as pleased as punch

"If only she were as good looking as punch" (Blackadder IV, Ep. 1)



Today is punch-making day. The recipe is one I procured off my uncle, a sometime barman, and now we're all ready to go, after I've bought various fruits today. The recipe for 8 litres of punch is:



Mugful of demerera sugar

1.5l (2 bottles) white wine

0.5l Bianco Martini extra dry

0.375l Moscow Vodka

1l R White's lemonade

4.5l fruit juices

Sliced fresh fruits

12 ice cubes



In short, over 2l of pure alcohol in an 8l mixing bowl. Something tells me there might be a lot of wasted ppl come Saturday night. I've revised the rules of 52 in the meantime, surely the best uni drinking game ever.



57.5 hours to go.

Einstein admits he "knew nothing"

From Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, Arnold J. Pomerans, trans. (New York: Harper, 1971), p. 63.

Heisenberg: "We cannot observe electron orbits inside the atom...Now, since a good theory must be based on directly observable magnitudes, I thought it more fitting to restrict myself to these, treating them, as it were, as representatives of the electron orbits."

"But you don't seriously believe," Einstein protested, "that none but observable magnitudes must go into a physical theory?"

"Isn't that precisely what you have done with relativity?" I asked in some surprise...

"Possibly I did use this kind of reasoning," Einstein admitted, "but it is nonsense all the same....In reality the very opposite happens. It is the theory which decides what we can observe."

Even geniuses cock up sometimes. This endorses everything I will achieve for the rest of my life ;)

what happens when you confuse genealogy with gynaecology

Being concerned of late with the genealogical aspects of my family, I thought it might be an idea to head to my local library to peruse microfiches and old newspapers with the ambition of finding out more about my lineage. I still haven't got everything clearly sorted in my mind; some of the more technical taxonometrical distinctions still elude me, for example. Anyway, one is tempted to surrender all effort when surrounded by the ignorance of the general public. A conversation with a suspiciously pikette-looking girl at the next table over went something like this: (and perhaps in retrospect I should have known better than to start a conversation with someone proudly bearing 5 carat worthless pieces-of-shit earrings the size of a small African country)



Girl: "What ya up ta then?"

Me: "I'm tracing my family's genealogy."

Girl: "That's farking disgusting! Fink I'm gonna be sick or sumthing!"

A look of incomprehension registers on my face for about half a minute. Eventually I manage to say something.

Me: "Wh .. what?"

Girl: "D'u know that shit is illegal, innit?"

Backpedalling sufficiently to realise the probable mistake she's made, I try to explain. After all who can blame her? She clearly hasn't been in school because she's been down the local A & E popping out a fucking disgusting sprog called Armani or Peaches every year.

Me: "I think you're confusing genealogy with gynaecology. The former is the study of your family tree, the latter is the study of ... erm ... feminine ... hygiene ... yes, hygiene."

"Former?" "Latter?" Why the fuck couldn't I have said "first" or "second"? I might as well be talking to a brick wall.

Girl: "I still don't trusts ya, know what I mean? Neway (her mobile phone rings loudly) I must go. Kid to feed and all this!"



I think I need to lie down. Now.

possession, possessor, possessed.

Today I would like to rant about why the modern world is so unbelievably superficial. Why we prize digital TV with 5 million channels, PlayStations, and electronic gadgets over things that really matter, like spending time with family, doing exercise, and so on. It's not so much a case of 'the things we own end up owning us' (Fight Club mantra) but more an unwillingness to detach ourselves from the excesses of the materialistic world. People should find it lamentable that a general pervasive lack of sagacity has spread throughout this once-proud nation. Sagacious or not, I find myself longing for an escape from the quotidian mundanity of urban life, seeking consequent refuge in more imperturbable rustic surroundings. Perhaps I am digressing.



In the ongoing debate about 'do violent video games make psychopathic children' or the similarly posed question, 'do violent films make James Bulger killers', I would like to say, simply, that it's a crock of shit. First of all, everyone, in particular civil libertarian-types (whom I loathe completely) will, at the slightest provocation, let you know that freedom and free will are of paramount importance in a developed society. (Ironically, this is the Western world's biggest problem: no discipline and control.) Viewing Child's Play 3 does not automatically turn you into, say, Ian Brady. Second of all, how a child interprets a violent film is mainly down to the upbringing it has received up until that particular point. Suppose that child's parents are advocates of hitting people because they can't get their own way, or using violence to get what they want. The child will have seen his/her parents react as they are wont to do and conclude that this is the 'normal' way to get a result. In that sense, the violent film has a painfully insignificant effect on the child because he/she has already been conditioned to believe that social violence is acceptable. Finally, if we are all led to believe that free will really is of the greatest importance, then people should also be accountable for their actions. In short, you can't cut the cake both ways. In legal terms, a 10-year-old is still capable of exhibiting a mens rea. (guilty conscience or knowledge that an act is wrong and illegal) Why then are they tried and sentenced as if they were of infantile cerebral development?



I have found a solution around the stupid broken hi-fi. (see entry of 3rd Sept) I will use my CD walkman and plug it into the DC supply, then use the line out cord to lead into the hi-fi and out through the speakers, thus bypassing the CD changer. The speakers aren't the problem, and it worked in theory and practice, as evidenced last night. It also goes plenty loud enough, 100W each i think. Good save.



Proms later this evening, the last of which I have tickets for. The programme is Debussy, La Mer, and Messaien, Eclairs sur l'au-dela, concerning glimpses of the world after death. So, a relaxing evening's viewing then.

Eisenberg's theory

Salutations dear reader. I have been contemplating Eisenberg's theory today. I do not know why. It is a theory involving histograms and frequency density graphs. So, let's begin. Stick your arm out straight in front of you. Move it anti-clockwise at a smooth fixed speed, as far as practicable. The point of the theory is to find out the exact length of time your arm was at a point P, which is a fixed straight line perpendicular to you, a fixed rigid body. dx (the small value of time for which your arm was at that particular point P) tends to 0, therefore the frequency densities on the histogram are tending to 1/0 ... ergo, your arm never really moved at all. Except maybe in a Donnie Darko-style parallel universe.



--



beauty and brains a gallant female doth make,

but one on its own shalt a human so break.

sunrise

A little poem from me.

Sunrise and the dew drips clean,

New sensations shall impart,

Knowledge from forefathers glean,

Shared by those of human heart,

Beauty's virtue, pure and true,

Nature's ever-present clue,

Betwixt the fountain, crystalline,

Starscapes, deserts, twigs, and twine,

Lunar orbit once complete,

Heatwaves earn a brief respite,

All is meek, all is mild,

Humankind now reconciled,

Doth the sunlight she endures,

I'll regret not being yours

litterbug, Jitterbug, punch

"Please do not feed the squirrels as they have their own nuts to enjoy."



This was the sight that greeted me as I walked past the park today. The world has gone completely loony, I fear. Attempting instead to inculcate a sense of sanity into myself, I arrived home and perused the local paper, where two local residents were busy complaining about why the council hadn't bothered sweeping residential roads in 40 years. I hope they won't take it as remiss of me if I remind them that the issue is why the litter is there in the first place, and that is because idiot people are too lazy to locate the nearest bin to drop their shit in, so they would rather leave their mess on the street for someone else to slip on/tread in/kick elsewhere. What it basically boils down to is idle parents not teaching their kids good citizenship, and that's where most of society's problems lie. The Government may very well set all the targets and objectives it likes, but no amount of nannying from Whitehall will ever alter the fact that parents are the ones who can most drastically affect their kids' behaviour.



I turned to the thought of my impending dissertation and tried to set out some first ideas, seeing as I probably won't do much work in the first few weeks of Leeds, and before long I will be struggling once more. My dissertation is, broadly, gender constructs in the motion picture soundtrack of Mulholland Drive. As we (all living, breathing men) should all know there is a very infamous lesbian scene in that film. I bet £10 I get assigned to Rachel Cowgill for my dissertation, if for no other reason than that she's the most blatant dyke ever. The first track on the soundtrack is Jitterbug, a quaint track which sets the scene yet basically gives the first 2/3 of the film away.



With thoughts of jittering dykes still ever-present in my mind, I set off on the humdrum weekly food shop. Spent £30 on alcohol for the impending house party, but it was worth it. I got 6 bottles of cheapish white wine, a huge 1.5 litre bottle of Martini and several litres of fruit juice to make a sizeable amount of punch. This is in addition to the 1 ltr of 4x distilled imported Gordon's, 1 ltr Bailey's, 1 litre Smirnoff Red, 1 ltr Curacao, 1 ltr plum brandy, 1.6 ltr Ouzo, 1.3 ltr Bombay Sapphire, 0.25 ltr Hamond's, and some dodgy looking whisky. If that sounds a lot, it isn't, when you think there's 30 odd peeps coming. In any event I'm not rich enough to bankroll everyone's booze so everyone's been asked nicely to bring a small amount of drink themselves.



Arrived home to find my cat writhing around in pretend agony in the hallway. It's not the first time I've seen her do this ... maybe she's developing a feline case of Munchausen's syndrome. Who knows. Also I need to borrow someone's hi-fi for the party as mine has decided to pack in with under 2 weeks to go. Fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more.



Listening to: Jean Michel Jarre: The Concerts In China

Michael Moore: easily swayed righteous liar

Forget Fahrenheit 9/11. Read this instead.

http://www.slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2102723

omnino victis

C. Marii quidem militibus iam omnino victis, haud multum afuit quin Sulla Romam intraret. qui, simulac ad urbem pervenisset, patres conscriptos ad templum Bellonae arcessivit. quo autem ad lonquendum surgente, clamores sex milium quondam inimicorum qui in circo trucidabantur audiri poterant. quibus clamoribus neglectis, ille aequo animo negavit senatores eis quae extra templum gerentur sollicitandos esse. tum vero illi intellegebant, altero tyranno expulso, alterum iam praeesse. si enim huic resistere conati essent, eundem fatum inimicis eius passi essent. tandem Metellus senator Sullam rogare ausus est quando hanc caedem perpetuam conficere in animo haberet. "te non rogamus," inquit, "ut ignoscas illis quos interficere constitueris. dic modo nobis eos quibus parcere vis."

va va voom. vroom vroom. crash.

Watched MOTD on BBC2 last night when Arsenal endearingly pissed 4-1 on Norwich. And I don't even like football. What the fuck is happening to me? Henry in the post-match interview was hilarious. Just the way he speaks is sufficient to crack me up. Anyway earlier on, the Belgian GP was even better than the Hungarian one, but that was hardly going to be a difficult thing to achieve, given the Hungary race had all the life of a 90 year old homosexual witch in a coma. I suspect that I might also profess a small preference for Belgium because I won £65 on Kimi. That'll teach the bookies. Sometimes they have no idea about F1. Although it was a waste putting £5 each way on Coulthard (stupid, stupid, stupid) and only £2.50 each way on Raikkonen. (started 10th, won the race) Remind me to never ever put money on Coulthard (started 4th, finished 9th) again. I wonder what I should gamble on when the F1 season ends in October. Now that the Olympics are also over, it seems football (yuck) and horse racing are the only options. I know squat about both...



Unsuccessful attempts to get a temp job continue. It puzzles me why O2 should want to interview me for over 2 hrs for a job that isn't even 20 hrs a week ... and why HSBC should want temp associates in Leeds "who can work 2 years minimum". Perhaps the world has gone insane and 'temps' are actually widely considered 'permanent'.



Aside from starting Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being, I have been mooching around the house listening to Brendel playing the most famous Beethoven piano sonatas. I must confess I don't actually admire Brendel's style much. He seems to have a very ill-considered sense of time and metre. But since it's the only recording I have of these masterworks I suppose it will have to do.



Listening to: Beethoven 'Tempest', 'Waldstein', 'Appassionata', 'Pathetique', 'Moonlight' Sonatas (Brendel)

the fields of Staffordshire and the fields of South Africa

Sorry it's been a fair while since I posted. Life's been busy. (What a lie) Anyway I went to V on Sunday in Staffordshire, which was amazing! Not quite sure what Big Brovaz were doing at a rock festival. Another thing that struck me was how many old ppl there were at V. So much for rock standing for the music of the under-represented and rebel. Or perhaps that was the irony? Ubiquitous air of geriatricism aside, V was great. Even if I did have to stand around and wait over 9 hours for my idols Muse to come on! But it was worth it. I gave a thumbs up to Matt Bellamy who grinned at me idiotically and returned it. And the set was great. And I've started constructing sentences. Like an idiot. Excuse me.



Latterly been attempting to shore up a job in time for the start of uni, which isn't far away now. This year looks set to be great. It will also involve shredding my balls to - well, shreds - to get that First.



The subject of my rant today is "President" Mugabe. This has developed into a classic case of 'reverse apartheid' (discrimination against whites) on the basis of Mugabe's beliefs that when the EU invaded, (especially the UK) subduing Rhodesia in the process, farmland was illegally seized from black farmers and given to white ones. As I understand it he (or rather, the population acting on behalf of him) is killing white farmers and 'retrieving' the land for black farmers. My first problem is that the race of any given farmer does not, and should not, have any correlation with the productivity of a particular farm. My second problem is that when Europe invaded South Africa, they killed small numbers of Rhodesian farmers. This appears to be the basis of Mugabe's hatred towards the white farmers, so forming a seemingly unshakable view that he/his population is/are justified in killing the minorities. In my eyes, this makes him as bad as Hitler. Problem 3: not stopping the violence is tantamount to endorsing it. If he doesn't continue the slaughter he will be overthrown anyway, and Mugabe-rent-a-clone will appear to further the legacy. Politicians seem to forget that human life is one of the most precious commodities in the world. I have no idea how anyone would solve this problem, and I don't claim to be an authority on the matter. Ideas, ppl?



Listening to: Hootie and the Blowfish: "Cracked Rear View"

shuttlecocks and Ronnie Scott's

Afternoon, just come back from playing my old man at badminton at the nearby leisure centre. Whipped him in three straight games, but then he is old. We are going to Ronnie Scott's in London later to see Monty Alexander play, but we will have to make do with standing room only. Dvorak's Requiem and Mass in D (op. 86/89) is playing on my hi-fi. It is astonishingly beautiful.



I can't think of anything to rant about today. For all that is wrong with the world, it is, as new-age outfit Explosions in the Sky would say, "not a cold dead place." Perhaps I am mellowing out, or perhaps I am developing worrying pushover tendencies? Who knows.

absolution

I have had Muse's monumental (ho ho) CD in my car for at least a month now and I never tire of hearing any of it. Sonically expansive and frighteningly huge in scope, they have been compared to, in no real order, Queen, The Darkness, and Radiohead; the former two for their 'bombast' and pomp-rock attributes, the latter for the ecstatic/wailing vocals used. I'm getting a little tired, frankly, of people who think 'bombast' is a bad thing. But then again I don't suppose they were one of the 450,000 people at Queen's Rio de Janeiro gig, way back when. My point is, Queen proved that there's a huge, huge market for entertaining, OTT rock, and Muse have merely taken this aspect into the 21st century. As for The Darkness, well you tell me which band is stuck in the 80s? And finally Radiohead, ah, Radiohead. 3 crucial differences between Muse and the boys from Oxford.

1. Muse produce an audio palette that is at least as wide-ranging in scope as Radiohead, if not more so, and have 3 band members instead of 5.
2. Muse definitely have a 'sound', even if it is a sound that some don't like. Radiohead dabble in so many genres that it would be like doing the Times crossword when drunk to pin down what their 'sound' is.
3. Most importantly of all, Muse don't make me want to slit my throat with a bread knife every time I hear them!

So there you have it, this is the future of rock. Also, it's not all glory for Muse - the piano work of Matt Bellamy gets over-rated some of the time. People think that technically he is a 'genius' and 'has skills that a performance major would blush over' but to be honest all he's really playing is arpeggios on a synth. Listen to any keyboard-intro-based track, e.g. New Born, Bliss, Space Dementia, Stockholm Syndrome, etc. The only real moment in Absolution when he gets to digress from this sort of filler material, albeit hugely entertaining filler material, is on 'Butterflies and Hurricanes', where he's plonking down chords so violent that it sounds as though he's trying to dig to Australia. Again, these violent chords aren't terribly difficult to execute as they are basically 3 long bars of G minor and A major chords, with the odd diminished 7th thrown in for good measure, before Matt's vocals come back at 4:01 in D minor. My argument is that Matt is a good keyboardist, then, just not a brilliant one.

End of review, lol.

Today I am going food shopping (joy) then starting some sketches for my major in Composition next year, which is my last in Leeds. How time flies... oh well.

Oriental autumns and Indian summers

Good morning :) I am feeling pleased today, very pleased actually as I have finished the piece I was working on for the last few days, titled Oriental Autumn: An Alternative Motion Picture Soundtrack to 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Bit of a mouthful so I reckon I'll just leave it at Oriental Autumn. What do you think?



The weather is good for once. I know lots of people who have complained about the amount of rain and generally shite weather we have gotten so far, but things seem to be taking a turn for the better. Hopefully it will stay like this long into October so we can have a bit of an Indian summer.



Before you ask, yes, the pic in my profile is me, and no, I don't dress like that usually. It's quite an old pic actually, I was on my way to the end of sixth-form Leaver's Ball, dressed as Bond, albeit sans an exotic girl hanging on my arm. Oh well, can't have everything. Notice the Wilko bag in the corner, thus providing a neat counterpoint between high art and low art.



In my experience the supermodel-look type girls usually have incommensurate brains to go with it. I'm not saying that this automatically means you need to find a girl who looks as though she's been hit by the back of a Ford Transit to find a partner with an IQ higher than her tit size, but you usually have to compromise.



I have no idea what to do with myself today. I could start some sketches for a new piece but the heat is soporific. Random thought: here is a great way to break up with a girl; tell her that "our relationship is like a disjunctive syllogism." By the time the hackneyed, cliched look of confusion and incomprehension registers on her face, you can hang up. By the time she's actually worked out what that means, you can be safely away in the next country.



What shall I rant about today? Ok ok, here is something. Along an A road linking my town to the next, the local council recently put a bollard in at a residential T junction. Not just before the junction, not right after it, but actually on the apex, meaning anyone who wanted to turn into the road has to do a much more extreme manoeuvre. So when the council observes that the pesky bollard is, in fact, causing people more work, it decides to re-locate said bollard 5 metres down the road, at a cost to the taxpayer of £100,000. It beggars belief. Can't they think of something better to spend our money with?

a response to animal extremists, an unusual fire, and pimps

As one might cleverly deduce from the title, so-called 'animal lovers' are the subject of my slowly-burning hatred today. As if it wasn't enough trying to do something pro-active in your miserable shitty life by campaigning on behalf of animals who are below us in the food chain, you have to compound this by claiming that we should outlaw scientific research. Well it's your own fucking fault if you die of arthritis age 77 because scientists haven't developed a cure as they can't do any lab tests. I wish people would think before they spout so much shit.

On a lighter note, I was in a mood of much hilarity earlier today when I eyewitnessed what has to be the stupidest, most incompetent asinine prat in the history of the world attempt to casually drop a letter in the postbox at the top of my road, only for her to drop her fag into the 'box as well, thus managing to set off a not inconsiderable fire. Well, I know what most people would do in that situation, and that's to get the hell out of there then dial 999, but what does she do? She plants herself firmly at the top of my Most Idiotic People Ever list by trying to put the fire out, but only succeeded in catching her hair on fire instead. So this is why DV camcorders were put on earth ... besides filming your girlfriend, of course. The idiot lady in question was saved, (or rather, her hair was) however, courtesy of a quick-thinking resident and a bucket of water that looked as though a dozen cows had gotten diarrhoea and decided to empty their bowels simultaneously in the same bucket. A rather apt metaphor. I actually think today is the hardest I have ever laughed in my whole goddamn life.

This mood was sustained in the pub when I overheard a drunk old lady screech out: "I had two Pimps (Pimms) earlier". I briefly considered asking her whether she had indulged in both Pimps simultaneously before deciding that I didn't actually want to know the answer.

dumpweed

Have dumped Siobhan, for reasons I will not disclose here. Suffice it to say I think it will be better if we went our separate ways. (Before anyone inquires about Clare I would like to establish that we never dated, and were just friends.)

intermediary assignments

Again, a while since I last put anything new here ... sorry for that. In between the last time I posted and now I have managed to get fired from Chessington, (long story) work 2 intermediary temp jobs the temp agency found me, (the second of which was a great job driving luxury Lexus cars around all day...) and have 2 job interviews, one at Sainsbury's Selsdon and the other, rather strangely, one at Chessington for a Retail Team Leader position. It seems I am finally starting to earn a little better money - but I might just say fuck it and continue at Lexus as they want staff all through summer. And frankly, getting paid to drive Lexus's around all day is a dream job. Lexus said I should make sure I get paid per hour through the temp agency and not get salaried, otherwise if I end up doing 60 hour weeks then I'm fucked. So Sainsbury's would give me £6.70 an hour, Lexus £7, and Chessington £5.85 + 15p. Things are definitely starting to look up.

I've started seeing Siobhan, this girl from Rides area 3 at Chessington. We've been out a few times, may be going away on holiday with her this autumn, but who knows.

Leeds year 2 in photos

Before the fallout. Left to right: Siobhan, me, Ben, Sally, Jess



Relaxing in Wetherspoons



Festive spirit: off to Cockpit Xmas party 2003



London, one of the few good times I had this year



It's all about the cones

people = work = shit

A quick update on life at the wonderful world of Chessington today. In under 3 weeks, I have already managed to get into shit due to my allowing three kids cross the back of a Vampire train while it was loading. I have been summarily dismissed and allowed to appeal. At the minute I am in the process of writing a letter justifying why I should be given my job back, including such pertinent points as:-

1. Train 1 was loading, train 2 stopped to wait around the corner as it always does, therefore the health and safety of guests (which Chessington states is of paramount importance) was never endangered.

2. The dismissal centred around my superiors informing me that a ride attendant must ask operator permission before allowing guests to cross the ride track. This was not included in my training.

3. As an extension of 2., one other member of rides staff, whose name shall remain undisclosed, has come forward to allege that he/she was not trained on this either.

4. None of the guests involved in the incident complained about my conduct.

5. Other operators have indirectly allowed guests to cross without other attendants seeking their respective permissions.



We shall see. But would I really want to go back even if they caved in? I have no idea.

the definitive album of the Sixties

Module: Texts & Contexts – The 1960s (MUSI2722)

Module Tutor: Mr. Allan Greenwood

Question 1: Sgt. Pepper is often quoted as the definitive album of the Sixties. Give the major reasons for this and assess its contribution to the development of popular music.

There is only one real way to ascertain an album as being definitive of a particular period in history, which is comparative and subjective in nature. Methods claiming to be of analytical and objective nature are broadly based on the academic assumption that popular cultural goods must signify something.[1] This essay will start by providing a complete track listing of the album, an examination of this subjective methodology, briefly touch upon its particular strengths and weaknesses before considering limitations to an analytical disquisition, and then derive some conclusions.

When considering Sgt. Pepper as ‘the definitive Sixties album’, the first general argument to make is that the album is a collection of recordings, which listeners who have attained a certain age will readily identify with. It is an album that will undoubtedly invoke strong associations and connotations with this era. This ability to make what is now a senior generation reflect on their youth is a reflection on the quality of the album, whether this be down to symbolism found in the songs, (and there is plenty) a liking for the Beatles’ song construction techniques, or anything else contained within the material. This is certainly an album which aims to embrace all aspects of life during this decade, in addition to presenting a series of new musical ideas.

Difficulties arise in analysis of the Sgt. Pepper album when one considers even a brief historical background to the Beatles. An extremely abridged version of events is that the Beatles were iconoclastic, in other words, they were representatives of a culture that the likes of which British (and indeed American) society had never seen before: they symbolised rebellion against authority, widespread drug use, (particularly hallucinogens) challenging the traditional views of the establishment by assuming an anti-conformist ideology,[2] and the idea of free love; these are just some of the many prominent themes one associates with the social and political happenings of this time: ‘Just as drugs were used rebelliously and shaped the music the counter-culture produced, so was sex … traditional values on all matters, including sexual ones, were besieged.’[3]

In addition to this, the album’s release coincided with growing protests over the USA’s involvement in Vietnam[4]; music and politics have often found themselves inextricable and related to each other. This is another good reason why Sgt. Pepper is frequently quoted as the definitive 1960s album; with growing dissent on both sides of the Atlantic about war, the Beatles made an attempt to align themselves into a pacifistic position, which in ideological terms was central to the values held by youth of the time. This was, of course, little more than a marketing gimmick to enhance record sales. Before the sixties, the concept of a political song was something relatively unheard of on either side of the Atlantic. It conspired that writing songs with such associations was seen as credible and glamorous.

An explicitly analytical discourse with regard to Sgt. Pepper will almost invariably have a certain limit to its use, therefore, since the Beatles were representative of an era which rallied against structure, reason, and logic, whether this be in terms of real world experience, musical composition, or otherwise. There are very strong elements contained within Sgt. Pepper that validate this particular train of thought: it is ‘a stupefying collage of music, words, background noises, cryptic utterances, orchestral effects, hallucinogenic bells, farmyard sounds, dream sequences, social observations and apocalyptic vision…’.[5] Factor in the use of advanced studio techniques - cutting up tape, playing it backwards, speeding it up, slowing it down, and, of course, the coup de grâce, ‘a few seconds of nonsense Beatle chatter … stuck back together at random … purchasers of the vinyl album … would … find the curious noise going on and on ad infinitum.’[6]

It is a good point with which Moore starts his introduction; that which says historians with an analytical bent have been, and still are, traditionally more concerned with products of the classical era, as opposed to that of rock music.[7] One need only consider such theorists as Ratner, Meyer, and Schenker; just a handful of theorists of whom Meyer has done much work on pseudo-psychological methods which can be applied to music, and the latter of whom has spawned an entirely new branch of analytical musicology with what has become known as Schenkerian analysis. Moore’s introduction presupposes the idea that he will introduce a new paradigm to disseminate popular music, but he adopts a distinctly Schenkerian-type approach, which some critics might well think severely undermine his reasoning, but there is ample evidence of a modern approach to McCartney’s song-writing, which I will return to later. (This forms the basis of my fourth argument) There are many broad reasons why rigorous analytical methods have not yet been applied, or even developed, to rock, but suffice it to say that this is a rather neglected area of musicology. With this assertion in mind, I will try to find out why this is, and then attempt to define the style or styles that Sgt. Pepper encapsulates.

If most theorists have ignored rock music’s output for too long, those that have deigned to analyse it have clashed over the sociological and theoretical aspects. These aspects are traditionally perceived to be independent of one another, with the sociologists claiming that social circumstances within any given country make the music happen, whilst the theorists conversely claiming that music happens, (presumably as a fulfillance to a niche in the music business, for some highlighted ‘need’) which is then disseminated and analysed by the general public. As Moore says, “it is necessary … to regard musical styles as partially autonomous, whereby internal and external factors inform each other.”[8] This is seemingly a continuation of the radical academic train of thought that has been propagated since the 1920s/1930s, typically embodying Marxist principles, from intellectual organisations all over the Western world, such as the Birmingham School in Britain, and the Frankfurt School, of which Adorno and Horkheimer were scholars. This is perfectly illustrated by Adorno’s comments: ‘In creating markets for their goods, cultural entrepreneurs developed manipulative sales methods that ensnared customers in self-delusion.’[9] In short this means that people did not always feel the urge to own a particular band’s music, and if this was the case, the music industry perceived its job as creating that need.

However, there are some valid reasons for choosing a technical analysis of Sgt. Pepper. This album is extremely well suited to this type of musicological analysis because Tagg asserts that ‘it seems wise to select an AO [analysis object] which is conceived for and received by large, socioculturally heterogenous groups of listeners … with relatively clear extramusical fields of association’.[10] Certainly one is hard pressed to think of any other band that was so utterly dominant across a pluralism of cultures in the early to mid 1960s. Tagg’s method is to do away with applying descriptive metalinguistic prose to music, which he considers a ‘non-verbal, non-denotative art’. Instead, he advocates the application of what he calls the ‘hermeneutic/semiological method’, which involves substituting similar analysis objects to make what he calls an inter-objective comparison by means of utilising four things: the initial analysis object, the meta-analysis object (in other words, the ‘surrogate song’) items of musical code, and the aforementioned extramusical fields of association.[11] By linking objectively similar material contained in ‘items of musical code’ and ‘extramusical fields of association’, one can determine the objective states of correspondence between the analysis object and the inter-objective comparison material. I will present one such analysis later.

It is interesting to note that even the theorists disagree about the best approach to analysing this form of popular music, particularly as it seems to transcend the boundaries of ‘popular’ and explore progressive rock territory, the latter of which Moore perceives as embracing the use of fantastic and obscure imagery.[12] Explicitly contrasting Tagg against Moore, for example, yields two completely different standpoints. As mentioned previously, Tagg favours creating an entirely new paradigm for the analysis of rock music which, he asserts, has relied on classical methodologies for far too long.[13] Yet Moore takes to analysing the bass lines of four songs on Sgt. Pepper[14] with such a methodology. This is of interest because of the album’s nature – some melodic elements can be analysed in this way but the effects such as speeded-up tape obviously cannot be. This leads onto my third argument for quoting Sgt. Pepper as ‘the definitive sixties album’, as it is very difficult (if not impossible) to analyse, because it defies categorisation and the ease of being pigeon-holed into a particular category, since it clearly exhibits characteristics of progressive rock favoured by the counter-culture movement, and attempts to place itself within a popular idiom. Subsequently, this makes the views of those who see this as a ‘concept album’ more credible.

There are other viewpoints from which to analyse Sgt. Pepper, of course. Being an album with strong links to the psychedelic period, a certain thematic unity was called for right from the beginning. This is primarily because merging tracks into a dreamy whole (as opposed to a cohesive, structured one) helped to distinguish it from other pop works of the time. It is also generally acknowledged to be the first album with lyrics printed on the reverse of the album cover. A visual clue as to the nature of the album’s musical styles are provided by merely glancing at the cover, designed by Peter Blake, which is a collage of several famous people, including gurus, sportsmen, politicians, and more, chosen by the Beatles themselves. This sets the listener up for the tone of the album, which deliberately blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. As far as the concept of codifying goes, one might even consider the album cover a visual ‘code’ in itself. Famously, some of the figures Lennon chose for the collage were excluded, among them Hitler, God, and Gandhi.[15]

The fourth argument to make about Sgt. Pepper is that some people will invariably assume quantifiable factors such as the amount of production time and studio hours spent working on the record are indicative of a definitive record. Contrasting the production time taken over Sgt. Pepper (four months, £25,000) with their first LP, Please Please Me (one day, £400) reveals the extent to which the Beatles dabbled more in studio production than in writing the raw acoustic material so often associated with their earlier days.[16] In addition to this, a considerable amount of time was spent on setting up each session as the Abbey Rd studios were only equipped with four-track mixers, in comparison to some of their American counterparts, which were exploiting eight-tracks as much as eight years prior to this.

Influential in shaping the styles heard on Sgt. Pepper were John Cage and Luciano Berio, an American and Italian modern composer respectively, both heavily into experimental music.[17]^,[18] It was almost as if applied technical effects were more important than chordal structures, melody, or other traditional aspects of song. The work of these composers was important, McCartney felt, and in this spirit he travelled to the Italian Institute in Belgravia to hear Berio deliver a lecture, although his evening was ruined by intrusive photographers.[19] His attendance there may well go some way to explaining why Moore decides to adopt a Schenkerian approach (i.e. one that makes comparison between background and foreground material, removing unnecessary filler material in the process) in analysing Sgt. Pepper. There are other clues, however, for instance the opening ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ contains the eternal conflict between classical period instrumentation and stylistic touches from heavy rock that present musicologists with the age-old dilemma of austere classicism against popular music.

The complete track listing of the Sgt. Pepper album is as follows: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help From My Friends, Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds, Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, She’s Leaving Home, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, Within You Without You, When I’m Sixty-Four, Lovely Rita, Good Morning Good Morning, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), A Day In the Life.

With the case having been stated for a subjective opinion of Sgt. Pepper, in the next paragraph I will try to ‘pull apart’ an individual song from the album, starting with the textual neutral level,[20] which is more objective in nature. This practice of starting with the textual level before aesthetics, poetics, and so forth has been well-documented amongst musicologists and theorists for a very long time.[21] In particular, one learns from a study of Morino that there are three complimentary levels of knowledge; the poietic, (placing music in context and understanding the compositional process) the neutral, (with the text of prime importance) and the esthesic. (critical reception and reaction to the composition) The biggest and most significant achievement of Sgt. Pepper is that it blurs lines between these three levels; for instance, what should we define as a ‘work’ of music? The score, the listening experience, or a combination of these things? The elements of indeterminacy contained within the album only serve to heighten such questions.

The song I will analyse is ‘Within You Without You’. I have picked this song as it is quite unlike anything else on Sgt. Pepper. It is the only song George Harrison wrote that features on the album. Whereas other songs such as ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ race through the lyrics, ‘Within You Without You’ spins its lyrics out in a pseudo-meditative manner. The sitar doubles the vocal line throughout this song, except for an extended instrumental section from 2:23 to 3:47. What is interesting about this song is that it is modal throughout, in the Mixolydian mode beginning on C sharp. The Mixolydian mode is frequently used in jazz as it contains a flattened seventh, and I think that this could represent an attempt by Harrison to embrace types of writing from other genres. It certainly seems an odd choice of mode to use for a philosophically-intentioned song.

The lyrics of ‘Within You Without You’, once analysed at this textual level, appear to proffer a glimpse into the metaphysical Indian perspective that Harrison had embraced at this time. Moreover, in its lyrics it explicitly covers the gap between humans as the single basic unit of society, contrasted against the collective whole. It is a brilliant study on the aridity (spiritually, emotionally or otherwise) of modern living, the reverberations of which can still be felt today. Because of this, a dual function of the song is also assumed; it is ‘the conscience of Sgt. Pepper … the necessary sermon that comes with the community singing … [and is] central to the outlook that shaped Sgt. Pepper.’[22] This track can thus be seen as indispensable to the album. The key thing to note about ‘Within You Without You’ is that it assumes the role of a protagonist caught up in the rebellious times; it is a rallying call for all of youth to fight off the superficial materialistic excesses of the period. In an analysis of this type of music, one must also consider whether the lyrics play a diversionary tactic, or a heightening tactic; in effect, could the music still convey what was meant on its own without the lyrics? The answer is that the lyrics heighten the exotic instrumental backdrop presented. Even the placing of this song in the album is important; (the cassette release featured ‘Within You Without You’ as the first song on the B side) it ensures sufficient time to re-capture the fresh mood that the album opened with. Whilst on the subject of the track list, it is important to note the last track, ‘A Day In the Life’, placed directly after the reprise. I think that this points to a new future musical direction for the Beatles.

The concept behind Sgt. Pepper was that it should be an ‘imaginary’ show with separate performers for each number, much like vaudeville. The whole point of the album was that it was an exploration of what actually constitutes ‘music’, much like Tracey Emin pushes the boundaries of what ‘art’ is. It then seems like something of a role reversal for McCartney and Lennon; where McCartney traditionally wrote more melodic, exacting songs that sounded consonant to the ear, Lennon typically wrote harmonic, dissonant pieces. Yet a glance at the writing credits for the album shows that McCartney invested considerably more time and effort in this production than Lennon did.

The essay has so far concentrated on reasons why Sgt. Pepper is often quoted as the definitive sixties album, but I will concede that there are also several reasons why it isn’t. Firstly, the lyrical content of the songs is still firmly rooted in everyday activities, scenes, and interactions. This is a recurring theme with the Beatles. Secondly, following on from this, Sgt. Pepper represents the next iteration in their song-writing, and does not appear to present anything particularly new in terms of musical structures, chord sequences, riffs, or the like. Thirdly, songs like ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ appear to be little more than a pastiche of the 1920s and 30s musical style, like Fred Astaire for example. Fourthly, topics such as drugs, free love, politics, and so forth might have seemed high on the agenda for the generation buying this Beatles record, but little of the material on the album actually discusses or even acknowledges this. Furthermore, the use of ‘Sergeant’ in the title is very likely to be ironic, given the USA’s military presence in Vietnam. I consider this to be one of the extramusical fields of association that Tagg discusses, as mentioned above. Fifthly, perhaps Sgt. Pepper pointed a future direction for the development of non-musical sounds, and new ideas of what could be included in music, but this does not mean to say that the album is definitive of the entire sixties era. Finally, any other band using a sitar in their songs in 1967 wouldn’t be widely acclaimed. This then raises some interesting questions concerning the extent to which the Beatles traded off their name, rather than being continual innovators in the field of music.

However, some elements presented in the Sgt. Pepper album were seized on by other bands, such as the advanced studio techniques. This concurs with Hebdige’s views: ‘As soon as original innovations which signify subculture are translated to commodities and made generally available, they are frozen.’[23] One of the significant things about Sgt. Pepper was that it floated two important concepts: firstly, the concept that an album did not have to be a collection of discrete, homogenous tracks, but rather a continuous (psychedelic) whole album representative of an idea, and secondly, that of over-dubbing. These concepts are continued in the work of Pink Floyd, whose album ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ contains such ideas. (For example, consider the clock montage at the start of track 3, titled ‘Time’) Another important thing about this album is that a studio engineer called Alan Parsons worked on it. He was a prodigious man, just twenty-two in 1972, but was instrumental in editing earlier material recorded by the Beatles, including that of Sgt. Pepper. Other important albums to consider from around this time are David Bowie’s Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and The Who’s Tommy. Both are quasi-rock operatic in nature and use techniques derived from Sgt. Pepper. As is the case with all popular music, these acts can be said to be involved in the emasculation and collusion of consumer capitalism, with such attempts to recreate a need for their products in the minds of impressionable youth.

There are six conclusions that I can draw from answering this question. The first of these is that one commensurate way of observing an album as ‘definitive’ of a period is its ability to make a now senior generation reflect on their youth. This method is rather more qualitative than quantitative in nature. The astounding thing about this album is that it is so much more than the radical Marxist train of thought would have us believe; in short, that commodities are little more than ‘social hieroglyphs’[24]. Sgt. Pepper appears to transcend perceptions of the banal, popular commodity and ultimately delivers an experience that this senior generation can identify with. The adoption of a pacifistic position, tenable by the Beatles, was designed to concur with the ideological values held by the teenagers who would buy Sgt. Pepper. Again, this had a dual function. As well as keeping in line with what their audience wanted, in all senses of the phrase, they also distanced themselves from any other attitudes.

The second of these conclusions is that there are finite limits to the relevance of an analytical disquisition. The major problem surrounding an overtly technical examination of Sgt. Pepper (or any other popular music, for that matter) is the nature of the genre: its music is, by and large, disseminated and transmitted on a global level by the use of recorded sound, as opposed to a defined set or sets of notation which would be used in art music. In addition to this, theory and aesthetical analyses are common in art music (for instance, that of Berio, as mentioned above) but are uncommon in popular music.[25]

The third of these conclusions is that Sgt. Pepper defies easy categorisation because it contains examples of stylistic touches from other music genres, including but by no means limited to jazz, world music, and modernist art music. The inherent nature of popular music means it is frequently difficult, if not impossible, to lay down a precise definition of the term as it is in a constant state of evolution, and furthermore it comprises multiple threads which are capable of developing (or indeed regressing) on their own at any given time.

The fourth conclusion to draw is that some of the public may consider an album to be definitive of a particular period by considering the quantifiable factors only, such as the number of production hours spent on an album, number of session musicians used, number of engineers, and so on. I think that it is important to remember that a more technically challenging album may not be a better one.

The fifth conclusion to draw is that critics who have previously analysed Sgt. Pepper (such as Moore) may have adopted analytical methods more often used in art music (more often than not a Schenkerian methodology) to do this, as the album contains examples of modern writing, for example in the use of speeded-up and dissected tapes.

The sixth conclusion to draw is that perhaps Sgt. Pepper is not the definitive sixties record, and there are a number of reasons why, some of these being the lyrical content of the songs has not changed sufficiently to warrant a ‘revolutionary’ label, and secondly, McCartney seems to favour writing pastiche songs (When I’m Sixty Four) over anything refreshingly new. Songs on Sgt. Pepper appear to be little more than mere continuations or equivalents of songs on Revolver. For instance, contrast ‘Good Morning Good Morning’ with ‘Good Day Sunshine’. In this instance, I would suggest that Revolver, not Sgt. Pepper, is the definitive sixties record. There are three major reasons for this. The first reason is that I view it as the stylistic pre-cursor to Sgt. Pepper; the real experimentation with what defines and constitutes music really starts here. Considering the fractured drum loop on  ‘For No One’, for example, one can see how forward-thinking the Beatles were; so forward-thinking, in fact, that even modern acts such as The Chemical Brothers play this song in their set.[26] The second reason is that many musical genres are embraced within a single album. This is a typical practice of the Beatles. The Indian sound that we well acquaint with the Beatles (‘Love You To’) and songs inspired by Motown (‘Got To Get You Into My Life’) are just a couple of examples. The third and final reason is that the sharp contrast between Lennon and McCartney’s song-writing techniques was developed here and the pinnacle achieved in Sgt. Pepper. (Lennon has been quoted as the ‘rocker’ with McCartney the ‘romantic’[27])

The seventh and final conclusion to draw is that although some may not regard Sgt. Pepper as the definitive sixties record, clearly a number of other bands thought sufficiently well of it to explore its techniques and concepts used; David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and The Who, to name but a few.

 Word Count: 4,088

Bibliography

Carr, Roy and Tyler, Tony. The Beatles: An Illustrated Record (London, New English Library, 1978)

Crampton, Luke, and Rees, Dafydd. Rock & Pop: Year By Year (London, Dorling Kindersley, 2003)

Davies, Hunter. The Beatles: The Illustrated and Updated Edition of the Bestselling Authorised Biography (London, Cassell Illustrated, 2002)

Frith, Simon. Performing Rites (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002)

Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London, Routledge, 1987)

Lewisohn, Mark – sleeve notes in The Beatles, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, Parlophone (EMI), recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Regent Sound Studios from 6^th December 1966 to 1^st April 1967, released 1^st June 1967.

MacDonald, Ian. Revolution In the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties (London, Pimlico, 1998)

Middleton, Richard (ed.) Reading Pop (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003)

Miles, Barry. In the Sixties (London, Jonathan Cape, 2002)

Miller, Chuck, O’ Donnell, Heather, and Wolfe, Arnold S. Popular Music, 18 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999)

Molino, Jean. Introduction à l’analyse linguistique de la poésie [Introduction to a Linguistic Analysis of Poetry] (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1982)

Moore, Allan F. Rock: The Primary Text (Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993)

Shuker, Roy. Key Concepts In Popular Music (London, Routledge, 1998)

Tagg, Philip. Popular Music, 2 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982)

Tagg, Philip. Kojak – 50 Seconds of Television Music: Toward the Analysis of Affect In Popular Music (Musikvetenskapliga Institute, University of Gothenburg, 1979)

 

Web Links

Author unknown, accessed 5^th May 2004.

Discography

The Beatles. Revolver (Parlophone, 1966)

The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone, 1967)

David Bowie. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (EMI, 1972)

Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon (EMI, 1973)

The Who. Tommy: A Rock Opera (Polydor, 1969)

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[1] Frith, Simon. Performing Rites (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 12

[2] Shuker, Roy. Key Concepts In Popular Music (London, Routledge, 1998), p. 70-72

[3] Miller, Chuck, O’ Donnell, Heather, and Wolfe, Arnold S. Popular Music, 18 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 269

[4] Moore, Allan F. Rock: The Primary Text (Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993), pp. 83f

[5] Carr, Roy and Tyler, Tony. The Beatles: An Illustrated Record (London, New English Library, 1978), p. 64-68

[6] Lewisohn, Mark – sleeve notes in The Beatles, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, Parlophone (EMI), recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Regent Sound Studios from 6^th December 1966 to 1^st April 1967, released 1^st June 1967.

[7] Moore, Allan F. Rock: The Primary Text (Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993), p. 9

[8] Ibid., p. 11

[9] Frith, Simon. Performing Rites (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 13

[10] Tagg, Philip in Middleton, Richard. Reading Pop (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 80

[11] Ibid., p. 84

[12] Moore, Allan F. Rock: The Primary Text (Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993), p. 101-103

[13] Tagg, Philip. Popular Music, 2 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 37-65

[14] Moore, Allan F. Rock: The Primary Text (Buckingham, Open University Press, 1993), p. 85

[15] Crampton, Luke, and Rees, Dafydd. Rock & Pop: Year By Year (London, Dorling Kindersley, 2003), p. 181

[16] Davies, Hunter. The Beatles: The Illustrated and Updated Edition of the Bestselling Authorised Biography (London, Cassell Illustrated, 2002), p. 304

[17] Miles, Barry. In the Sixties (London, Jonathan Cape, 2002), p. 102

[18] Ibid., p. 147

[19] Ibid., pp. 105f

[20] Miller, Chuck, O’ Donnell, Heather, and Wolfe, Arnold S. Popular Music, 18 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 259-276

[21] Molino, Jean. Introduction à l’analyse linguistique de la poésie [Introduction to a Linguistic Analysis of Poetry] (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1982), p. 24-28

[22] MacDonald, Ian. Revolution In the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties (London, Pimlico, 1998), p. 215

[23] Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London, Routledge, 1987), p. 96

[24] Ibid., p. 95

[25] Tagg, Philip in Middleton, Richard. Reading Pop (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 76

[26] Author unknown, accessed 5^th May 2004.

[27] Loc. cit.