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The Beatles: With a Little Help From My Friends - EduqasWith a Little Help from My Friends

With a Little Help from My Friends is a track taken from the iconic album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was released in 1967. It is sung by Ringo Starr and follows the opening song, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

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With a Little Help from My Friends

The album cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Figure caption,
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover in 1967

With a Little Help from My Friends is the second track from the iconic album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966 and this was the first album to be released during their studio period. The album pushed the boundaries of by experimenting with different musical influences and combining them with rock and pop.

The album has a theme that links all tracks and is intended to be played in full. The Beatles also wanted the album to sound as if it was played live by the fictional military band so they even added an tuning up and applause.

influences can be heard in early songs by The Beatles, such as She Loves You and I Saw Her Standing There. Their style altered over the years and became more experimental. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was recorded during the band’s studio years and features unusual electronic instruments, , traditional Indian-originating instruments, a 40-piece orchestra plus a French horn quartet. The genre can be classed as due to its strange lyrics and surreal sounds.

A discography of The Beatles from 1960 to 1970, which includes the film A Hard Day's Night in 1964.
Figure caption,
A discography of work and important dates for The Beatles between 1960 and 1970

With a Little Help from My Friends leads on from the opening song Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with no break. The two songs are cross-faded together with pre-recorded applause. With a Little Help from My Friends was sung by Ringo Starr in the fictional character of Billy Shears, which was his alter ego in Sgt. Pepper’s band. John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the track especially for Ringo to sing. The album was produced by George Martin who had been heavily influenced by the album Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys. He wanted to expand the range of techniques used in both composition and production.

The album was recorded in Abbey Road studios using a Studer J37 4-track machine. This early form of enabled four different tracks to be mixed into a single track and then combined with additional tracks. It meant that The Beatles could play lots of different instruments in one song. The album uses different types of technology and was never meant to be performed live.