Help

 

Help

Noel Laflin

8-6-25

 

The Beetle's fifth album, Help!, was released on August 6, 1965.

 

The album cover was originally to have portrayed the four band members spelling "help" in semaphore, but the result was deemed aesthetically unpleasing, and their arms were instead positioned in a meaningless but aesthetically more pleasing arrangement.

 

I learned semaphore when I was in the Boy Scouts and am not sure how aesthetically pleasing my arm positions were either as I flapped about with those little flags practicing in the living room with my dad.

 

And I think I only broke one lamp in the learning process. My mom requested that we continue with our flag placement practice outdoors thereafter

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Fortunately, I never had to use it to ask for help. I was never asked to oversee their photo cover either. But in my defense, I was only twelve.