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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

'Sgt. Pepper's' Becomes A 'Star Wars' Parody In Comical New Album

A Bay Area covers band has pulled off the kind of comical mashup that Internet was made for.

The duo known as Palette-Swap Ninja found a way to tell the story of Star Wars with the music of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

They're calling it Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans. Imagine the opening title cut to the album with these words, "It was many years ago today, in a galaxy so far away," and you'll get the idea.

In announcing the project on their website, singer Dan Amrich and keyboardist Jude Kelley say they've done lots of parodies before, but nothing this ambitious. "This whole project comes from a place of deep love and respect, so we had to take the time to do it justice. The final album needed to be high quality, accurate, and entertaining on repeat listenings. Once we settled on merging A New Hope with Sgt. Pepper's, we completely committed ourselves to turning these two sacred cows into the ultimate double cheeseburger."

The parody mashup comes as Sgt. Pepper's celebrates its 50th anniversary and Star Wars celebrates its 40th. The Beatles' album was released June 1, 1967, while Star Wars premiered on May 25, 1977.

Watch the entire visual album below.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.