John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s wide-ranging lyrics on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967)

On "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), John Lennon and Paul McCartney further expanded their lyrical range. "A Day in the Life", one of the few real collaborations in the Lennon-McCartney songbook, blends Lennon's surreal spin on reading the news with McCartney's down-to-earth take on getting up in the morning and going to work. In "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", Lennon drew on a drawing by his son Julian and a nineteenth-century circus poster, as well as on Lewis Carroll. In the title song, McCartney played with stereotypical concert announcements, while "When I'm Sixty-Four" offers a playful long-term take on romance. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 30 June 2024)