Hi Mean Mr. Mustard. Welcome to the board. You arrived overnight when I was sleeping.

You managed to single out 2 of my favourite parts of Sgt. Pepper: Fixing A Hole, and Sgt. Pepper (reprise). I think Good Morning, Good Morning is the worst song on the album, so it would be awful to go straight into A Day In The Life after that. It prepares you nicely for the big ending. IMHO of course!

I remember Mr Martin saying that his biggest regret about Pepper was that it lacked memorable tunes. While songs may have been intricate and interesting they failed the "old grey whistle test" - there weren't that many tunes you could hum along to on the way to work.This had always been a hallmark of The Beatles  and one of the reasons for their success. They wrote excellent melodies.
The inclusion of the droning "Only A Northern Song" would surely only have made matters worse. Dumping the tuneless "Good Morning Good Morning" would have been a big step up.

Quoted from Kevin

Dumping the tuneless "Good Morning Good Morning" would have been a big step up.

That would bring it down to around 37 minutes. Surely there would have been enough room for SFF/PL then? Actually, I would have just included SFF. And put out Penny Lane as a single with Good Morning, Good Morning as the b-side.

Hey, I like that idea! PL has "single" written all over it...

Quoted from tkitna

Screw George. Drop 'Within You Without You' and 'When I'm 64'.

LOL! It's great how we would all passionately "fix" this album... differently!    Cheers.

As much as I adore, admire and appreciate SFF I'm not convinced it was a wise choice for a single. The combination of its slowness, complicated melody and lack of any real hook doesn't suit primetime radio, whence it must linger if it is to chart.
I like BM's idea.

For me, 'Good Morning, Good Morning' could be axed, and possibly also 'She's Leaving Home', which is quite nice but has never seemed to fit in with the rest of the album. 'When I'm Sixty-Four' seems a bit incongruous to me as well. Can't touch 'WIWY', though, and it's far better than 'Only A Northern Song' as far as I'm concerned.

I like the idea of 'SFF' after 'With A Little Help From My Friends' (a great change of mood after all the hooplah of the opening tracks), and 'Penny Lane' could be a great side 2 opener.

I don't see SFF and PL in the Sgt Pepper. Those were songs recorded to be singles. They could never include the 2 songs in the album, because they were released 3.5 months before.

Welcome, Klang! Enjoy the forums! And talking about Pepper, an splendid time is guaranteed for all! (I have to stop to say that...)

Quoted from wingsman

I don't see SFF and PL in the Sgt Pepper. Those were songs recorded to be singles. They could never include the 2 songs in the album, because they were released 3.5 months before.

Sorry no. They were recorded as part of what would become the Sgt Pepper Sessions. As Wiki says:
"When manager Brian Epstein pressed producer George Martin for a new Beatles single, Martin told Epstein that the group had recorded what were, in his opinion, their two finest songs to date ("Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane"). Epstein suggested that Martin issue the songs as a double A-sided single, as they had done with their previous single, "Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby". Following UK protocol in the 1960s not to include songs released as a single within a new album, both songs were ultimately left off Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band altogether. George Martin later admitted that this was his greatest mistake during his association with The Beatles[b][/b]."

They had recorded three songs at that time. When I'm 64 was the other one. Martin said that two of those three songs recorded were amongst the best they had ever made. It would have been better to use either Penny Lane or Strawberry Fields as the a-side and When I'm 64 as the b-side. That would make the way clear for PL or SFF to be included on the album. Personally I feel that Penny Lane could have been the more attractive single, whereas Strawberry Fields fits somewhat better on the album.

Quoted from Bobber

They had recorded three songs at that time. When I'm 64 was the other one. Martin said that two of those three songs recorded were amongst the best they had ever made. It would have been better to use either Penny Lane or Strawberry Fields as the a-side and When I'm 64 as the b-side. That would make the way clear for PL or SFF to be included on the album. Personally I feel that Penny Lane could have been the more attractive single, whereas Strawberry Fields fits somewhat better on the album.

this is the best placement scenario I've heard yet for PL and SFF

Quoted from wingsman

...Welcome, Klang! Enjoy the forums! ...

Hey, Thanks. A fun and very informed bunch of folks here. I dig a...

George Harrison worked on Only A Northern Song before he worked on Within You, Without You, but George Martin didn't care for the implication to Northern Songs Inc, and the song was therefore shelved (and used later as a "throwaway" song for the Yellow Submarine movie, which is such bullspit and such a diss to Harrison).

I always loved Only A Northern Song, and never cared for Within You, Without You, but that's beside the point of this thread.  The OP mentioned that Within You was the only Harrison song on the album, therefore it couldn't be dropped, but what if Northern Song was there instead.

Anyway, and I know people will think I'm crazy, but I'd drop Day In The Life.  I find the instrumentation annoying, how it goes to that high pitch more than once in the song.  If I'm playing it in the car with older family members, they're tempted to tell me to change the CD because it is really unlistenable.

So that song is dropped.  What next?  Hmmm...drop She's Leaving Home.  That song doesn't even fit in the album's concept, if you ask me.  How biast George Martin is (or a complete a**-kisser) towards Paul vs George.  She's Leaving Home should have been the throwaway, and kept Only A Northern Song.

So, with A Day In The Life and She's Leaving Home dropped, you can now add in Penny Lane and SFF.

I never did understand why just because they were released as singles prior to the album being released that they couldn't include them?  

Quoted from Buttmunker

  How biast George Martin is (or a complete a**-kisser) towards Paul vs George.  

any evidence to support this claim?

i can't think of any song to drop from sgt peppers.... a day in the life is untouchable...

the rest of the songs are consistently great... all strong tracks... i don't see any that jump out as a possible reject

on the other hand.... dr robert on revolver

on the other hand, It's Only Love off Revolver