In later years John commented that, although ‘Sgt Pepper’ is referred to as the first concept album, "it doesn’t go anywhere." He pointed out that his contributions to the album have absolutely nothing to do with the idea of Sgt Pepper and his band. "It works", John said, "because we said it worked." He went on to say that the album was not put together as a concept album. The idea of presenting the album as a ‘concept’ was an after-thought. Apart from the intro and reprise, according to John, "every other song could have been on any other album."

In an interview with Playboy in 1980 John talked about how dissatisfied he was with every track on the album, declaring: "I feel I could remake every f***ing one of them better". Remarking that he had heard ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ on the night before the interview, John thought it to be "abysmal". "It’s a great song", he said, "but it isn’t a great track because it wasn’t made right, but that’s the artistic trip … always trying to make the next one better."