10 Things You Didn't Know About The Beatles' Sgt Pepper Album
6. Only A Northern Song Gets The Shaft
We all know George Harrison's Only A Northern Song as a quirky, groovy bit from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, but not many know that it was originally meant to be part of Sgt. Pepper.
Sadly, as Nigel Williamson wrote in his book Uncut, producer George Martin was not a fan of the song and the rest of the band was lukewarm on it. It was cut in favor of the sad ballad She's Leaving Home. Harrison's sole contribution to the album wound up being the sitar-heavy Within You Without You.
It's quite a shame because in this writer's opinion, Only A Northern Song would have been the much better fit on the album. It would have fit with the album's progressive theme better, whereas Within You Without You just kind of comes out of nowhere and is a bit long at almost five minutes.
It isn't at all surprising that not long after this, Harrison's frustrations over his role within the group eventually reached a boiling point.