The Swedish Beatles Tribute Album That Emulated the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Cover Art Three Years Before It Came Out

In July 1964, the Beatles made a triumphant return to Stockholm, Sweden, after their February debut in America. They had been there nine months earlier on tour, where they had been greeted at the airport by only a few dozen fans.

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The Fab Four took this in stride, seeing an opportunity to connect with their Swedish fans. However, when they returned, the airport was flooded with thousands of people. Par for the course after the Beatles’ big Ed Sullivan debut.

Among their fans that day was Roger Wallis, a British-born musician and researcher. In 1964, he was a member of the student brass band at the Stockholm School of Economics. The group called themselves Mercblecket, and Wallis often sang and arranged the music for the group.

Wallis managed to speak with Paul McCartney, and after chatting, he shared a copy of Mercblecket’s EP. Titled Mercblecket Beats the Beatles, the EP featured four covers of Beatles songs. It included “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “This Boy,” “All My Loving,” and “I Saw Her Standing There.”

Could a Student Brass Band from Sweden Have Inspired the Beatles to Create the Distinctive Sgt. Pepper Cover Art?

The cover of Mercblecket’s EP is eerily similar to the cover of the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The group dressed in marching band uniforms and posed around a bass drum. The Beatles, in turn, seemingly recreated this on the Sgt. Pepper cover.

However, many Beatles fans have pointed out that there are more specific references and allusions in the Sgt. Pepper cover. This is most likely more than just a reference to a Swedish brass band. Still, the coincidence is hard to ignore.

In footage taken at the time of the Beatles’ arrival in Stockholm, it’s clear that Mercblecket were in attendance at the airport. Dressed in their uniforms, the brass band regaled the Fab Four with tunes as they exited the plane.

While the similar cover art is probably just a coincidence, many have speculated that Paul McCartney could have had the image in mind when he conceived the original sketch. McCartney was the first to receive the EP, after all.

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