- ♪ We hope you will enjoy the show ♪
(crowd cheering) - I did. I enjoyed the show so much.
♪ (ragtime music) ♪
- (FBE) Okay. So for this episode,
we're going to have you listen to selections from an album
that was released 50 years ago today, back in 1967.
- All right. '67 was a very good year.
- Well, you're hitting me right in my wheelhouse.
- (FBE) Well, the album is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
by the Beatles. - Beatles. I remember that.
- You found the one thing I know.
- I've been waiting for five years for this!
There was NOTHING like the Beatles.
And I had full-on Beatlemania.
♪ (psychedelic rock music) ♪
- ♪ We're Sgt. Pepper's ♪
- Yep. - ♪ Lonely Hearts ♪
♪ Club Band ♪ - This does take me back.
- (singing along) ♪ We hope you will enjoy the show ♪
- Actually, I don't even know this song.
- ♪ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely, Sgt. Pepper's ♪
- I love that song.
- ♪ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely ♪
♪ Hearts Club Band ♪
- Okay, that's the beginning of Sgt. Pepper's.
I remember a kid just giving it to me and thinking,
"What is this? What are these four funny-looking young men?"
- I was at a place called... Liberty Records.
President of our company called and said,
"Hey, Don, there's this British guy here.
And he wants to kinda learn about the record company,
record business."
Well, lo and behold, this is a-- honest to god.
We had dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
And that went on to be and was then and still was George Martin.
- ♪ What would you think if I sang out of... ♪
- Oh yeah.
- (singing along) ♪ Would you stand up and walk out on me? ♪
- Yeah, this is a great song.
- This makes me sad. It reminds me of my ex-boyfriends.
- ♪ ...not to sing out of key ♪
- (singing along) ♪ Oh, I get by with a little help ♪
♪ From my friends ♪
- ♪ Mm, I get high with a little help ♪
- (singing along) ♪ From my friends ♪
I don't get high though. (chuckles)
I was a square.
- I love that song.
This is my heyday music. It's great stuff.
- In Europe, melody was more important than lyrics.
That is not true in the U.S.
Lyrics were very important, but this song had both.
♪ (light psychedelic rock) ♪
- Oh yeah.
- ♪ Picture yourself in a... ♪ - John's vocals.
- ♪ ...a river ♪
♪ With tangerine trees ♪
♪ And marmalade skies ♪ - (amused) Marmalade skies.
♪ (melody picks up) ♪
- ♪ Lucy in the sky... ♪ - There's the hook.
- Oh yeah!
- ♪ Lucy in the sky with diamonds ♪ - (chuckling)
Gives me goosebumps, man.
- LSD: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
- (sighs emotionally) - ♪ Ahh ♪
- And their harmonies.
I mean, Lennon-McCartney, there's never gonna be
in my lifetime anything like that again.
- Every song in that album could've been a single.
- Makes me think about how innocent I was. (chuckling)
I had no idea what they were talking about.
♪ (pop rock music) ♪
- (singing along) ♪ It's getting better all the time ♪
- ♪ I used to get mad at my school ♪
- (chuckles)
- ♪ The teachers who... ♪ - Boy, you guys are taking me way back.
(chuckling) Great memories.
- ♪ I've got to admit it's getting better (Better) ♪
♪ A little better ♪ - (singing along) ♪ All the time ♪
- This one is nice, but not really too familiar.
- ♪ (Better) It's getting better ♪
♪ Since you've been mine ♪
- Yeah, that was good. I like that.
- That rhythm, that beat. It's the Beatles.
- That might have been one of my favorites.
Boy. How did they know? How did--
What genius got inside their minds and hooked them up?
- ♪ I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in ♪
♪ And stops my mind from wandering ♪
- You know, that's actually very good advice.
- ♪ And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong, I'm right ♪
♪ Where I belong I'm right ♪
♪ Where I belong ♪
- Yeah, another one that I'm not really familiar with.
- I go back, and I think,
"Did George Martin know what he had when he recorded this?"
- And George Martin. Can't let anything go without George Martin.
He was just the fifth Beatle.
- ♪ She (What did we do that was wrong?) ♪
- How come I don't even know this one?
- ♪ (We didn't know it was wrong) ♪
♪ Fun ♪ - Not one of my favorites in the album.
- ♪ (...money can't buy) ♪
♪ Something inside... ♪ - It's a beautiful song.
- You can always know it's them no matter what.
- ♪ ...so many years ♪ - Their voices are so wonderful,
the way they blend.
It's a sad one. She's leaving home.
At the time, it didn't mean that much to me.
Now I can relate that much more.
- ♪ For the benefit of... ♪ - Oh, I love this song.
- ♪ There will be a show tonight on trampoline ♪
♪ (simple drum and cymbal beat) ♪
♪ And tonight Mr. Kite is topping the bill! ♪
- U.S. artists would have never tried this.
Never in a million years.
- I wonder who wrote that.
- Now that I think about it more,
this area of their music I really wasn't entertained with.
I think this was a transition point.
- I remember the clothes they were wearing.
They were all colorful, like crazy,
like kaleidoscope of all kind of colors in that album.
- ♪ Try to realize... ♪
- You're taking me back to the days of studying
and just hanging out with friends.
- ♪ ...change ♪
♪ (raga melody) ♪
♪ And to see... ♪
- This is one that everybody for sure thought they were
loaded to the back.
- ♪ ...life flows on within you and without you ♪
- Not my favorite era for them.
Their music was changing to where I really
can't say I cared for this album.
- It was very different at the time,
and it was very different for them.
Everybody thought for sure that they did the whole thing loaded
and that it was sourced by the drugs that they've took.
- ♪ When I get older... ♪ - Oh yeah. This one I know.
- ♪ Many years from now ♪
- 64 is not old.
- ♪ Will you still be sending me a valentine ♪
- I like this.
- ♪ Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? ♪
♪ If I'd been out till quarter to 3 ♪
♪ Would you lock the door? ♪
- (singing along) ♪ Will you still need me? ♪
- ♪ Will you still feed me ♪
- (singing along) ♪ When I'm 64? ♪
- No, she won't. She's gone. (laughs)
- "Will you still feed me when I'm 64?"
Good god, what kind of lyric is that for a pop hit?
- How things change. 64 sounded absolutely beyond old.
I'd love to be 64 again.
♪ (soft rock) ♪
- ♪ Lovely ♪
- (singing along) ♪ Rita, meter maid ♪
- ♪ Lovely Rita ♪ - I like this too.
- ♪ May I inquire discreetly ♪ - What funny words.
- I like the beat of this, and I like, again, their harmonies.
'Cause you can't get enough of their harmonies.
- No one, no one can be like them.
They're just original.
- The musicality was so great.
And then the costumes they put on,
those satin military costumes.
And by then, they all were kinda hippie.
And it was just-- again, just it was something so different
from what other people were doing.
♪ (upbeat rock) ♪
- ♪ After a while, you start to smile ♪
♪ Now you feel cool ♪ - This is a little different.
- ♪ Then you decide... ♪ - I probably am too old.
I don't remember this song.
- ♪ Nothing is changed ♪
- (singing along) ♪ It's still the same ♪
- I like this song.
- ♪ ...nothing to say, but it's okay ♪
♪ Good morning, good morning ♪
♪ Good morning, ah ♪
- That has a little more beat to it.
- I forget about some of the songs.
And this is a great song.
- They were great. I love the Beatles.
So I mean, you can't go wrong with Beatles music, man. (chuckles)
- ♪ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely... ♪
- Oh, that's the same one as the first one, right?
- ♪ We hope you have enjoyed the show ♪
(crowd applauding) - I did. I enjoyed the show so much.
- Yeah, it's a happy song.
- ♪ Woo! ♪
- It's like a whole concert, and this is their goodbye song.
- It brings back fun times.
That was all about the days of free love and love beads.
It was really insane.
Without any drugs, I mean, it was just fun and crazy.
♪ (mellow rock) ♪
- ♪ A crowd of people turned away ♪
- Oh yeah, this is the one, yeah.
- I love this song.
- ♪ But I just had to look ♪
- Kind of sad and melancholy.
- This was sort of like a downer song.
- ♪ I'd love to turn... ♪
- Oh, the music in this.
There had never been a rock band that did this.
They had all that orchestral stuff.
♪ (music becomes nightmarish) ♪
- This music all had strange vibes to me.
♪ (music escalating) ♪
- This recording could be a hit anytime.
(alarm clock ringing) ♪ (steady tune) ♪
- ♪ Woke up ♪
- (singing along) ♪ Fell out of bed ♪
♪ Dragged a comb across my head ♪
- ♪ They had to count them all ♪
- I like that. There's a little sadness to it.
- ♪ Now they know how many holes it takes ♪
♪ To fill the Albert Hall ♪
- Again, I didn't know it was a drug song at the time.
- (sighs) Just I can't believe 50 years have gone by.
- It's not hardcore.
It's not negative things coming out of their mouths.
It's good music.
- I grew up and was young at a time
when there were just incredible musicians and groups.
- (FBE) So when Sgt. Pepper's was released,
the Beatles had decided to stop touring.
So many people, knowing that they would be performing
these songs live, gave them room to experiment,
which led them to create this album. - Right.
When they came to the Philippines,
I was one of those that was shouting.
- (FBE) And many had concerns about the band
changing their sound from their more pop-centric roots.
So having lived through the Beatles' evolution,
what are your thoughts about all of this? - Well, I...
I myself, like many probably, didn't like the transition
but could understand that sometimes you need something new,
something different.
- At the time, they-- you know, I said,
"What in the world are these four young men?
They look-- they look so messy, and their hair is long.
And they're making these noises." (chuckles)
Now it seems very conservative. (chuckles)
- There were groups of people that were all disappointed
'cause they didn't keep the same thing as they used to have.
But all of my friends were very excited about it.
We thought it was a blast.
- (FBE) So this album now is considered to be
one of the best albums ever created.
So can you tell us some of your memories of how it was received
at the time that it was released?
- Well, me and my friends, we would listen to all sorts of music.
And the Beatles was just one of the groups that we liked.
- One of my buddies happened to score one
when it very first came out.
We went to the basement, listened to the music.
And I went, "Wow, that's different!" You know?
It was so strange compared to what they had done before.
- As I recall, it was received very well immediately.
Even though they did these offbeat arrangements and songs.
- Anything they did was okay by me, to be quite honest.
But I kinda liked the fact that they made me think
and made me experience something new.
In fact, I had to buy a second album,
because I really did wear that out.
- (FBE) So last question.
When you listen to a band like the Beatles,
with this album being now 50 years old
and you living through all of it,
what kind of thoughts does it give you?
- Makes me feel good knowing that
I got to see the beginning of it.
- It makes me feel really old, man.
When you hear it's 50 years ago, you're like, "No way!"
- I still remember sitting in my living room
and listening to the album for the first time.
Doesn't seem that long ago, but it's 50 years.
Makes you a little sad. Life goes by so darn fast.
- I can't believe it's been 50 years. It's hard to believe.
Listening to that today,
'cause I haven't listened to it in quite a while,
it was like visiting an old friend that you love so much.
They were so extraordinary and one of a kind.
And they just-- they brought so much joy.
- Hey, everyone.
Thanks for watching this episode of Elders React.
- Let us know what music from the past we should react to next.
- Thanks for watching, everyone. G'bye.
- Hi, I'm Ethan. - And I'm Locke.
We're part of the production team
that helps put these videos together.
- And we put these episodes together with a little help...
- (both) ...from our friends.
- Bye. - Bye.