go looking for trouble, or you’ll find it.”
And if you go looking for poltergeists you’ll find them, too.
By June 2, 1956 Fats Domino, Sam Phillips, Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88,” Alan Freed, Elvis, Bill Haley, the Blackboard Jungle, Little Richard, and other early R & B people were well on to inventing this new thing: Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Chuck Higgins Pachuko Hop
Fear of Rock
And like any new youth music craze (see the “godless” 16th century forbidden waltz), many adults looked to find a menace. It was easy to cast 1950s’ fears onto Rock. Conspiracy theorists could say Communists brought the music into America to weaken us. Other irrational and racist commentators claimed that the lazy promiscuous (both at the same time?!) Negro was the fault.
Or in California, Mexican-Americans.
And 1950 adults tried to stomp out the music and its suggestive dancing and lyrics.
Zoot suit
Pachuko (or pachuco) refers to a style of dressing that might be better known as the zoot suit.
Chuck Higgins
Chuck Higgins was born in Gary, Indiana on April 17, 1924. According to a Black Cat Rockabilly article, “His first choice of instrument was the trumpet, which he took up at he age of ten and at which he became considerably more proficient than he ever did at playing the tenor saxophone.”
He and his family moved to California in 1940 where he eventually became the leader and saxophonist of Chuck Higgins & His Mellotones.
In 1952 he wrote “Pachuko Hop.” The song became a local hit.
Chuck Higgins Pachuko Hop
Santa Cruz dance show
As was happening throughout the US, on June 2, 1956 there was a dance in the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium featuring Chuck Higgins and his Orchestra. Police entered the auditorium just to check on the event, and what they found, according to Lieutenant Richard Overton, was a crowd “engaged in suggestive, stimulating and tantalizing motions induced by the provocative rhythms of an all-negro band.”
Lt. Overton shut down the dance.
The next day, June 3, 1956, Santa Cruz city authorities announced a total ban on rock and roll at public gatherings, calling the music “Detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community.”
Chuck Higgins Pachuko Hop
Woodstock
4822 days later, 500,000 young people gathered on a Bethel, NY hay field to enjoy three days of music. On the second day Country Joe led them in a cheer.
“Let’s Get Together” is one of the 1960s’ most recognizable songs, particularly the version done by the Youngbloods. We should also recognize the name Dino Valenti since it was he who penned the song.
Valenti may or may not have written another staple of the era, “Hey Joe.” There seems to be some fuzziness surrounding that. It may be a reworked traditional song or a song written by Billy Roberts and Len Partridge who “gave” the song to Valenti while Valenti was in jail (marijuana charges) to help Valenti financially.
To add to a bit of the confusion that can surround Valenti, one should also know that he was born Chester William “Chet” Powers, Jr. on October 7, 1937 and was also known as a songwriter as Jesse Oris Farrow.
It was on this date, June 1, 1964 that the Kingston Trio released “Let’s Get Together” on theirBack to Town album. If you were a Kingston Trio fan and bought the album, then you would have become familiar with the song.
The album reached #22 on Billboard Pop Album charts.
Kingston Trio singing “Let’s Get Together” from their Back in Town album.
Dino Valenti Gets Together
Dino Valenti
Here is Dino Valenti singing the song himself:
Dino Valenti Gets Together
We Five
The We Five (of “You Were On My Mind” fame) covered the song in 1965, but it still didn’t catch on.
Dino Valenti Gets Together
Youngbloods
Even in 1967 when Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods did what became the definitive version, it did not do that well commercially– reaching #62 on the charts.
Fortuitously for the song and them, the song became part of a Public Service Announcement and re-energized their version which was re-released in 1969 and finally established deep roots in American music.
First, I’ll clear up the seemingly ignorant error in my post’s title. Yes I know that it is Sgt Pepper’s (possessive) but for Search Engine Optimization purposes, the algorithm rejects apostrophes. And besides that, as you can see Ringo’s drum kit has the leaders last name as Peppers, not Pepper.
So I stand on one weak leg to support my blog’s title.
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Recording
The Beatles (and George Martin) completed recording the album on 21 April 1967 and had used–by today’s standards–primitive four-track equipment to do so.
They did use various tricks with that equipment. Geoff Emerick was the lead engineer.
Forbes magazine did an excellent article about the recording.
For example, Emerick, “…had Ringo tune his toms very low by loosening the skins on the drum heads. Emerick then removed the skins from the bottom of the toms, wrapped a mic in a tea cloth, put it in a glass jug, and placed it on the floor under the drums. The result was the huge, tympani-like drum sounds you hear on the verses in “A Day in the Life”.”
For Lovely Rita, he “…introduced a wobble underneath the piano sound by sticking pieces of editing tape to the guide rollers on the tape machine that was feeding the audio from the piano to an echo chamber. “
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Officially released June 1, 1967
The official release date was June 1, but it was rush-released in the UK on May 26 and actually released in the US on June 2.
It spent the rest of the year at #1 on the UK charts and 15 weeks at the top in the US.
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Feast of the Lonely Hearts Club Band
Keep in mind that although some might have been able to know that the Beatles were releasing something new and different, for most fans, given the lack of accessibility to such information, Sgt Pepper was a surprise.
At the beginning they greet us as Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and by the time we get almost to the end of Side 2 they are hoping that we’ve enjoyed the show.
Of course, the end was “A Day in the Life.” “A Day in the Life”!!! The BBC banned the song because of it’s “I’d love to turn you on” lyric.
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Long road
How far the Beatles had taken us on that album. For thirty-five minutes we’d listened to song after song, not realizing that “A Day in the Life” was about to tell us, among other things, how many holes it took to fill Albert Hall, whatever and wherever that was.
Did you follow along with each song because the lyrics were right on the back of the album. Right there!! That was a first.
Or we were trying to decide whether to actually cut out the pieces from the insert? Should we? Shouldn’t we? Should we? Shouldn’t we? What did you decide? Do you still have that vinyl? Mono? Stereo?
And if we weren’t following the lyrics (because this was the 10th time we were listening to the album–“I’ll be down soon, Mom.”), were you trying to figure out who’s who on the cover?
Fortunately we are caught in the world wide web today and can easily get those 62 answers.
1.Sri Yukestawar Giri
2. Aleister Crowley
3. Mae West
4. Lenny Bruce
5. Stockhausen
6. W.C. Fields
7. C.J. Jung
8. Edgar Allen Poe
9. Fred Astaire
10. H.L. Mencken
11. Early Vargas Girl
12. Huntz Hall
13. Simon Rodia
14. Bob Dylan
15. Audrey Beardsley
16. Sir Robert Peel
17. Aldous Huxley
18. Dylan Thomas
19. Terry Southern
20. Dion Di Muci
21. Wallace Berman
22. Tony Curtis
23. Tommy Handley
24. William Burroughs
25. Marilyn Monroe
26. Guru
27. Stan Laurel
28. Richard Lindner
29. Oliver Hardy
30. Karl Marx
31. H.G.Wells
32. Guru
33. Lawrence of Arabia
34. Stuart Sutcliffe
35. Early Pretty Girl
36. Max Miller
37. Early Pretty Girl
38. Marlon Brando
39. Tom Mix
40. Oscar Wilde
41. Tyrone Power
42. Larry Sell
43. Dr. D. Livingstone
44. Johnny Weismuller
45. Stephen Crane
46. Issy Bonn
47. Goerge Bernard Shaw
48. Alexander Graham Bell
49. Albert Stussing
50. Guru
51. Lewis Carroll
52. Sonny Liston
53. Gorge Harrison
54. John Lennon
55. Ringo Starr
56. Paul McCartney
57. Albert Einstein
58. Bobby Breen
59. Marlene Dietrich
60. Sukarno
61. Diana Dors
62. Shirley Temple
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Decades Later
Here we are: decades later and we still know in our hearts that those Lonely Hearts led us along paths we had never known. The introduction (an introduction?) hoping we’ll enjoy the show and telling us to sit back and let the evening go.
Good ol’ Ringo getting a little high with his friends. John’s Lucy. How long did it take for you to see the initials?
Getting better. Optimism. “Me used to be angry young man.” And how each song slides into the next one. Not angry because I’m fixing a hole. Then we pause because she’s leaving home. Motorman?
And good morning. Feeling low down. You’re on your own. Take a walk. Time for tea and meet the wife. But it’s OK. That dog barking reminded a few of us of Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds.
And back to the beginning to get to the end.
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Holy Shit moment
This finish may finish us. A holy shit moment. John’s voice warning us. He blew his mind…lights changed…[Ringo’s drums!]…had to look…I’d love turn you on!
Woke up…late…hat…bus…smoke…went into a dream…[Ringo’s drums!]…
The holes were rather small…I’d love to turn you on…
It didn’t end!
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
It hasn’t ended!
Thank you.
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
