Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Mad Men

I just found this, although the discussion has been going on for a couple of weeks. Yi! News is a relatively new group blog featuring a "blend of news coverage and original features in the fields of sports, music, politics, law, social media and whatever else is pertinent to today’s 20-something audience." It's main writers include several law students and a practicing lawyer.

Several weeks ago, a guest author, Emily Viviani, proposed a theory that the current (fifth) season of Mad Men has been thematically, lyrically, and structurally following Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The first installment (covering Side One, for those of us who remember records having "sides") is here; the first three songs of Side Two are here, here, and here. Emily has not updated her discussion to link yesterday's episode, "The Other Woman", to "Good Morning, Good Morning," but I'm looking forward to it. Having just checked the lyrics, I think I see where she may go with it.

It's an interesting theory (confession: I've done the "Wizard of Oz"/"Dark Side of the Moon" thing), particularly given the time frame covered in the season (it started in June 1966, we are now sometime in January 1967, and Sgt. Pepper was released in June 1967). And one episode even revolved hevaily around Don not "getting" or recognizing the Beatles and ended with Don listening (without much enjoyment) to "Revolver," the 1966 album that marked the band's transition and led directly to Sgt. Pepper.

Emily's theory is that the final episode (linked to "A Day in the Life") will land on February 10, 1967, the day the 25th Amendment, a direct response to the Kennedy Assassination, was ratified. If so, it gives new meaning to the line "He blew his mind out in a car".

Could Matt Weiner really be doing this on purpose? If so, it is utterly brilliant.