ABSTRACT

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band synthesized the contemplative monologues, the razor-sharp social critiques and the bracing psychodrama of Revolver with an even more lavish attention to sonic detail and adherence to the pop tradition. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band stresses the complete fluidity and total interpenetration of all life forms, expressed most powerfully in Harrison's 'Within You Without You', a song whose lyrics, timbres, rhythms and tonalities constitute almost a dictionary of psychedelic imagery. The psychedelic heart of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band lies in its reports of introspective journeys, its looking within and resulting insistence on the fluidity and interrelationship of all things, probably the hallmark of psychedelic visionary experiences. 'Within You Without You' weaves within its lyrics a series of more optimistic, affirmative positions, focused on love, transformation, cosmic oneness and the interrelationships of all existence.