“The funny thing about that was the night when we were going to record it, at Regent Sound Studios at Tottenham Court Road. I brought a guy who was Jesus.
A guy arrived at my front gate and I said ‘Yes? Hello’ because I always used to answer it to everyone. If they were boring I would say, ‘Sorry, no,’ and they generally went away. This guy said, 'I’m Jesus Christ.’ I said, 'Oop,’ slightly shocked. I said, 'Well, you’d better come in then.’ I thought, Well, it probably isn’t. But if he is, I’m not going to be the one to turn him away.
So I gave him a cup of tea and we just chatted and I asked, 'Why do you think you are Jesus?’ There were a lot of casualties about then. We used to get a lot of people who were maybe insecure or going through emotional break downs or whatever.
So I said, 'I’ve got to go to a session but if you promise to be very quiet and just sit in a corner, you can come.’ So he did, he came to the session and he did sit very quietly and I never saw him after that. I introduced him to the guys. They said, 'Who’s this?’ I said, 'He’s Jesus Christ.’ We had a bit of a giggle over that.”
[Paul, Many Years From Now, Barry Miles]
Pics: Sgt Pepper sessions photos by Henry Grossman. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any photos from the 9th February 1967, which was the day Paul’s talking about. It was also the first occasion The Beatles recorded somewhere other than Abbey Road. They moved to Regent Sound Studios for that day as all the studios were booked at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. They recorded Fixing A Hole that day, but finished the song back at Abbey Road.
Post 2/13 - Sgt Pepper is 50!