Eliot Stein Interviews George Martin
(C) Eliot Stein
George Martin signed the Beatles in 1962 to a recording contract
at the Parlophone division of EMI in England. He produced all of
their albums with the exception of "Let It Be."
He introduced them to orchestration and other recording techniques
in the studio that were available to them.
He was the “5th� Beatle that did their orchestral arrangements,
some piano work and numerous other creative elements in their music.
ELIOT: How do you explain the never-ending fascination for EVERY
new generation with The BEATLES and their music?
GM: I don't know the answer. My children were into The
Beatles. My grandchildren are into The Beatles.
I remember when my daughter was into The Bay City Rollers
as a young girl. One day she came home and said, "Daddy
is it true you had something to do with The Beatles?"---
I told her "Yes!!!"...
There are Beatle fans all over the world...wherever you go.
ELIOT: Did you feel you would be taking a risk
with the Sgt. Pepper album in 1967? After all, the theme
was so unusual and unique!
GM: There were moments when I had misgivings. It was the
first time we were able to devote ourselves completely to a
studio album....the boys were tired of touring...
so we had plenty of time to experiment in the studio. We
wanted to do something different...we knew the music would
be more complicated. The first track we did for the album was
"Strawberry Fields Forever"...although IT NEVER got on the
album! I loved "A Day in the Life". I played it to the president
of Capitol Records...he was speechless...he couldn't believe
what he heard...we knew we were on the right track.
ELIOT: Is "Day in the Life" actually two songs put together?
GM: It started out as a song by John, he said he didn't have
a middle. Paul had another song and the two songs became
one!
ELIOT: Who dreamed up the idea for the costumes, the name
of the band, etc?
GM: The idea for "Sgt. Pepper" came with the song. As we
recorded the song, Paul said, "We could pretend we are the
Sgt. Pepper band!"..."we could be their alter-egos!" This
meant to me that we could create the idea of a live
performance by this band...it was a great idea...and Neil
Aspinall suggested that we do a reprise of the title track. The
boys were rebelling against actal touring. The idea was the
album would be on tour! The idea for the costumes just came
about as part of the whole idea. The boys are holding unusual
instruments on the cover of the album!
ELIOT: Were any of the beatles skeptical of any of your
suggestions for the album?
GM: No not really! We were a team. Every voice was heard
equally! Ringo made as many decisions as anybody else
regarding concepts for the album. "Strawberry Fields" was
the first song we did as we got into the album. All the songs
seem to have worked very well based on everybody's
suggestions!
(C) Eliot Stein
George Martin signed the Beatles in 1962 to a recording contract
at the Parlophone division of EMI in England. He produced all of
their albums with the exception of "Let It Be."
He introduced them to orchestration and other recording techniques
in the studio that were available to them.
He was the “5th� Beatle that did their orchestral arrangements,
some piano work and numerous other creative elements in their music.
ELIOT: How do you explain the never-ending fascination for EVERY
new generation with The BEATLES and their music?
GM: I don't know the answer. My children were into The
Beatles. My grandchildren are into The Beatles.
I remember when my daughter was into The Bay City Rollers
as a young girl. One day she came home and said, "Daddy
is it true you had something to do with The Beatles?"---
I told her "Yes!!!"...
There are Beatle fans all over the world...wherever you go.
ELIOT: Did you feel you would be taking a risk
with the Sgt. Pepper album in 1967? After all, the theme
was so unusual and unique!
GM: There were moments when I had misgivings. It was the
first time we were able to devote ourselves completely to a
studio album....the boys were tired of touring...
so we had plenty of time to experiment in the studio. We
wanted to do something different...we knew the music would
be more complicated. The first track we did for the album was
"Strawberry Fields Forever"...although IT NEVER got on the
album! I loved "A Day in the Life". I played it to the president
of Capitol Records...he was speechless...he couldn't believe
what he heard...we knew we were on the right track.
ELIOT: Is "Day in the Life" actually two songs put together?
GM: It started out as a song by John, he said he didn't have
a middle. Paul had another song and the two songs became
one!
ELIOT: Who dreamed up the idea for the costumes, the name
of the band, etc?
GM: The idea for "Sgt. Pepper" came with the song. As we
recorded the song, Paul said, "We could pretend we are the
Sgt. Pepper band!"..."we could be their alter-egos!" This
meant to me that we could create the idea of a live
performance by this band...it was a great idea...and Neil
Aspinall suggested that we do a reprise of the title track. The
boys were rebelling against actal touring. The idea was the
album would be on tour! The idea for the costumes just came
about as part of the whole idea. The boys are holding unusual
instruments on the cover of the album!
ELIOT: Were any of the beatles skeptical of any of your
suggestions for the album?
GM: No not really! We were a team. Every voice was heard
equally! Ringo made as many decisions as anybody else
regarding concepts for the album. "Strawberry Fields" was
the first song we did as we got into the album. All the songs
seem to have worked very well based on everybody's
suggestions!
