Glenda walked into the office a few days ago and said, “It was 42 years ago today when I saw the Beatles in Atlanta.”
How did you like it? I asked.
“Oh, I was one of those screaming idiots,” she said.
Her words rang a bell. Later That afternoon, it popped into my head:
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.
(Smile if you can hear the horns right now.)
Like when JFK was shot, I remember exactly where I was when I first heard that album. 1000 feet above the ocean on a Big Sur hillside, housesitting for friends on a dark night in June, 1967, fire burning. What is this? An out-of-the-blue album, a happy rock opera, with English music hall tradition, it was a jolt of joy.
