Sgt. Pepper Concentric Groove Sounds

Composer
-

Released on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album

Recording Sessions

Studio Two, Abbey Road EMI Studios, London, England - April 21, 1967

Working Titles

Edit For LP End

Notes

Since there is no silence left between each songs on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, that would be a pity if there is silence after the final chord. So a concentric run-out groove is put in to fill in the silence. People with automatic players would hear a quick burst of it before their pick-up arm returned to base, people without such equipment would find the noise in the concentric playing on and on ad infinitum, or at least until the arm was manually lifted off.

The Beatles then decided to record a bit of nonsense gibberish. Recorded twice on each track of a two-track tape, they made funny noises, said random things. Then the tape was chopped up, put back together, played it backwards and edited it into the mono and stereo masters.

After the concentric groove was finished, John suggested that, in between the final chord and the concentric groove, they insert a high-pitch whistle especially for dogs, 15 kilocycles, to make them perk up.

Subsequent re-pressings of the LP did not include the high frequency tone or the concentric groove, but the 1987 compact disc release and the spin-offs from that (in the UK a cassette, in the USA a re-mastered album and cassette) have both.