A Day in the Life

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see A Day in the Life (disambiguation).
"A Day in the Life"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
19 and 20 January and
Recorded
3 and 10 February 1967,
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Psychedelic rock, progressive rock,[1] baroque pop[2]
Length
5:03
Label
Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks

A-side
Released
Format
Label

"A Day in the Life"

Single by The Beatles
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help from My Friends"
30 September 1978
7"
Parlophone (R6022)
The Beatles singles chronology

"Back in the
U.S.S.R."
(UK-1976)

"Ob-La-Di, ObLa-Da"
(US-1976)

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help "Beatles Movie
from My Friends" / "A Day in the Life"
Medley"
(1978)
(1982)

"A Day in the Life" is a song by The Beatles, the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to LennonMcCartney, the song comprises distinct
segments written independently by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with orchestral additions.
While Lennons lyrics were inspired by contemporary newspaper articles, McCartneys were
reminiscent of his youth. The decisions to link sections of the song with orchestral glissandos and to
end the song with a sustained piano chord were made only after the rest of the song had been
recorded.
The supposed drug reference in the line "Id love to turn you on" resulted in the song initially being
banned from broadcast by the BBC. Since its original album release, "A Day in the Life" has been
released as a B-side, and also on various compilation albums. It has been covered by other artists

including Sting, Bobby Darin, The Fall, Neil Young, Jeff Beck, The Bee Gees, Robyn Hitchcock,
Phish and since 2008, by McCartney in his live performances. The song is frequently listed among
the greatest songs ever written.

Contents
[hide]
1
Songwr
iting
2
Recordi
ng
2
.
1
O
r
c
h
e
s
t
r
a
2
.
2
F
i
n
a
l
c
h
o
r
d
2
.
3
P
e
r
s
o
n
n
e
l
3

[edit] Songwriting
According to Lennon, the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21year-old heir to the Guinness fortune and close friend of Lennon and McCartney, who had crashed
his Lotus Elan on 18 December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, Earls Court.[3] Lennon's verses were
adapted from a story in the 17 January 1967 edition of The Daily Mail, which reported the coroner's
verdict into Browne's death.[4]
"I didn't copy the accident," Lennon said. "Tara didn't blow his mind out, but it was in my mind
when I was writing that verse. The details of the accident in the songnot noticing traffic lights and
a crowd forming at the scenewere similarly part of the fiction."[5]
The third verse contains the line "The English Army had just won the war"; Lennon was making
reference to his role in the movie How I Won the War, released on 18 October 1967. In Many Years
from Now, McCartney said about the line "I'd love to turn you on", which concludes both verse
sections: "This was the time of Tim Leary's 'Turn on, tune in, drop out' and we wrote, 'I'd love to
turn you on.' John and I gave each other a knowing look: 'Uh-huh, it's a drug song. You know that,
don't you?'.
McCartney provided the middle section of the song, a short piano piece he had been working on
independently, with lyrics about a commuter whose uneventful morning routine leads him to drift
off into a dream.[6] John said: "I had the bulk of the song and the words, but he contributed this
little lick floating around in his head that he couldn't use for anything."[7] McCartney had written
the piece as a wistful recollection of his younger years, which included riding the bus to school,
smoking, and going to class.[8] The orchestral crescendos that link the verses and this section were
conducted by McCartney and producer George Martin.
The final verse was inspired by an article in the Daily Mail in January 1967 regarding a substantial
number of potholes in Blackburn, a town in Lancashire. However, Lennon had a problem with the
words of the final verse, not being able to think of how to connect "Now they know how many
holes it takes to" and "the Albert Hall". His friend Terry Doran suggested that they would "fill" the
Albert Hall.[9]

[edit] Recording
The Beatles began recording the song, with a working title "In the Life of...", on 19 January 1967,
in the innovative and creative studio atmosphere ushered in by the recording of "Strawberry Fields
Forever" and "Penny Lane" over the preceding weeks.[10] The two sections of the song are
separated by a 23-bar bridge.[11] At first, the Beatles were not sure how to fill this transition. Thus,
at the conclusion of the recording session for the basic tracks, this section solely consisted of a
simple repeated piano chord and the voice of assistant Mal Evans counting the bars. Evans' guide
vocal was treated with gradually increasing amounts of echo. The 23-bar bridge section ended with
the sound of an alarm clock triggered by Evans. The original intent was to edit out the ringing alarm
clock when the missing section was filled in; however it complemented McCartney's piece well; the
first line of McCartney's song began "Woke up, fell out of bed", so the decision was made to keep
the sound.[12] Martin later said that editing it out would have been unfeasible in any case. The
basic track for the song was refined with remixing and additional parts added at recording sessions
on 20 January and 3 February.[12] Still, there was no solution for the missing 24-bar middle section
of the song, when McCartney had the idea of bringing in a full orchestra to fill the gap.[12] To allay
concerns that classically-trained musicians would not be able to improvise the section, producer
George Martin wrote a loose score for the section.[13] It was an extended, atonal crescendo that
encouraged the musicians to improvise within the defined framework.[12]

[edit] Orchestra
The orchestral part was recorded on 10 February 1967, with McCartney and Martin conducting a
40-piece orchestra. The recording session was completed at a total cost of 367 for the players, an
extravagance at the time.[14] Martin later described explaining his improvised score to the puzzled
orchestra:
What I did there was to write ... the lowest possible note for each of the instruments in
the orchestra. At the end of the twenty-four bars, I wrote the highest note...near a chord
of E major. Then I put a squiggly line right through the twenty-four bars, with reference
points to tell them roughly what note they should have reached during each bar ... Of
course, they all looked at me as though I were completely mad.[15]
McCartney noted that the strings were able to keep themselves in the designated time, while the
trumpets were "much wilder".[7] McCartney had originally wanted a 90-piece orchestra, but this
proved impossible; the difference was made up, as the semi-improvised segment was recorded
multiple times and eventually four different recordings were overdubbed into a single massive
crescendo.[12] The results were successful; in the final edit of the song, the orchestral bridge is
reprised after the final verse. It was arranged for the orchestral session to be filmed by NEMS
Enterprises for use in a planned television special.[16] The film was never released in its entirety,
although portions of it can be seen in the "A Day in the Life" promotional film, which includes
shots of studio guests Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Donovan, Pattie Boyd and
Michael Nesmith.[17] Reflecting the Beatles' taste for experimentation and the avant garde at this
point in their careers, the orchestra players were asked to wear or were given a costume piece on top
of their formal dress. This resulted in different players wearing anything from fake noses to fake
stick-on nipples. Martin recalled that the lead violinist performed wearing a gorilla paw, while a
bassoon player placed a balloon on the end of his instrument.[14]
Due to the multiple takes required to perfect the orchestral cacophony and the final chord, as well as
their considerable procrastination in composing the song, the total duration of time spent recording
"A Day in the Life" was 34 hours.[18] In contrast, the Beatles' earliest work, their first album
Please Please Me, was recorded in its entirety in only 10 hours.[19]

[edit] Final chord

Following the final orchestral crescendo, the song ends with one of the most famous final chords in
music history.[14][20] Lennon, McCartney, Starr, and Evans shared three different pianos, with
Martin on the harmonium, and all played an E-major chord simultaneously. The final chord was
made to ring out for over forty seconds by increasing the recording sound level as the vibration
faded out. Towards the end of the chord the recording level was so high that listeners can hear the
sounds of the studio, including rustling papers and a squeaking chair.[21]
The piano chord was a replacement for a failed vocal experiment: on the evening following the
orchestra recording session, the four Beatles had recorded an ending of their voices humming the
chord, but after multiple overdubs they wanted something with more impact.[22]

[edit] Personnel
John Lennon lead vocals (verses), acoustic guitar,
maracas, piano (final chord)
Paul McCartney piano, lead vocals (middle-eight),
bass guitar
George Harrison maracas
Ringo Starr drums, congas, piano (final chord)
George Martin harmonium (final chord) and producer
Mal Evans alarm clock, counting, piano (final chord)
Geoff Emerick engineering and mixing
Orchestrated by George Martin, John Lennon and Paul
McCartney
Conducted by George Martin and Paul McCartney
John Marston harp
Erich Gruenberg, Granville Jones, Bill Monro, Jurgen
Hess, Hans Geiger, D. Bradley, Lionel Bentley, David
McCallum, Donald Weekes, Henry Datyner, Sidney
Sax, Ernest Scott violin

John Underwood, Gwynne

Edwards, Bernard Davis,
John Meek viola
Francisco Gabarro, Dennis
Vigay, Alan Delziel, Alex
Nifosi cello
Cyril Mac Arther, Gordon
Pearce double bass
Roger Lord oboe
Basil Tschaikov, Jack
Brymer clarinet
N. Fawcett, Alfred Waters
bassoon
Clifford Seville, David
Sandeman flute
Alan Civil, Neil Sanders
french horn
David Mason, Monty
Montgomery, Harold
Jackson trumpet
Raymond Brown, Raymond
Premru, T. Moore
trombone
Michael Barnes tuba
Tristan Fry timpani[23]

[edit] Variations
On the Sgt. Pepper album, the start of "A Day in the Life" is cross-faded with the applause at the
end of the previous track "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)". On The Beatles
19671970 LP, "A Day in the Life" fades in through the Sgt. Pepper cross-fade, but on the CD
version of 19671970, the song starts cleanly, without any fade or cross-fade.[24][25]
Following "A Day in the Life" on the Sgt. Pepper album (as first released on LP in the UK and
years later worldwide on CD) is a high frequency 15 kilohertz tone and some randomly spliced
Beatles studio chatter. Recorded two months after the mono and stereo masters for "A Day in the
Life" had been finalised, the studio chatter (entitled in the session notes "Edit for LP End") was
added to the run-out groove of the initial British pressing.[26] The Anthology 2 album includes an
early, pre-orchestral version of the song and Anthology 3 includes a version of "The End" that
concludes with the final chord of "A Day in the Life" being played backwards and then forwards.
[27] The "Love" album version has the song starting with Lennon's intro of "sugar plum fairy". In
this version the strings are more prominent during the crescendos.

[edit] Supposed drug references

The song became controversial for its supposed references to drugs. The BBC announced that it
would not broadcast "A Day in the Life" due to the line "I'd love to turn you on," which, according
to the corporation, advocated drug use.[3] Other lyrics allegedly referring to drugs include "found
my way upstairs and had a smoke / somebody spoke and I went into a dream". A spokesman for the

BBC stated, "We have listened to this song over and over again. And we have decided that it
appears to go just a little too far, and could encourage a permissive attitude to drug-taking."[28]
Lennon and McCartney denied that there were drug references and publicly complained about the
ban at a dinner party at the home of their manager, Brian Epstein, celebrating their album. Lennon
said that the song was simply about "a crash and its victim," and called the line in question "the
most innocent of phrases."[28] McCartney later said "This was the only one in the album written as
a deliberate provocation. A stick-that-in-your-pipe... But what we want is to turn you on to the truth
rather than pot."[29] However, George Martin later commented that he had always suspected that
the line "found my way upstairs and had a smoke" was a drug reference, recalling how the Beatles
would "disappear and have a little puff", presumably of marijuana, but not in front of him.[30]
When Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in South Asia, Malaysia and Hong
Kong, "A Day in the Life" "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds" were excluded because of supposed drug references.[31]

[edit] Recognition and reception

"A Day in the Life" became one of the Beatles' most influential songs. Paul Grushkin in his book
Rockin' Down the Highway: The Cars and People That Made Rock Roll, called the song "one of the
most ambitious, influential, and groundbreaking works in pop music history".[32] In "From Craft to
Art: Formal Structure in the Music of The Beatles", the song is described thus: ""A Day in the Life"
is perhaps one of the most important single tracks in the history of rock music; clocking in at only
four minutes and forty-five seconds, it must surely be among the shortest epic pieces in rock".[33]
The song appears on many top songs lists. It placed twelfth on CBC's 50 Tracks, the second highest
Beatles song on the list after "In My Life".[34] It placed first in Q Magazine's list of the 50 greatest
British songs of all time, and was at the top of Mojo Magazine's 101 Greatest Beatles' Songs, as
decided by a panel of musicians and journalists.[35][36][37] "A Day in the Life" was also
nominated for a Grammy in 1967 for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist Or Instrumentalist.
[38] In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "A Day in the Life" at number 26 on the magazine's list of "The
500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and in 2010, the magazine deemed it to be The Beatles' greatest
song.[39] It is listed at number 5 in Pitchfork Media's The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s.[40]
In April 1967, McCartney played a tape of the song to Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, in Los
Angeles. The song deeply affected Wilson, who was suffering growing emotional problems. Soon
after, Wilson abandoned his work on the Beach Boys' album Smile, and would not return to
complete it until 2003. Van Dyke Parks later said, "Brian had a nervous collapse. What broke his
heart was Sgt. Pepper."[41]

[edit] Aftermath
On 27 August 1992 Lennon's handwritten lyrics were sold by the estate of Mal Evans in an auction
at Sotheby's London for $100,000 (56,600).[42] The lyrics were put up for sale again in March
2006 by Bonhams in New York. Sealed bids were opened on 7 March 2006 and offers started at
about $2 million.[43][44] The lyric sheet was auctioned again by Sotheby's in June 2010. It was
purchased by an anonymous American buyer who paid $1,200,000 (810,000 ).[45]
The song has been recorded by many other artists,[46] notably by Jeff Beck on the 2008 album
Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club[47] which was also used in the film Across
the Universe and won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.[48]
McCartney has been performing this song in a majority of his live shows since his 2008 tour, with
his latest performance being after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 13 November 2011. It is played in a
medley with "Give Peace a Chance".[49]

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
1 February 1967
Recorded
1 April 1967 (Reprise)
Genre
Hard rock, psychedelic rock[1]
2:02
Length
1:18 (Reprise)
Label
Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from My Friends"

B-side
Released
Format
Recorded
Length
Label
Writer(s)
Producer
"Back in the

Single by The Beatles

"A Day in the Life"
14 August 1978 (US)
30 September 1978 (UK)
7"
FebruaryMarch 1967
EMI Studios, London
4:46
Capitol 4612 (US)
Parlophone R6022 (UK)
LennonMcCartney
George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "A

"The Beatles Movie

U.S.S.R."
(UK-1976)

Day in the Life"

Medley"
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La- (1978)
(1982)
Da"
(US-1976)
Paul McCartney singles chronology
"Tropic Island Hum"/"We All Stand
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" "Fine
(with U2)
Together"
Line"
(2005)
(2004)
(2005)
"City of Blinding
Lights"
(2005)

U2 singles chronology
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (with Paul "One" (with Mary J.
McCartney)

Blige)

(2005)

(2005)

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Song by The Bee Gees and Paul Nicholas from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band : The Soundtrack
Released
July 1978
Format
7"
September 1977
Recorded
Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles
Genre
Rock, hard rock
1:54
Length
1:32 (reprise)
2:13 (finale)
RSO (US)
Label
A&M (UK)
Writer
Lennon-McCartney
Producer
George Martin
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is a song written by Paul McCartney (credited to
LennonMcCartney), and first recorded and released in 1967, on the The Beatles' album of the
same name. The song appears twice on the album: as the opening track (segueing into "With a Little
Help from My Friends"), and as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", the
penultimate track (segueing into "A Day in the Life"). As the title track, the lyrics introduce the
fictional band that performs in the album.
Since its original album release, the song has also been released on singles, on compilation albums,
and has been performed by several other artists including Jimi Hendrix, U2, and a comic
interpretation by Bill Cosby, using the opening to John Phillip Sousa's Washington Post March as
the instrumental bridge.

Contents
[hide]
1
Authors
hip and
recordi
ng
2 Song
structur
e
2
.
1
R
e
p
r
i
s
e
3
Release
s
4
Personn
el
5 Live
perform
ances
6 Notes
7
Referen
ces

[edit] Authorship and recording

In November 1966, on the flight back to England after a holiday, McCartney conceived an idea in
which an entire album would be role-played, with each of The Beatles assuming an alter-ego in the
"Lonely Hearts Club Band", which would then perform a concert in front of an audience. The
inspiration is said to have come when roadie Mal Evans innocently asked McCartney what the
letters S and P stood for on the pots on their in-flight meal trays, and McCartney explained it
was for salt and pepper. This then led to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band concept, as well
as the song.[2][3]
The group's road manager Neil Aspinall suggested the idea of Sgt. Pepper being the compre, as
well as the reprise at the end of the album.[4] According to his diaries, Evans may have also
contributed to the song. John Lennon attributed the idea for Sgt. Pepper to McCartney, although the

song is officially credited to LennonMcCartney.[5] The song was recorded in Abbey Road's
number 2 studio, with Martin producing, and Geoff Emerick engineering. Work on the song started
on 1 February 1967, and after three further sessions the recording was complete on 6 March 1967.
[6] listen (helpinfo)

[edit] Song structure

On the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the song opens to the sound of a chattering
audience, and an orchestra tuning up, which was taken from the 10 February orchestra session for
"A Day in the Life".[7] The crowd sounds edited into the song were recorded in the early '60s by
Martin, during a live recording of the stage show Beyond the Fringe. When the song itself begins,
the band introduces its members.[8] The song's structure is:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Introduction (instrumental)
Verse
Bridge (instrumental)
Refrain
Bridge
Verse
Instrumental bridge and transition into "With a Little Help from My Friends".[6]

The song is in G major, with a 4/4 meter. A horn quartet was used to fill out the instrumental
sections.[6] It may be considered in the chromatic-minor system, using dominant seventh chords
built on every step of the natural minor scale.[9] (for example, in G, IV7: C-E-G-D, with E being
chromatic)

[edit] Reprise
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" is a somewhat modified repeat of the opening
song at a faster tempo with heavier instrumentation. The track opens with McCartney's count-in
(retained in the manner of "I Saw Her Standing There", the first song on their first album); between
2 and 3, Lennon jokingly interjects "Bye!".[10] Starr starts the song proper by playing the drum part
unaccompanied for four bars, at the end of which a brief bass glissando cues the full ensemble of
two distorted guitars, bass, drums and overdubbed percussion.[11] While the original track had
stayed largely in the key of G major (except for transient modulation to F and perhaps C in the
bridges), the reprise starts in F and features a rare example in The Beatles' output of modulation, to
G.[12] The mono and stereo mixes of the song differ slightly: the former has a fractionally different
transition from the previous song, and includes crowd noise and laughter in the opening bars that
are absent from the stereo mix.
The idea for a reprise was Aspinall's, who thought that as there was a "welcome song", there should
be a "goodbye song".[13][14] The song contains broadly the same melody as the opening version,
but with different lyrics and omitting the "It's wonderful to be here" section. At 1:18, it is one of
The Beatles' shorter songs (the shortest is "Her Majesty" at 0:23). The reprise was recorded on 1
April 1967, two months after the version that opens the album.[15][16] At the end of the track,
Martin's pre-recorded applause sample segues into the final track of the album, "A Day in the Life".

[edit] Releases
It was originally released in the UK on 1 June 1967, and in the US on 2 June 1967 on the Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP.[6]
When The Beatles' recording contract with EMI expired in 1976, EMI was free to re-release music
from The Beatles' catalogue, and in 1978 11 years after the original album release released "Sgt.

Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from My Friends" as the A-side of a single
with "A Day in the Life" as the B-side. The single was released on Capitol in the US on 14 August
(closely following the US release of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film), reaching #71
on 30 September 1978 where it stayed for 2 weeks. The single was released on Parlophone in the
UK in September.[17][18]
Country
Chart
Rank
UK
Music Week
63[19]
US
Billboard Hot 100 71[20]
US
Cash Box
92[21]
US
Record World
103[22]
The original recording of the song is included on the following Beatles compilation albums: 19671970 (1973), Yellow Submarine Songtrack (1999). A run-through of the reprise is included on the
outtakes album Anthology 2 (1996). In 2006, the reprise was re-released on the album Love, which
was a theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil. The updated version is a remix featuring samples of
other Beatles' songs.
The notebook used by McCartney containing the lyrics for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band" and other songs was put up for sale in 1998.[23]

[edit] Personnel
Full version:

Paul McCartney lead vocal, bass guitar, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
John Lennon backing vocal, lead guitar
George Harrison backing vocal, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
Ringo Starr drums
George Martin organ, producer
Neill Sanders French horn
James W. Buck French horn
Tony Randell French horn
John Burden French horn

Reprise:

Paul McCartney lead vocal, organ, bass guitar

John Lennon lead vocal, backing vocal, rhythm guitar
George Harrison lead vocal, backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo Starr drums, tambourine, maracas
Personnel per Ian MacDonald, Mark Lewisohn and Olivier Julien.[24][25][26]

[edit] Live performances

Live 8 in Hyde Park, London, 2005

In 1967, Jimi Hendrix played the song live at the Saville Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, which was
leased by Brian Epstein, only three days after it had been released on record, with McCartney and
George Harrison in the audience.[27][28] Another live version by Hendrix recorded at the Isle of
Wight Festival was included on a posthumous live album, Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of
Wight.
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was never performed live by The Beatles. It was
performed by three of The Beatles (McCartney, Harrison, and Starr) plus Eric Clapton on 19 May
1979, at Clapton's wedding party. Paul McCartney played it live on the 1989/1990 Paul McCartney
World Tour.[29] On subsequent tours he would play the reprise version and use that as a segue into
"The End. When the performance is released, it usually is listed as "Sgt. Pepper's/The End,"
shortening the name of the song. When Paul performs it, he usually adds the count-in after the drum
part begins, as opposed to Paul's count-in preceding the drum opening. [30]
McCartney and U2 played the song at the start of the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London on 2
July 2005.[31] The song, starting with "It was twenty years ago" was chosen amongst others to
commemorate that Live 8 took place approximately twenty years after Live Aid.[32] The single was
released for charity on iTunes, and set a world record for the fastest-selling online song of all time.
[33]
In 2007, Bryan Adams and Stereophonics recorded the album's two versions of the song for It Was
40 Years Ago Today, a television film with contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the
same studio, technicians and recording techniques as the original.[34]
On 4 April 2009, McCartney performed the song during a benefit concert at New York's Radio City
Music Hall and segued it into "With A Little Help From My Friends", sung by Ringo.[35]
In 2009, Cheap Trick released a live album and DVD called Sgt. Pepper Live, which is a live
performance of the entire original album, including the title song and reprise.
In 2011, Robbie Williams performed the song on Take That's Progress tour, replacing "Sgt Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band" with "Robbie Williams and the Take That Band", and "Mr Martin told
the Band to play", a reference to Take That's manager in the 90's Nigel Martin-Smith.

Fixing a Hole
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article
by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (February 2008)
"Fixing a Hole"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
9 and 21 February 1967,
Recorded
EMI and Regent Sound studios, London
Genre
Psychedelic rock
Length
2:36
Label
Parlophone
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks
"Fixing a Hole" is a song written by Paul McCartney (credited to LennonMcCartney) and
recorded by The Beatles, featured on their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Contents
[hide]
1
Writing
2
Recordi
ng
3
Personn
el
4 Cover
version
s
5 Notes
6
Referen
ces

[edit] Writing
In a 1967 interview, McCartney said that the following lines were about fans who hung around
outside his home day and night, and whose actions he found off-putting:[1]
See the people standing there
who disagree, and never win
And wonder why they don't get in my door

Reportedly, McCartney was inspired to write the song after mending a hole in the roof of his
Scotland home; however, he has stated that the song was "about the hole in the road where the rain
gets in, a good old analogy."[2]

[edit] Recording
The first of two recording sessions for the song was at Regent Sound Studio in London on 9
February 1967 in three takes. Regent was used because EMI's Abbey Road studios were not
available that night. This was the first time The Beatles used a studio other than Abbey Road for
recording a track for an EMI album.[3]
The lead vocal was recorded at the same time as the rhythm track, a change from their post-1963
approach of overdubbing the vocal.[3]

Getting Better
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the song by The Beatles. For other uses, see Getting Better (disambiguation).
"Getting Better"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
Recorded
9 March 1967
Genre
Pop rock[1], jazz[2]
Length
2:47
Label
Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks
"Getting Better" is a song written mainly by Paul McCartney, with lyrical contributions from John
Lennon (credited to LennonMcCartney).[3] It was recorded by The Beatles for the 1967 album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Contents
[hide]
1
Compo
sition
2
Lennon
on the
roof
3
Personn
el
4 Cover
version
s
5 Notes
6
Referen
ces

[edit] Composition
The song, musically reminiscent of the hit single "Penny Lane,"[4] moves forward by way of
regular chords, produced by Lennon's guitar, McCartney's electric piano, and George Martin, who
struck the strings of a pianette with a mallet. These heavily accented and repetitive lines cause the
song to sound as if it is based on a drone. Lead guitarist George Harrison adds an Indian tambura
part to the final verse, which further accentuates this impact.
The song's title and music suggest optimism, but some of the song's lyrics have a more negative
tone. In this sense, it reflects the contrasting personas of the two songwriters. In response to
McCartney's line, "It's getting better all the time", Lennon replies, "It can't get no worse!"[5]
Referring to the lyric "I used to be cruel to my woman/I beat her and kept her apart from the things
that she loved/Man I was mean but I'm changing my scene/And I'm doing the best that I can",
Lennon admitted that he had done things in relationships in the past that he was not happy about.
According to Hunter Davies, the initial idea for the song's title came from a phrase often spoken by
Jimmie Nicol, the group's stand-in drummer for the Australian leg of a 1964 tour.[3]

[edit] Lennon on the roof

One of the recording sessions for "Getting Better" is famous for an incident involving Lennon.
During the 21 March 1967 session in which producer George Martin added a piano solo to Lovely
Rita, Lennon complained that he did not feel well and could not focus.[6][7] He had accidentally
taken LSD when he meant to take an upper.[8] Unaware of the mistake, Martin took him up to the
roof of Abbey Road Studios for some fresh air, and returned to Studio Two where McCartney and
Harrison were waiting. They knew why Lennon was not well, and upon hearing where Lennon was,
rushed to the roof to retrieve him and prevent a possible accident.[7][9][10]

[edit] Personnel

Paul McCartney - double-tracked vocal, bass guitar, electric piano

John Lennon - backing vocal, lead guitar
George Harrison - backing vocal, lead guitar, tambura
Ringo Starr - drums, congas
George Martin - piano, pianet
Personnel per Ian MacDonald[4]

[edit] Cover versions

In 1976, Status Quo covered the song for the musical documentary All This and World War
II.
Steve Hillage released a version on his 1979 album Open
Public Enemy sampled the song for the track "Who Stole the Soul?" on their 1990 album
Fear of a Black Planet.
The CCM group Allies sampled part of the chorus in their song, "Jacque Remembers".
In 1988, The Wedding Present covered the song on the multi-artist compilation Sgt. Pepper
Knew My Father.
In the late 1990s, the song was recorded as a cover for the Australian television show Better
Homes and Gardens.
In 2000, it was covered by Gomez on their album Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline; this
version was used as a theme song for the Philips' television ad campaigns in 2001.
The song was performed live for the first time by McCartney during his 2002 and 2003 US
and World Tours.
In the 2003 film adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat, a version of this song recorded
by the band Smash Mouth, with a horn interlude replacing the third verse, was used in the
sequence of the cat and the two things cleaning up the wreckage of the house.
In 2007, Kaiser Chiefs re-recorded the song for It Was 40 Years Ago Today, a BBC television
film with contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the same studio, technicians
and recording techniques as the original.
In 2007, Fionn Regan did a cover for the album Sgt. Pepper...With A Little Help From His
Friends presented by Mojo magazine.
Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2007 release Pepper Front To Back.
Cheap Trick released Sgt. Pepper Live in 2009, which includes the song.
Elio e le Storie Tese sampled the song for the track "Il Congresso delle Parti Molli" on their
2008 album Studentessi.
In 2009, Northern Irish band Kowalski covered the song at the BBC Across The Line
Headroom gig at Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about The Beatles' song. For the graphic character "Lucy in the Sky", see Karolina

Dean.
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
1 March 1967
Recorded
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Psychedelic rock
Length
3:28
Label
Parlophone R6022
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks
Music sample
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to
LennonMcCartney,[1] for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[2]
This album became the biggest selling album of the 1960s and remains today the biggest selling
studio album in countries as far apart as the UK and India.
Lennon's son, Julian, inspired the song with a nursery school drawing he called "Lucy in the sky
with diamonds". Shortly after the song's release, speculation arose that the first letter of each of the
title's nouns intentionally spelled LSD.[3] Although Lennon denied this, the BBC banned the song.
In a 2004 interview, Paul McCartney said that the song is about LSD, stating, "A song like 'Got to
Get You Into My Life,' that's directly about pot, although everyone missed it at the time." "Day
Tripper," he says, "that's one about acid. 'Lucy in the Sky,' that's pretty obvious. There's others that
make subtle hints about drugs, but, you know, it's easy to overestimate the influence of drugs on the
Beatles' music."[4]

Contents
[hide]
1
Arrang
ement
2 Title
and
lyrics
2
.
1
J
u
l
i
a
n
'
s
d
r
a
w
i
n
g
3
Review
s
4
Legacy
5
Personn
el
6 Cover
version
s
6
.
1
E
l
t
o
n
J

[edit] Arrangement
Much of the song is in simple triple metre (3/4 time), but the chorus is in 4/4 time. The song
modulates between musical keys, using the key of A major for verses, B major for the pre-chorus,
and G major for the chorus.[5] It is sung by Lennon over an increasingly complicated underlying
arrangement which features a tamboura, played by George Harrison, and a counter melody on
Lowrey organ played by McCartney and taped with a special organ stop sounding "not unlike a
celeste".[6]
Session tapes from the initial 1 March 1967 recording of this song reveal that Lennon originally
sang the line "Cellophane flowers of yellow and green" as a broken phrase, but McCartney
suggested that he sing it more fluidly to improve the song.[7]

[edit] Title and lyrics

[edit] Julian's drawing
Lennon's inspiration for the song came when his son, Julian, showed him a nursery school drawing
he called "Lucy - in the sky with diamonds", depicting his classmate, Lucy O'Donnell. Julian said,
"I don't know why I called it that or why it stood out from all my other drawings, but I obviously
had an affection for Lucy at that age. I used to show dad everything I'd built or painted at school,
and this one sparked off the idea..."[8][9][10] Lucy Vodden ne O'Donnell, in a BBC radio
interview in 2007, said, "I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel,
throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant... Julian had painted a
picture and on that particular day his father turned up with the chauffeur to pick him up from
school."[11] Lennon said he was surprised at the idea that the song title was a hidden reference to
LSD.[3]
It was purely unconscious that it came out to be LSD. Until someone pointed it
out, I never even thought of it. I mean, who would ever bother to look at initials
of a title? It's not an acid song. The imagery was Alice in the boat.
Vodden died of the immune system disease lupus in 2009.[12]

[edit] Reviews
Rolling Stone magazine described the song as "Lennon's lavish daydream"[13] and music critic
Richie Unterberger said "'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' was one of the best songs on The
Beatles' famous Sgt. Pepper album, and one of the classic songs of psychedelia as a whole. There
are few other songs that so successfully evoke a dream world, in both the sonic textures and
words."[14] In a review for the BBC, Chris Jones described the song as "nursery rhyme surrealism"
that contributed to Sgt. Pepper's "revolutionary ... sonic carpet that enveloped the ears and sent the
listener spinning into other realms."[15]
In later interviews, Lennon expressed disappointment with The Beatles' arrangement of the
recording, complaining that inadequate time was taken to fully develop his initial idea for the song.
He also said that he had not sung it very well. "I was so nervous I couldn't sing," he told the
journalist Ray Connolly, "but I like the lyrics."[16]

[edit] Legacy
The song has the distinction of being the first Beatles recording to be referenced by the group
themselves: the second verse of Lennon's "I Am the Walrus", released on Magical Mystery Tour at
the end of 1967, contains the lyric "see how they fly, like Lucy in the sky, see how they run...".

In November 1967 John Fred and his Playboy Band released a parody/tribute song called "Judy in
Disguise (With Glasses)"[17] which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks and
reached the number one spot in a number of other countries around the world.[18]
Pink Floyd namecheck "Lucy in the sky" on "Let There Be More Light", the opening song on A
Saucerful Of Secrets (1968). The lyrics are by Roger Waters.
Played by the Grateful Dead from 1993, and subsequently played by "The Dead".
A 3.2 million year-old, 40% complete fossil skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis specimen
discovered in 1974 was named "Lucy" because The Beatles' song was being played loudly and
repeatedly on a tape recorder in the camp. The phrase "Lucy in the skies" became "Lucy in
disguise" to the anthropologists, because they initially did not understand the impact of their
discovery.[19]
The White dwarf star BPM 37093, which contains a core of crystallised carbon roughly 4000 km in
diameter, is informally named "Lucy" as a tribute to The Beatles' song.[20]
One of the main characters of Hiro Mashima's manga Fairy Tail, Lucy Heartfilia, takes her name
from the song.
Jim Carrey's character in the film Mr. Popper's Penguins uses the first two lines of the song as a
sales pitch to describe the establishment that his company plans on building, to take the place of an
old restaurant.
In Runaways, Karolina Dean temporarily used Lucy in the Sky as her alias and later on, Xavin tells
her that he told the band at their wedding to play "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" because it
reminded him of her.
In the American TV series Fringe, the character Peter Bishop uses the line "Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds" in episode 4 of season 1, "The Arrival".

[edit] Personnel
The persons responsible for the song are as follows.[21]

John Lennon piano, lead guitar, double-tracked lead vocal

Paul McCartney Lowrey organ, bass, harmony vocal
George Harrison acoustic guitar, tambura, sitar
Ringo Starr drums, maracas

With a Little Help from My Friends

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
EMI Studios
Recorded
2930 March 1967
Genre
Pop rock
Length
2:44

Label
Writer
Producer

Parlophone PMC 7027 (mono), PCS 7027 (stereo)

LennonMcCartney
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing

[show]13 tracks
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"/"With a Little Help from My Friends"

Single by The Beatles

from the album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
B-side
"A Day in the Life"
Released
30 September 1978
Format
7"
EMI Studios
Recorded
FebruaryMarch 1967
Length
4:46
Label
Parlophone R6022
Producer
George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"Ob-La-Di, Ob- "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" / "With a Little "The Beatles Movie
La-Da"
Help from My Friends" / "A Day in the Life"
Medley"
(1976)
(1978)
(1982)
"With a Little Help from My Friends" (originally titled "A Little Help from My Friends") is a
song written by Paul McCartney, with input from John Lennon, released on The Beatles album Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. The song was written for and sung by The Beatles'
drummer Ringo Starr as the character "Billy Shears"; it is ranked #304 on Rolling Stone's list of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Contents
[hide]
1
Origins
2
Personn
el
3 Cover
version
s
3
.
1
J
o
e
C
o
c
k
e
r
v
e
r
s
i
o
n

4
Cultura
l

[edit] Origins
Lennon and McCartney finished writing this song in mid-March 1967,[1] written specifically as
Starr's track for the album. It was briefly called Bad Finger Boogie (later the inspiration for the
band name Badfinger),[2] supposedly because Lennon composed the melody on a piano using his
middle finger after having hurt his forefinger; but in his 1980 Playboy interview Lennon said: "This
is Paul, with a little help from me. 'What do you see when you turn out the light/ I can't tell you, but
I know it's mine...' is mine."
Lennon and McCartney deliberately wrote a tune with a limited range - except for the last note,
which McCartney worked closely with Starr to achieve. Speaking in the Anthology, Starr insisted on
changing the first line which originally was "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you
stand up and throw tomatoes at me?" He changed the lyric so that fans would not throw tomatoes at
him should he perform it live. (In the early days, after George Harrison made a passing comment
that he liked jelly babies, the group was showered with them at all of their live performances.)[3]
The song's composition is unusually well documented as Hunter Davies was present and described
the writing process in the Beatles' official biography.
The song is partly in the form of a conversation, in which the other three Beatles sing a question and
Starr answers, for example: "Would you believe in a love at first sight? / Yes, I'm certain that it
happens all the time."
The band started recording the song the day before they posed for the Sgt. Pepper album cover (29
March 1967), wrapping up the session at 5:45 in the morning.[4]

[edit] Personnel

Ringo Starr vocal, drums, tambourine

Paul McCartney backing vocal, piano, bass
John Lennon backing vocal, cowbell
George Harrison backing vocal, lead guitar
George Martin producer, Hammond organ
Geoff Emerick engineer
Personnel per Ian MacDonald[5]

[edit] Cover versions

There have been at least 50 cover versions of the song[6] and it has achieved the number one
position on the British singles charts three times: by Joe Cocker in 1968,[7] Wet Wet Wet in 1988[8]
and by Sam & Mark in 2004.[9]
"With a Little Help from My Friends"

Single by Joe Cocker

from the album With a Little Help from My Friends
Released
October 1968 (UK)
Format
7"
Recorded
1968
Genre
Blues-rock, blue-eyed soul, gospel
Length
5:11
Label
Regal Zonophone
Joe Cocker singles chronology
"With a Little Help from My Friends" "Delta Lady"
(1968)
(1969)

[edit] Joe Cocker version

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article
by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (November 2010)
Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using
different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction (featuring drums by
Procol Harum's B.J. Wilson, guitar lines from Jimmy Page, and organ by Tommy Eyre). Cocker
performed the song at Woodstock in 1969 and that performance was included in the documentary
film, Woodstock. His cover was ranked number two in UpVenue's top 10 best music covers of all
time in 2009.[10] The version heard in the film Across the Universe segues from the original to
Cocker's arrangement at the end of the song.[citation needed]
[edit] Personnel

Joe Cocker: vocals

Jimmy Page: guitar
Chris Stainton: bass
Tommy Eyre: organ
B. J. Wilson: drums
Rosetta Hightower: backing vocals
Sunny Wheetman: backing vocals
"With a Little Help from My Friends"

Single by Wet Wet Wet

A-side
"She's Leaving Home" (performed by Billy Bragg)
Released
9 May 1988 (UK)
Format
7"
Recorded
1988
Genre
Pop
Label
PolyGram
Wet Wet Wet singles chronology
"Temptation" "With a Little Help from My Friends" "Sweet Surrender"
(1988)
(1988)
(1989)
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
Single by Sam & Mark
Released
9 February 2004 (UK)
Format
CD
Genre
Pop
Label
S
Sam & Mark singles chronology
"With a Little Help from My Friends" "The Sun Has Come Your Way"
(2004)
(2004)

[edit] Cultural references

The Joe Cocker version was used as the title music for the 1988-1993 television series The Wonder
Years. "With a Little Help from My Friends" was played as wake-up music on Space Shuttle
Mission STS-61.[11]
To date, Starr has closed every concert with each version of his All-Starr Band with this song. In
recent performances, the band segues right into "Give Peace a Chance" , during which Starr walks
off the stage.
McCartney and Starr performed this song for the first time together at the David Lynch Foundation
Benefit Concert in the Radio City Music Hall, New York on 4 April 2009.[12]

[edit]

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
Recorded
17 and 20 February and 28, 29, 31 March 1967
Genre
Psychedelic rock, circus music, experimental rock
Length
2:37
Label
Parlophone
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song from the 1967 album by The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was composed by John Lennon[1]. The song is credited to Lennon
McCartney.

Contents
[hide]
1
Inspirat
ion
2
Recordi
ng
3
Personn
el
4
Covers
and
influen
ce
5 Notes
6
Referen
ces
7
Externa
l links

[edit] Inspiration

The Pablo Fanque Circus Royal poster upon which the song is based.
Lennon was inspired to write the song by a 19th century circus poster for Pablo Fanque's Circus
Royal that he purchased in an antique shop in on 31 January 1967, while filming the promotional
video for "Strawberry Fields Forever" in Sevenoaks, Kent.[2] Lennon said that "Everything from
the song is from that poster, except the horse wasn't called Henry."[3] (The poster identifies the
horse as "Zanthus".) Mr. Kite is believed to be William Kite, who worked for Pablo Fanque from
1843 to 1845.

Pablo Fanque, the Victorian circus owner, who employed William Kite from 1843 to 1845.
The full text of the original Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal poster is:
PABLO FANQUE'S CIRCUS ROYAL

TOWN-MEADOWS, ROCHDALE
Grandest Night of the Season!
AND POSITIVELY THE
LAST NIGHT BUT THREE!
BEING FOR THE
BENEFIT OF MR. KITE,
(LATE OF WELLS'S CIRCUS) AND
MR. J. HENDERSON,
THE CELEBRATED SOMERSET THROWER!
WIRE DANCER, VAULTER, RIDER, etc.
On TUESDAY Evening, February 14, 1843.
Mssrs. KITE and HENDERSON, in announcing the following Entertainments ensure the
Public that this Night's Production will be one of the most splendid ever produced in this
Town, having been some days in preparation.
Mr. Kite will, for this night only,
introduce the
CELEBRATED
HORSE, ZANTHUS!
Well known to be one of the
best Broke Horses
IN THE WORLD!!!
Mr. HENDERSON will undertake the arduous Task of
THROWING TWENTY-ONE SOMERSETS,
ON THE SOLID GROUND.
Mr. KITE will appear, for the
first time this season,
On The Tight Rope,
When Two Gentlemen Amateurs
of this Town will
perform with him. Mr. HENDERSON will, for the first time
in Rochdale,
introduce his extraordinary
TRAMPOLINE LEAPS
AND
SOMERSETS!
Over Men & Horses, through Hoops,
over Garters and lastly through a
Hogshead of REAL FIRE!
In this branch of the profession Mr. H challenges THE WORLD!
For particulars see Bills of the day.
"Mr. J. Henderson" was John Henderson, a wire-walker, equestrian, trampoline artist, and clown.
While the poster made no mention of "Hendersons" plural, as Lennon sings, John Henderson did
perform with his wife Agnes, the daughter of circus owner Henry Hengler. The Hendersons
performed throughout Europe and Russia during the 1840s and 1850s."[4]

[edit] Recording
One of the most musically complex songs on Sgt. Pepper, it was recorded on 17 February 1967
with overdubs on 20 February (organ sound effects), 28 March (harmonica, organ, guitar), 29

March (more organ sound effects), and 31 March.[5] Lennon wanted the track to have a "carnival
atmosphere", and told producer George Martin that he wanted "to smell the sawdust on the floor."
In the middle eight bars, multiple recordings of fairground organs and calliope music were spliced
together to attempt to produce this request; after a great deal of unsuccessful experimentation,
Martin instructed recording engineer Geoff Emerick to chop the tape into pieces with scissors,
throw them up in the air, and re-assemble them at random.[6]
On 17 February Lennon sings the words "For the benefit of Mr. Kite!" in a joke accent, just before
Emerick announces, "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite! This is take 1." Lennon immediately responds,
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" reinforcing his title preference, a phrase lifted intact from the
original Pablo Fanque poster. The exchange is recorded in The Beatles Recording Sessions (slightly
misquoted)[2] and audible on track 8 of disc 2 of Anthology 2. The original recording can also be
heard during the loading screen for the song if it is downloaded in the video game The Beatles:
Rock Band.
Although Lennon once said of the song that he "wasn't proud of that" and "I was just going through
the motions,"[7] in 1980 he described it as "pure, like a painting, a pure watercolour."[3]
It was one of three songs from the Sgt. Pepper album that was banned from playing on the BBC,
supposedly because the phrase "Henry the Horse" combined two words that were individually
known as slang for heroin. Lennon denied that the song had anything to do with heroin.[3]

[edit] Personnel

John Lennon: double-tracked lead vocals and harmony vocals, tape loops and harmonica
Paul McCartney: bass and lead guitar
George Harrison: tambourine, harmonica and Hammond organ
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine and harmonica
George Martin: piano, harmonium, Lowrey organ, glockenspiel and tape loops
Mal Evans: bass harmonica
Neil Aspinall: harmonica
Geoff Emerick: tape loops

She's Leaving Home

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"She's Leaving Home"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
17 March 1967,
Recorded
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Baroque pop, classical
Length
3:26 (mono), 3:35 (stereo)
Label
Parlophone
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing

[show]13 tracks
"She's Leaving Home" is a song credited to LennonMcCartney and released in 1967 on The
Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. McCartney wrote and sang the verse and
Lennon the chorus. This was one of a handful of songs of the Beatles in which the members did not
play any instruments.

Contents
[hide]
1
Backgr
ound
2
Recordi
ng
3
Critical
receptio
n
4
Personn
el
5 Notes
6
Referen
ces

[edit] Background
Paul McCartney:
John and I wrote 'She's Leaving Home' together. It was my inspiration. We'd seen a
story in the newspaper about a young girl who'd left home and not been found, there
were a lot of those at the time, and that was enough to give us a story line. So I started
to get the lyrics: she slips out and leaves a note and then the parents wake up ... It was
rather poignant. I like it as a song, and when I showed it to John, he added the long
sustained notes, and one of the nice things about the structure of the song is that it stays
on those chords endlessly. Before that period in our song-writing we would have
changed chords but it stays on the C chord. It really holds you. It's a really nice little
trick and I think it worked very well. While I was showing that to John, he was doing
the Greek chorus, the parents' view: 'We gave her most of our lives, we gave her
everything money could buy.' I think that may have been in the runaway story, it might
have been a quote from the parents. Then there's the famous little line about a man from
the motor trade; people have since said that was Terry Doran, who was a friend who
worked in a car showroom, but it was just fiction, like the sea captain in "Yellow
Submarine", they weren't real people.[1]
The newspaper story McCartney mentioned was from the front page of the Daily Mirror, about a
girl named Melanie Coe. Although McCartney made up most of the content, Coe, who was 17 at the
time claims that he got most of it right. Her parents wondered why she had left... "She has

everything here." In real life, Melanie did not "meet a man from the motor trade", but instead a
croupier, and left in the afternoon while her parents were at work. She was found ten days later
because she had let slip where her boyfriend worked.[2]
Coincidentally, Coe had met McCartney three years earlier when she was a contestant and prize
winner on ITV's Ready Steady Go!.[3] An update on Melanie appeared in the Daily Mail in May
2008,[4] and she was interviewed about the song on the BBC programme The One Show on 24
November 2010.

[edit] Recording
The day before McCartney wanted to work on the string arrangement, he learned that George
Martin was not available to do the score. He contacted Mike Leander, who did it in Martin's place.
It was the first time a Beatles song was not arranged by Martin (and the only time it was done with
the Beatles' consent: Phil Spector's orchestration of Let It Be was done without McCartney's
knowledge). Martin was hurt by McCartney's actions, but he produced the song and conducted the
string section. The harp was played by Sheila Bromberg, the first female musician to appear on a
Beatles' record.[5][6]
The stereo version of the song runs at a slower speed than the mono mix, and consequently is a
semitone lower in pitch. This is mentioned in the booklet accompanying The Beatles in Mono CD
box set, but no reason is given. A 2007 Mojo magazine article revealed the mono mix was sped up
to make Paul sound younger and tighten the track.[7]

[edit] Critical reception

When discussing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, composer Ned Rorem described "She's
Leaving Home" as "equal to any song that Schubert ever wrote."

Within You Without You

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Within You Without You"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
15 and 22 March and 3 April 1967,
Recorded
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Indian classical music, raga rock
Length
5:05
Label
Parlophone
Writer
George Harrison
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks
Music sample
"Within You Without You"

"Within You Without You" is a song written by George Harrison, released on The Beatles' 1967
album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Contents
[hide]
1
Compo
sition
1
.
1
L
o
v
e
r
e
m
i
x
2
Personn
el
3 Cover
version
s
4 Notes
5
Referen
ces
6
Externa
l links

[edit] Composition
The basic tracks for "Within You Without You" featured only Harrison and a group of uncredited
Indian musicians. Producer George Martin then arranged a string section, and Harrison and assistant
Neil Aspinall overdubbed the tambura. According to Prema Music, dilruba player Amrit Gajjar
played on the track.[1] Hunter Davies wrote that Harrison "trained himself to write down his song
in Indian script so that the Indian musicians can play them."[2] With "Within You Without You",
Harrison became the second Beatle to record a song credited to The Beatles but featuring no other
members of the group (Paul McCartney had previously done so with "Yesterday").
"Within You Without You" is the second of Harrison's songs to be explicitly influenced by Indian
classical music (the first being "Love You To", released on Revolver the previous year.) The song is

Harrison's only composition on Sgt. Pepper after "Only a Northern Song" was omitted from the
album. Harrison wrote "Within You Without You" on a harmonium at the house of long-time
Beatles' associate Klaus Voormann. The song (originally written as a 30-minute piece, abbreviated
for the album) is mostly in Mixolydian Mode[3] [4]. The laughter at the end was Harrison's idea,
placed at the end of the song in order to lighten the mood and follow the theme of the album. The
recording released on the album was sped up to C#; an instrumental version of the song at the
original speed and in the original key appears on the Anthology 2 album.

[edit] Love remix

The song was also included on the 2006 remix album Love. For this album, George Harrison's vocal
and sitar parts were mixed over McCartney's bass and Ringo's drum parts from "Tomorrow Never
Knows," although the opening lyric, "Turn off your mind...Relax and float downstream...It is not
dying...it is not dying," came from "Tomorrow Never Knows," as does the set of reversed sound
effects utilised in the mashup. During part of the second verse of the mashup version, the drums and
bass of "Tomorrow Never Knows" are silenced, with the tabla percussion parts of "Within You
Without You" there in its place. Also, Harrison's vocals are heard in the song's intended key of C
major. The blending of these two songs is considered the most effective form of mashup on the
album.[5] All of the music for Love was remixed and remastered by The Beatles' producer Sir
George Martin and his son Giles. The Love remix is one of the songs in The Beatles: Rock Band.[6]
The original version has also been released as downloadable content along with the rest of the Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album in November 2009.
Stephen Stills was so impressed with the lyrics that he had them carved on a stone monument in his
yard.[7] John Lennon declared "Within You Without You" "one of George's best songs."[8]

[edit] Personnel
George Harrison - lead vocal, tambura, double-tracked sitar[9]
Session musicians - swarmandal, dilruba, tabla
Neil Aspinall - tambura
Erich Gruenberg, Alan Loveday, Julien Gaillard, Paul Scherman, Ralph Elman, David
Wolfsthal, Jack Rothstein, Jack Greene - violin
Reginald Kilbey, Allen Ford, Peter Beavan - cello

When I'm Sixty-Four

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the 2004 television film, see When I'm 64 (television film).
"When I'm Sixty-Four"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
621 December 1966,
Recorded
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Pop rock, music hall
Length
2:37
Label
Parlophone

Writer
Producer

LennonMcCartney
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing

[show]13 tracks
Music sample
"When I'm Sixty-Four"
"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney[1][2] (credited to
LennonMcCartney) and released in 1967 on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Contents
[hide]
1
Compo
sition
2
Instrum
entation
3
Recordi
ng
4
Release
5
Personn
el
6 Cover
version
s
7
Cultura
l
referen
ces
8 Notes
9
Referen
ces

[edit] Composition
The song is sung by a young man to his lover, and is about his plans of growing old together with
her. Although the theme is ageing, it was one of the first songs McCartney wrote, when he was
sixteen.[1] The Beatles used it in the early days as a song they could play when the amplifiers broke
down or the electricity went off.[3][4] Both George Martin and Mark Lewisohn speculated that
McCartney may have thought of the song when recording began for Sgt. Pepper in December 1966
because his father turned 64 earlier that year.[3][4]

Lennon said of the song, "Paul wrote it in the Cavern days. We just stuck a few more words on it
like 'grandchildren on your knee' and 'Vera, Chuck and Dave' ... this was just one that was quite a hit
with us."[5] In his 1980 interview for Playboy he said, "I would never even dream of writing a song
like that."[2]

[edit] Instrumentation
A clarinet trio (two B-flat soprano clarinets and a bass clarinet) is featured prominently in the song,
unusual in most music genres, but particularly in the context of rock and roll. Scored by Martin, he
said they were added at McCartney's request to "get around the lurking schmaltz factor" by using
the clarinets "in a classical way."[4] In the song's final verse, the clarinet is played in harmony with
McCartney's vocal: an unusual method of harmonisation, especially in 1967. Supporting
instruments include the honky-tonk piano, bass, drum set, tubular bells and electric guitar.

[edit] Recording
The song was recorded on 6 December 1966, during one of the first sessions for the as-yet-unnamed
album that became Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. There were multiple overdub sessions,
including the lead vocal by McCartney on 8 December and backing vocals by McCartney, Lennon,
and George Harrison on 20 December. The clarinets were recorded on 21 December.[6]
The song is in the key of D-flat major. The Beatles recorded the song in C major but the master take
was sped up in order to raise the key by one semitone at the insistence of McCartney. Martin
remembers that McCartney suggested this change in order to make his voice sound younger.[7]
McCartney says, "I wanted to appear younger, but that was just to make it more rooty-tooty; just lift
the key because it was starting to sound turgid."[1]

[edit] Release
The song was nearly released on a single as the B-side with either "Strawberry Fields Forever" or
"Penny Lane" as the A-side. Instead, Martin decided on a double-A-sided-disc. The single did not
make #1 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart, breaking a string of #1 singles going back to 1963.
[8] If "When I'm Sixty-Four" had been issued as a B-side, it probably would not have appeared on
Sgt. Pepper.[citation needed]

[edit] Personnel

Paul McCartney - lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, piano

John Lennon - backing vocals, lead guitar
George Harrison - backing vocals, guitar doubling the bass
Ringo Starr - drums, chimes
Robert Burns, Henry MacKenzie, Frank Reidy - two clarinets, bass clarinet[9]
Personnel per MacDonald except where noted[10]

Lovely Rita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Austrian film, see Lovely Rita (film).

"Lovely Rita"
Song by The Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released
1 June 1967
23 February and 21 March 1967
Recorded
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop[1]
Length
2:42
Label
Parlophone
Writer
LennonMcCartney
Producer
George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
[show]13 tracks
"Lovely Rita" is a song by The Beatles performed on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band, written and sung by Paul McCartney, although as with all McCartney or Lennon-written
Beatles' songs, it is credited to LennonMcCartney. It is about a female parking attendant and the
narrator's affection for her.

Contents
[hide]
1
Inspirat
ion
2
Recordi
ng
3
Personn
el
4 Other
version
s
5 Notes
6
Referen
ces

[edit] Inspiration
The term "meter-maid" was largely unknown in the UK prior to the song's release. It is American
slang for a female traffic warden, now officially known by the gender-neutral term parking
attendant. According to some sources, the song emanates from when a female traffic warden named
Meta Davies issued a parking ticket to McCartney outside Abbey Road Studios.[2][3] Instead of
becoming angry, he accepted it with good grace and expressed his feelings in song. When asked
why he had called her "Rita", McCartney replied, "Well, she looked like a Rita to me".[4]

[edit] Recording
Recording began on 23 February 1967. Using a four-track recorder, this first performance featured
Harrison's guitar on track 1, Lennon's guitar on track 2, Ringo's drums on track 3, and McCartney's
piano set on track 4. Once those tracks were "bounced," the band later added lead vocal, bass, and a
three-part backing vocal section. A second piano, played by George Martin and processed
electromechanically to wobble in and out of tune was added for the distinctive solo. By 21 March,
the final mono mix was completed and a month later, the stereo mix was done.[3]
The unusual noises during the song after the lines "and the bag across her shoulder/ made her look a
little like a military man" were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison playing comb
and paper.[5]
Pink Floyd watched The Beatles recording "Lovely Rita". It is rumoured that "Lovely Rita"
influenced the song "Pow R. Toc H." found on their first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.[6]

[edit] Personnel

Paul McCartney vocal, piano, bass, comb & paper

John Lennon backing vocal, vocal percussion, acoustic rhythm guitar, comb & paper
George Harrison backing vocal, electric slide guitar, acoustic rhythm guitar, comb & paper
Ringo Starr drums
George Martin production, piano
Geoff Emerick engineer
Personnel per Ian MacDonald[2]

[edit] Other versions

Fats Domino included a cover of this song in his 1968 album Fats is back. He also released
it as a single, with "Wait 'Till It Happens to You" on B side.
In 1976, Roy Wood of ELO and Wizzard recorded the song for the musical documentary All
This and World War II.
In 2007, Travis recorded the song for It Was 40 Years Ago Today, a television film with
contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the same studio, technicians and
recording techniques as the original.
Joan Osborne sings the song on the 2009 Cheap Trick release, Sgt. Pepper Live.
Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2007 release Pepper Front to Back.