May the fourth be with you! On a day loaded with musical Star Wars parodies, here’s one that stands out—a full-length parody album that sets the events of Star Wars to the tune of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album’s opening track, for instance, reimagines Sgt. Pepper’s titular track and “With a Little Help from My Friends” as “Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans/Illicit Help From My Friends.” Such clever lyrics include, “They’re Princess Leia’s stolen Death Star plans/ She’s got them, and it’s time to go.”
Dan Amrich and Jude Kelley, the musicians behind the album, told Polygon that they collaborated on Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans from opposite coasts over the course of five years. The album is full of Star Wars Easter eggs, including an opening crawl, pieces of John Williams’ score, and a sly continuity error joke on “A Day in the Life of Red Five.” The album’s release is nicely timed both to Star Wars Day and the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ landmark recording.
Other highlights from Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans include “Being From the Spaceport of Mos Eisley,” a Tatooine-inspired parody of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” and “AA Twenty-Three,” a riff on “When I’m Sixty-Four.”
You can check out the full album here.
