Recording "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

About

There was a change in the engineering team. Second engineer Phil McDonald had been promoted and replaced by Richard Lush.

Richard’s first encounter with Paul was particularly memorable, though it occurred when both George Martin and I were out of the room. He was sitting by the tape machine, fiddling with one of the controls when Paul wandered in. “Hello, who are you?” he asked. “I don’t remember seeing you here before.”

Paul was asking the question in a good-natured way, but Richard detected an undertone of suspicion, too — Phil had already warned him that the Beatles did not like seeing unfamiliar faces at their sessions. Without anyone around to vouch for him, he nervously stammered a reply.

“Erm, my name is Richard… I’m a button-pusher here.”

Paul immediately strode across the room and got right in Richard’s face.

“Oh yeah?” he sneered, assuming a puglistic stance, both fists at the ready. “Wanna fight??”

Needless to say, this very nearly caused Richard to have an unfortunate accident — one that would have certainly become studio lore had he not quickly recovered and realized that Paul’s challenge to his manhood was really just a joke, just an example of Liverpudlian humor. All four Beatles were pranksters at heart. They enjoyed doing the unexpected, just to see what kind of reaction they could get out of the unwary.

Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006

Last updated on February 17, 2023

Songs recorded

Staff

Production staff