We'd Like To Thank You Once Again

In an allegedly revisionist piece, critic Jody Rosen claims Sergeant Pepper is actually an album all about England in 1967. Well, maybe. As to this being revisionism, so much has been spoken and written about the album that I don't think there's any consensus to be revised. Even the backlash has been around almost as long as the music.

I've heard the album countless times and it means a lot to me. It introduced (or re-introduced) me to The Beatles a few years after they broke up. Except for George's contribution, I like all the songs, but I'm not going to discuss them at length here.

Rather, reading the Rosen essay, about how the album evokes a time and place, I was brought back to a street festival in Mount Clemens, Michigan. I was in junior high, and didn't own Sergeant Pepper yet, but was familiar with it. I was walking along, with hundreds of other, checking out the deals, as store owners had their stuff out in the street. A block away was a giant outdoor grill, and the smell was wafting through the air. And someone was blasting a tape of the album, loud and clear. I was transfixed. I stuck around, listening to the whole thing--it seemed like the most magical music ever.

As Rosen notes, sometimes something becomes so familiar, we can't hear it any more. But even when that happens, there are moments, like those 40 minutes in Mount Clemens, that you can always return to.