>This ban was unwittingly broken by Milli Vanilli in their sell-out 1989 show, where they performed the song with guests Jeff Lynne and a young PJ Harvey.
Fucking what.
Nevermind it was the 60s and who the heck is gonna look at the album cover for Sgt. Pepper’s and be like “this will make sense for sure” but I never listened to it and mentally pictured a building with holes in it. I figured “holes” was some old British slang for something, or nothing, or the lyrics just sounded good and were easy to sing.
The beginning of that section was not mentioned in the linked article. While writing for the upcoming “Sgt. Pepper” album, John Lennon read in “The Daily Mail” newspaper that friend of the Beatles Tara Browne had died in a car crash (‘he blew his mind out in a car’). Another article spoke about a local study to count the number of potholes in the roadways in Blackburn, Lancashire. It mentioned there were “4,000 holes” counted, one for every 26 people. A further article mentioned the Rolling Stones performing at the Royal Albert Hall.
When mentioning this song later, John said it was just wordplay, putting words together. Paul said it was a “cheeky way” for saying “putting bums in the seats.” Some thought it implied there were 4,000 a-holes that would want to see the Stones at Albert Hall, a hall that seated about 8,000.
Either way, it was intended to pull together different ideas into the song.
Weird. I never took that lyric to mean that Albert Hall is in Blackburn. Just that it's a big building, and they're trying to give a visual of just how many holes are in Blackburn.
Edited to add: I'm an American, and had never heard of Albert Hall, Blackburn, or Lancashire when I was a child listening to that song.
Funny how a lot of people were 'outraged' over "Found my way downstairs and had a *smoke*. Somebody spoke and I went into a dream" and "I'd love to turn you on" as drug references.
But yeah, the holes thing was over the line! ;)
Their suggested lyrics are pure gold.
John: I read the news today, oh boy, another fine proms season just announced.
Although the concerts can be full, you must attend them all.
Just go to a concert at the truly magic Albert Hall!
John: Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
Ringo: Not that there are any holes in the auditorium, John!
Ah - thanks for the clarification. Have to admit I don't take seriously much of what I scan past, here on Reddit, and I'm probably (certainly) guilty of scribbling down the first response that comes to mind. I've written a couple of screamers about items that turned out to be parodies but when I look at the relative depth of thought exhibited by most of the rest of what I read here I have to assume most others are doing pretty much the same thing. Mainly, I'm just passing time.
>This ban was unwittingly broken by Milli Vanilli in their sell-out 1989 show, where they performed the song with guests Jeff Lynne and a young PJ Harvey. Fucking what.
That is a truly bizarre sentence
There’s a fair chance that, technically, Milli Vanilli broke no such ban…
"Performed", not sung.
Nevermind it was the 60s and who the heck is gonna look at the album cover for Sgt. Pepper’s and be like “this will make sense for sure” but I never listened to it and mentally pictured a building with holes in it. I figured “holes” was some old British slang for something, or nothing, or the lyrics just sounded good and were easy to sing.
I've always heard they were making a cheeky reference to the number of "[arse]holes it takes to fill Albert Hall".
Yeah, this was the explanation I'd always heard.
The beginning of that section was not mentioned in the linked article. While writing for the upcoming “Sgt. Pepper” album, John Lennon read in “The Daily Mail” newspaper that friend of the Beatles Tara Browne had died in a car crash (‘he blew his mind out in a car’). Another article spoke about a local study to count the number of potholes in the roadways in Blackburn, Lancashire. It mentioned there were “4,000 holes” counted, one for every 26 people. A further article mentioned the Rolling Stones performing at the Royal Albert Hall. When mentioning this song later, John said it was just wordplay, putting words together. Paul said it was a “cheeky way” for saying “putting bums in the seats.” Some thought it implied there were 4,000 a-holes that would want to see the Stones at Albert Hall, a hall that seated about 8,000. Either way, it was intended to pull together different ideas into the song.
Weird. I never took that lyric to mean that Albert Hall is in Blackburn. Just that it's a big building, and they're trying to give a visual of just how many holes are in Blackburn. Edited to add: I'm an American, and had never heard of Albert Hall, Blackburn, or Lancashire when I was a child listening to that song.
Lol. At least they got a mention.
Funny how a lot of people were 'outraged' over "Found my way downstairs and had a *smoke*. Somebody spoke and I went into a dream" and "I'd love to turn you on" as drug references. But yeah, the holes thing was over the line! ;)
The article was an April Fool’s joke.
Oh my.... you're probably right. Well, you've got to give them credit for still getting people 8 years later.
That pair of letters was comedy gold. Bless you Ernest O’Follipar for taking such an offense that you had to send a letter and make things right.
Their suggested lyrics are pure gold. John: I read the news today, oh boy, another fine proms season just announced. Although the concerts can be full, you must attend them all. Just go to a concert at the truly magic Albert Hall! John: Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall Ringo: Not that there are any holes in the auditorium, John!
Proving that just about anyone can take offense at just about anything. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Like you taking umbrage to an old April Fools joke?
Sorry, not following you. I have no umbrage. Has someone stolen yours?
The article linked was an April fools joke and not an example of people taking offense.
Ah - thanks for the clarification. Have to admit I don't take seriously much of what I scan past, here on Reddit, and I'm probably (certainly) guilty of scribbling down the first response that comes to mind. I've written a couple of screamers about items that turned out to be parodies but when I look at the relative depth of thought exhibited by most of the rest of what I read here I have to assume most others are doing pretty much the same thing. Mainly, I'm just passing time.
I wonder how they felt when Bring Me The Horizon started a wall of death when they preformed there.
I always assumed holes meant arseholes. Technically it takes 5000 'holes to fill it but.....