In My Life

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In My Life is a song off The Beatles' 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

Writing

In My Life began as a set of John Lennon's memories written into song. Lennon recalled in 1980, "There was a period when I thought I didn't write melodies, that Paul wrote those and I just wrote straight, shouting rock 'n' roll. But of course, when I think of some of my own songs - In My Life, or some of the early stuff, This Boy - I was writing melody with the best of them." He considered it, as well as Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus, and Help!, as one of the best songs he has written. Lennon commented in 1980, "It was, I think, my first real major piece of work. Up till then it had all been sort of glib and throw-away. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric." The idea for the song first came in 1964, when journalist Kenneth Allsop asked why his songs were less revealing and personal than his book, In His Own Write. With this question, Lennon began to write about specific Liverpool landmarks from his past. Lennon recalled, "I think In My Life was the first song that I wrote that was really, consciously about my life, and it was sparked by a remark a journalist and writer in England made after In His Own Write came out. I think In My Life was after In His Own Write... But he said to me, 'Why don't you put some of the way you write in the book, as it were, in the songs? Or why don't you put something about your childhood into the songs?' Which came out later as Penny Lane from Paul - although it was actually me who lived in Penny Lane - and Strawberry Fields." The earliest draft was significantly different from the final, released version of the song. Lennon remembered, "In My Life started out as a bus journey from my house on 250 [sic] Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning every place I could remember. And it was ridiculous. This is before even Penny Lane was written and I had Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Tram Sheds - Tram Sheds are the depot just outside of Penny Lane - and it was the most boring sort of 'What I Did On My Holidays Bus Trip' song and it wasn't working at all. I cannot do this! I cannot do this! But then I laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about the places I remember. Now Paul helped write the middle-eight melody. The whole lyrics were already written before Paul had even heard it. In In My Life, his contribution melodically was the harmony and the middle eight itself." The first draft mentioned different places in Liverpool by name, such as Penny Lane, the Abbey pub in Chidwall, the Old Dutch cafe, and the Liverpool Overhead Railway, better known as the Dockers' umbrella, now demolished. The original lyrics read:

"Penny Lane is one I'm missing
Up Church Road to the clock tower
In the circle of the abbey
I have seen some happy hours

Past the tram sheds with no trams
On the 5 bus into town
Past the Dutch and St Columbus
To the Dockers Umbrella that they pulled down"

The song was written at Kenwood, John's home in Weybridge. Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1970, "I used to write upstairs where I had about ten Brunell tape recorders all linked up, I still have them. I'd mastered them over the period of a year or two - I could never make a rock 'n' roll record but I could make some far out stuff on it. I wrote it upstairs, that was one where I wrote the lyrics first and then sang it. That was usually the case with things like In My Life and Universe and some of the ones that stand out a bit... I think on Norwegian Wood and In My Life Paul helped with the middle eight, to give credit where it's due." Paul McCartney recalls differently. Though both Lennon and McCartney have said many different things over the years about the backgrounds of songs, only the accounts of In My Life and Eleanor Rigby significantly differ. McCartney recalled in his authorized biography, Many Years From Now, "I arrived at John's house for a writing session and he had the very nice opening stanzas of the song. As many of our songs were, it was the first pangs of nostalgia for Liverpool... As I recall, he didn't have a tune to it, and my recollection, I think, is at variance with John's. I said, 'Well, you haven't got a tune, let me just go and work on it.' And I went down to the half-landing, where John had a Mellotron, and I sat there and put together a tune based in my mind on Smokey Robinson and the Miracles... I recall writing the whole melody. And it actually does sound very like me, if you analyse it. I was obviously working to lyrics. The melody's structure is very me. So my recollection is saying to John, 'Just go and have a cup of tea or something. Let me be with this for ten minutes on my own and I'll do it'... I tried to keep it melodic but a bit bluesy, with the minors and little harmonies, and then my recollection is going back up into the room and saying, 'Got it, great! Good tune, I think. What d'you think?' John said, 'Nice,' and we continued working with it from then, using that melody and filling out the rest of the verses... So it was John's original inspiration, I think my melody, I think my guitar riff. I don't want to be categorical about this, but that's my recollection... I find it very gratifying that out of everything we wrote, we only appear to disagree over two songs."

Recording

In My Life was one of the first songs to be recorded for Rubber Soul. It was recorded in three takes, following several rehearsals, on October 18, 1965. The instrumental break had no guitar solo, and the group was undecided about how to fill the break. This problem was solved on October 22, when George Martin overdubbed a piano solo. Martin recalled, "In My Life is one of my favourite songs because it is so much John. A super track and such a simple song. There's a bit where John couldn't decide what to do in the middle and, while they were having their tea break, I put down a baroque piano solo which John didn't hear until he came back. What I wanted was too intricate for me to do live, so I did it with a half-speed piano, then sped it up, and he liked it." The solo was original tried on Hammond organ, but Martin was dissatisfied with this. He then played it on a piano, playing the solo slower and an octave lower and recording at a slower speed, giving the solo a harpsichord effect when played at full speed. Martin recalled, "I did it with what I call a 'wound up' piano, which was at double speed - partly because you get a harpsichord sound by shortening the attack of everything, but also because I couldn't play it at real speed anyway. So I played it on piano at exactly half normal speed, and down an octave. When you bring the tape back to normal speed again, it sounds pretty brilliant. It's a means of tricking everybody into thinking you can do something really well."

Recording Sessions


Personnel

The Beatles

Guest Musicians

Production

Available Versions

The Beatles

George Harrison

  • Live at Pacific Coliseum, Vancover, British Columbia, Canada, November 2, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Seattle, Washington, USA, November 4, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Oakland, California, USA, matinee show, November 8, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Oakland, California, USA, evening show, November 8, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Long Beach, California, USA, November 10, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Great Western Forum, Los Angeles, California, USA, afternoon show, November 12, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Great Western Forum, Los Angeles, California, USA, evening show, November 12, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Tucson, Arizona, USA, matinee show, November 14, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado, USA, matinee show November 18, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado, USA, evening show November 18, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, November 20, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Tulsa Assembly Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, November 21, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, November 22, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Houston, Texas, USA, matinee show, November 24, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Houston, Texas, USA, evening show, November 24, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Louisiana State University Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, November 26, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, matinee show, November 28, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, evening show, November 28, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois USA, afternoon show, November 30, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois USA, matinee show, November 30, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois USA, evening show, November 30, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Detroit, Michigan, USA, matinee show, December 4, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Detroit, Michigan, USA, evening show, December 4, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, matinee show, December 6, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, evening show, December 6, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, matinee show, December 10, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, December 11, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Capital Centre, Largo, Landover, Washington DC, Maryland, USA, evening show, December 13, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, Uniondale, New York, USA, matinee show, December 15, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, Uniondale, New York, USA, evening show, December 15, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, matinee show, December 17, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA, December 19, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA, matinee show, December 20, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA, evening show, December 20, 1974, (Bootlegs)
  • Live at Cow Palace, San Francisco, California, USA, November 6, 1976, (Bootlegs)

Available On

Cover Versions

Source

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