Paul McCartney and George Harrison Were Shocked When Jimi Hendrix Covered 1 Beatles Song 3 Days After it was Released
Classic rock bands don’t get any more iconic than The Beatles. The band’s catalog is arguably unmatched, and their album sales and cultural impact are second to none. Still, bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison were taken by surprise when Jimi Hendrix covered one of The Beatles’ songs just a few days after its initial release. Here’s what we know about it.
Why members of The Beatles admired Jimi Hendrix
Hendrix only released a few studio albums during his career. But his musical mastery was apparent to all. Certainly at the time, Hendrix made an impact. However, if there was ever any doubt about his legacy, the decades since his tragic death at age 27 in 1970 definitely clear that up. Today, Hendrix is considered one of the best musicians in history.
According to BeatlesStory, The Beatles were already great admirers of Hendrix by 1967, the year his first album released. McCartney referred to him as “a sweetie” and “a very nice guy.” And even though Hendrix’s mainstream career only lasted a few years, his guitar skills were already in a class of their own by that point, as McCartney and Harrison knew.
Jimi Hendrix shocked The Beatles by covering this iconic song
Hendrix’s guitar skills are indeed legendary. But McCartney remembers one night in particular in which he and Harrison witnessed Hendrix pay The Beatles “the ultimate compliment.”
“I remember [Jimi Hendrix] opening at the Saville on a Sunday night, 4th June 1967. Brian Epstein used to rent it when it was usually dark on the Sunday. Jimi opened, the curtains flew back, and he came walking forward, playing [‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’], and it had only been released on the Thursday so that was like the ultimate compliment,” he said.
“It’s still obviously a shining memory for me,” he continued. “I admired him so much anyway, he was so accomplished. To think that that album had meant so much to him as to actually do it by the Sunday night, three days after the release. He must have been so into it, because normally it might take a day for rehearsal and then you might wonder whether you’d put it in, but he just opened with it. It’s a pretty major compliment in anyone’s book. I put that down as one of the great honors of my career. I mean, I’m sure he wouldn’t have thought of it as an honor. I’m sure he thought it was the other way round, but to me that was like a great boost.”
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band went on to be one of The Beatles’ most popular albums. So Hendrix clearly had an instinct about what might click with fans.
‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ has been covered a lot
Hendrix might have been the first to cover “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” but the iconic musician was far from the last. Over the years, many other artists have tried their hand at the classic Beatles tune. But in addition to McCartney and other former Beatles, a few other versions stand out among the rest.
Hair metal band Zinatra played the track live in 1988. And McCartney performed it with U2 in 2005 for a charity single that peaked at 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Likewise, Bryan Adams and Stereophonics covered the original song and its reprise in 2007. And Robbie Williams performed his own version of the song, with lyrics referencing himself and Take That.
