History Music / MagicalMysteryTour

After years as a popular import in Britain, the American album officially became the canonical version of the project when it was included as part of the 1987 UsefulNotes/CompactDisc reissue series, which had strictly featured the British studio albums up to that point. It was also the last Beatles album to have different British and American tracklistings. The final compilation album of non-album tracks for the U.S. market would be the ''Rarities'' compilation in 1980, which would eventually be superseded in 1988 by the ''Music/PastMasters'' compilation.

It began as the soundtrack for [[Film/MagicalMysteryTour the film of the same name]]. This proved problematic, as the ''Magical Mystery Tour'' movie only had six songs, too few to make up an album. In the UK, it was decided to release it as a package with two extended play 45 RPM singles, with three songs on each disc. While this was a reasonable solution for the British market, where [=EPs=] were common, the EP 45 format had never really taken off in America. Capitol Records dealt with the dilemma by making ''MMT'' an album, padding it out by adding five songs that were previously released on singles in 1967, with the film soundtrack being Side One and the singles filling up Side Two (similar to how previous Beatles [[Music/AHardDaysNight soundtrack]] [[Music/{{Help}} albums]] were formatted in the UK).[[note]]"I Am the Walrus" was the BSide of "Hello Goodbye", but since it's in the film too, it went onto Side One[[/note]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* CanonImmigrant: The American version, which added the band's 1967 singles to Side 2 in order to make it a full album, solving the problem the Beatles had with the soundtrack in the first place (there were not enough songs in the movie for an album, and there was almost no incidental music to pad it with). The American version is now the canonical version, so much so that nearly all post-1987 reissues of the album[[note]]barring a 1992 Japan-only reissue and the 2012 collector's edition of the film in all regions, both of which use the double-EP version[[/note]] use the American cover art and the disc label on remastered [=CDs=] is modeled after the Creator/CapitolRecords LP label that was in use at the time of the album's original release (rather than the 7" Creator/ParlophoneRecords label seen on the UK release).

[[caption-width-right:350:Roll up! Roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour! Step right this way!\\

* Music/GeorgeHarrison - guitar, backing and lead vocals, organ, harmonica
* Music/JohnLennon - lead vocals, guitar, keyboard, piano, mellotron, organ, clavioline, harmonica
* Music/PaulMcCartney - lead vocals, bass, piano, mellotron, recorder

[[caption-width-right:350:Roll up! Roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour! Step right this way![[labelnote:Original UK double-EP cover]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beatles_magicalmysterytour_cover_answer_5_xlarge_8485.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]]

** "Strawberry Fields Forever" is the canonical example. It fades out with a gorgeous swarmandel before fading back in with a dissonant mellotron, vicious drumming, trumpets that sound like ambulance sirens, and (most disturbingly) John Lennon's slowed-down voice saying "CRANBERRY SAUCE."

* UrbanLegend: A major "clue" of the "Paul is dead" theory was John supposedly muttering "I buried Paul" near the end of ''Strawberry Fields Forever'', though more sober minds recognized it as "cranberry sauce", a typical Lennon NonSequitur. The outtake version of the song on ''Music/TheBeatlesAnthology'' featured the full unadorned Ringo drum freakout at the end, and "cranberry sauce" is much more clearly heard there.

* {{Instrumental}}: "Flying". It is the only officially released instrumental in the Beatles catalogue.

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: "I Am the Walrus".
--> ''Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna''

* SpiritualSuccessor: A lot of the songs were viewed as being like siblings to songs on ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''. "Magical Mystery Tour" is the opening theme song like "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "The Fool on the Hill" is like a cross between the contemplative "Fixing a Hole" and the dramatic storytelling of "She's Leaving Home", "Blue Jay Way" continues George's fascination with Indian classical music expressed on "Within You, Without You" (though done on Western instruments), "Your Mother Should Know" is a bouncy retro-style tune like "When I'm Sixty-Four", and "I Am the Walrus" mixes the wordplay of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (which it lyrically references) and the sonic experimentation of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite".

* BrokenRecord: "Blue Jay Way" ends with variations of a certain phrase being repeated 18 times. The phrase? [[RefrainFromAssuming "Don't be long."]]

* RefrainFromAssuming: That song where the phrase "Don't be long" is repeated over 18 times at the end? It's called "Blue Jay Way".