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5.31pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
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Evangeline said
I always skip She’s Leaving Home when I listen to Sgt. Pepper , it’s a bore to listen to.
Beauty is in the ear of the beholder. For me, this is one of the more interesting tracks on Pepper. The story line in itself is gripping, but the way the song is structured is what sells me on it – particularly John’s haunting lines in the chorus;
She (we gave her most of our lives)
Is leaving (sacrificed most of our lives)
Home (we gave her everything money could buy)
She’s Leaving Home , after living alone, for so many years (bye bye)
Brilliant. It would be even more brilliant if the lines “we gave her everything money could buy” and “bye bye” were a bit of Lennonesque wordplay. 
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sir walter raleigh, The Hippie Chick, WeepingAtlasCedars, JpgrTo the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
5.37pm
26 January 2017
Offline I always felt weird that its not a George Martin arrangement, so maybe I judge it differently.
"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"
-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"
-Brian Wilson, Surfer Girl
5.38pm
17 January 2016
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I disagree with Evangeline as well. It’s hardly a “boring” song… I find it quite touching and beautiful, actually.
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Zig, WeepingAtlasCedars, Jpgr“She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” - J.D. Salinger
9.59pm
11 April 2016
Offline I agree with Zig and The Hippie Chick. I think it’s a lovely song; the intro always draws me in.
However, the one thing that bugs me is the line:
“Fun is the one thing that money can’t buy.”
I always disliked how they didn’t say that love was the one thing money couldn’t buy. I think it would have been more profound that way. Also, it makes a lot more sense, seeing as Can’t Buy Me Love clearly states that love can’t be bought, and yadda yadda. Pretty silly to say fun is the only thing, I think. 
I dunno if anyone else thinks this too; I swear it’s been mentioned here before, but I may be wrong. 
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12.46am
Moderators
27 November 2016
Offline I commented about that about a week ago to my dad!
Love is the one thing money can’t buy.
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4.50am
27 February 2017
Offline WeepingAtlasCedars said
I agree with Zig and The Hippie Chick. I think it’s a lovely song; the intro always draws me in.However, the one thing that bugs me is the line:
“Fun is the one thing that money can’t buy.”
I always disliked how they didn’t say that love was the one thing money couldn’t buy. I think it would have been more profound that way. Also, it makes a lot more sense, seeing as Can’t Buy Me Love clearly states that love can’t be bought, and yadda yadda. Pretty silly to say fun is the only thing, I think.
I dunno if anyone else thinks this too; I swear it’s been mentioned here before, but I may be wrong.
That has bothered me too for a long while but eventually, I had an idea what it could mean. Maybe it’s only speculation but I personally think it could be true:
John’s vocal part obviously represents the parents because he is using pronouns as ‘we’ and ‘our’. So, the parents are desperate that her daughter leaves them despite everything they have done for her and ask themselves what they have done wrong and at some point they come up with the explanation: ‘It was the fun we couldn’t give her with our money.’ For the listener, it is clear that love should be included instead of fun but the parents don’t realize it.
In fact, this sentence sums up the whole problem the parents have got – they can’t relate to their daughter emotionally and try to compensate it with money and even when it’s already too late they still don’t see their mistake and that everything their daughter needed was love. They try to find another reason because they can’t admit their failure as loving parents to themselves and what do they choose as an alternative explanation is: fun.
Besides, if the parents put it like this, it will much more look as if their daughter is the evil one. If she had fled because of the lack of love in her home, it would have looked as if she was the victim. If she flees because she has no fun, it will look very immature and childish of her and the parents would be the victims in that case.
So the sentence is a hidden critic of the parents behaviour.
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The Hole Got Fixed, The Hippie Chick, WeepingAtlasCedars, JpgrNot once does the diversity seem forced -- the genius of the record is how the vaudevillian "When I'm 64" seems like a logical extension of "Within You Without You" and how it provides a gateway to the chiming guitars of "Lovely Rita. - Stephen T. Erlewine on Sgt Pepper's
5.13am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline “Fun is the one thing money can’t buy”, in my own thoughts, is the parents stuck in the old mindset of go to school, get an education, get a job or, if a conventional female back in the 60’s, get a man, get married and be at home for the rest of your life. For the teenager back in the mid-60’s, however, life was to be explored and lived, to have your parents on at you would only push you out of the door. As she stepped outside she was “finally free”.
The parents gave the girl everything they could, including their love (“clutching her handkerchief” signifies she was upset whilst leaving so there was an emotional reaction as she was leaving), but their boundaries and expectations drove her away as she wasn’t able to enjoy life the way she wanted.
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8.50am
14 June 2016
Offline I do really like this song. I can see why some wouldn’t like it because it’s slow, similar to why some of y’all don’t like The Long And Winding Road .
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9.09am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline William Shears Campbell said
I do really like this song. I can see why some wouldn’t like it because it’s slow, similar to why some of y’all don’t like The Long And Winding Road .
I don’t like ‘TLAWR’ due to the over-overproduction, or Billy’s dreadful solo if we’re going ‘Naked’.
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The Hole Got Fixed"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
10.05am
28 March 2014
Offline I dont mind TLAWR, but it’s a little too long and winding….
BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms! 
11.16am
17 January 2016
Offline 
“Fun is the one thing money can’t buy”, in my own thoughts, is the parents stuck in the old mindset of go to school, get an education, get a job or, if a conventional female back in the 60’s, get a man, get married and be at home for the rest of your life. For the teenager back in the mid-60’s, however, life was to be explored and lived, to have your parents on at you would only push you out of the door. As she stepped outside she was “finally free”.The parents gave the girl everything they could, including their love (“clutching her handkerchief” signifies she was upset whilst leaving so there was an emotional reaction as she was leaving), but their boundaries and expectations drove her away as she wasn’t able to enjoy life the way she wanted.
I like MMM’s thoughts on it here.
The song is based on a real life story of a well to do 17 year old girl. She’s from a family where she basically wants for nothing. By the way, the real life girl came back home three weeks later, pregnant, and got an abortion. Also, mind, at that time in the late sixties, many teens were running away from their conventional lives, being unsatisfied or feeling like their parents didn’t really care what they did. Look at all of the kids that came into San Francisco at that time for example.
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Martha, WeepingAtlasCedars“She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” - J.D. Salinger
1.45pm
9 March 2017
Offline I think this is one of The Beatles worst songs, yet i think it’s an ok song, it shows how good The Beatles are. Also, this song sounds like a composite of multiple takes.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
1.51pm
26 January 2017
Offline What?? How is it one of their worst songs? I don’t see anything not to like about this – the lyrics are heartbreaking, the harp is lovely and the strings are also nice.
Anybody else see similarities between this and Eleanor Rigby ? They’re both modal, both are McCartney character/story songs, both use a classical string backing, both lyrically cover themes of isolation and loneliness.
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Jpgr, Ahhh Girl, WeepingAtlasCedarsI've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
1.54pm
9 March 2017
Offline It’s not my type of music and Eleanor Rigby did a better job in my mind.
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2.00pm
26 January 2017
Offline Just because it’s not your type of music doesn’t mean it’s bad. To form a reasonable judgement on a song, you have to look at it in the context of it’s own style, not your favourite style. For example, when I listen to classical, I’m not going to expect it to perform in the same ways I expect a rock song to perform.
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
2.01pm
9 March 2017
Offline Whether or not you think a song is good is a matter of opinion, if i think classical music sucks then it’s going to be hard for me to think of a classical song to be good.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
2.15pm
26 January 2017
Offline my point is that different styles are attempting to do different things, and it can’t be judged as bad unless it doesn’t do what it’s attempting effectively.
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Dark OverlordI've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
3.04pm
9 March 2017
Offline Sort of like a chef who doesn’t like vegetables but who can’t critique a well made salad, i get it now.
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3.42pm
8 May 2017
Offline QuarryMan said
What?? How is it one of their worst songs? I don’t see anything not to like about this – the lyrics are heartbreaking, the harp is lovely and the strings are also nice.Anybody else see similarities between this and Eleanor Rigby ? They’re both modal, both are McCartney character/story songs, both use a classical string backing, both lyrically cover themes of isolation and loneliness.
Yes, I do, QM! Never put it together like that, so thanks for the food for thought 🙂
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Ahhh Girl, QuarryMan8.16am
26 January 2017
Offline No problem. I didn’t really figure this out though, I just used to get them mixed up when I was first getting into the band.
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
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