Penny Lane

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"Penny Lane"
"Penny Lane" cover
Single by The Beatles
from the album Magical Mystery Tour
A-side(s) Strawberry Fields Forever
B-side(s) Penny Lane
Released February 17, 1967 (UK)

February 13, 1967 (US)

Format 7" single
Recorded December 29, 1966 - January 17, 1967
Genre Rock
Length 3:03
Label Parlophone (UK)

Capitol Records (US)

Writer(s) John Lennon/Paul McCartney
Producer(s) George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine
(1966) 		Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane
(1967) 		All You Need Is Love/Baby, You're A Rich Man
(1967)

Penny Lane is a 1967 single by The Beatles. It was also included on their 1967 album Magical Mystery Tour. It was written mostly by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

Writing

Penny Lane, like many songs written around this era, was a reflection of the past. Paul recalled, "A lot of our formative years were spent walking around those places. Penny Lane was the depot I had to change buses at to get from my house to John's and to a lot of my friends. It was a big bus terminal which we all knew very well. I sang in the choir at St Barnabas Church opposite." It was written on an upright piano, which had been recently painted in psychedlic colors by David Vaughan. Paul wrote the song at his home on 7 Cavendish Avenue in London. Paul recalled, "When I came to write it, John came over and helped me with the third verse, as often was the case. We were writing childhood memories: recently faded memories from eight or ten years before, so it was a recent nostalgia, pleasant memories for both of us. All the places were still there, and because we remembered it so clearly we could have gone on." The line "Four of fish and finger pie" is thought to have been contributed by John Lennon. Finger Pie was a crude Liverpool term for girls. Paul commented in 1967, "It's part fact, part nostalgia for a great place - blue suburban skies, as we remember it, and it's still there. And we put in a joke or two: 'Four of fish and finger pie.' The women would never dare say that. except to themselves. Most people wouldn't hear it, but 'finger pie' is just a nice little joke for the Liverpool lads who like a bit of smut." The song title was considered for use ever since Rubber Soul, when John was writing In My Life about different Liverpool locations in an early form. When it was released as a single, it was released alongside Strawberry Fields Forever, which was another look back at The Beatles' childhoods, though written by John. Both songs looked at their past in very different ways. Paul commented, "We were often answering each other's songs so it might have been my version of a memory song but I don't recall. It was childhood reminiscences: there is a bus stop called Penny Lane. There was a barber shop called Bioletti's with head shots of the haircuts you can have in the window and I just took it all and arted it up a little bit to make it sound like he was having a picture exhibition in his window. It was all based on real things; there was a bank on the corner so I imagined the banker, it was not a real person, and his slightly dubious habits and the little children laughing at him, and the pouring rain. The fire station was a bit of poetic licence; there's a fire station about half a mile down the road, not actually in Penny Lane, but we needed a third verse so we took that and I was very pleased with the line 'It's a clean machine'. I still like that phrase, you occasionally hit a lucky little phrase and it becomes more than a phrase. So the banker and the barber shop and the fire station were all real locations." Penny Lane was the name of an actual street in Liverpool, which also was the name of the surrounding area. Lennon and McCartney both lived near Penny Lane, and they would often meet there to catch a bus. John told Rolling Stone in 1968, "The bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was just reliving childhood." Penny Lane was recorded for the album that would become Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, although it did not end up on the final album. Producer George Martin remembered, "We started off with Strawberry Fields, and then we recorded When I'm Sixty-Four and Penny Lane. They were all intended for the next album. We didn't know it was Sgt Pepper then - they were just going to be tracks on The New Album - but it was going to be a record created in the studio, and there were going to be songs that couldn't be performed live."

Recording

Paul recalled, "I remember saying to George Martin, 'I want a very clean recording.' I was into clean sounds - maybe a Beach Boy influence at that point." Recording began on December 29, 1966, when six takes of the basic track were recorded. This basic track only included some piano chords. After that, he overdubbed another piano, fed through a Vox amplifier, and yet another piano, recorded at half speed. Also on the half speed piano overdub was a tambourine. On the fourth track of the take, Paul added some high-pitched harmonium notes. Lastly, some cymbal noises and percussive effects were added. The next day, Paul recorded his lead vocals, along with John's backing vocals. They wouldn't work on the song again until January 4, 1967, when John recorded a piano track, Paul recorded more vocals, and George recorded lead guitar. On January 5, Paul rerecorded his lead vocals. On January 6, another track was recorded, featuring Paul on bass, John on rhythm guitar, and Ringo on drums. John then overdubbed congas, and a reduction mix was made to free up more tracks. After the mix was made, they added handclaps, John and George Martin added piano, and John, Paul, and George Martin added scat guide vocals where they wanted the brass to be overdubbed. The brass parts were overdubbed on January 9, when four flutes, two trumpets, two piccolos and a flügelhorn were overdubbed. On January 10, The Beatles recorded harmony vocals, and a handbell whenever the fireman or his engine were mentioned in the lyrics. More brass overdubs were done on January 12, when two trumpets, oboes, cor anglais and a double bass were recorded. The song was completed on January 17, when piccolo trumpet, played by David Mason, was added. Paul had seen Mason playing Bach's Bradenburgh Concerto on BBC Two on January 11, and decided that he wanted him on the recording. Mason was paid £27 10s for his work, which also included partially writing the piccolo parts with Paul McCartney and George Martin. Mason recalls, "We spent three hours working it out. Paul sang the parts he wanted, George Martin wrote them out, I tried them. But the actual recording was done quite quickly." Mason recorded two overdubs; the solo and the flourish used at the end of early American pressings of the single. With his piccolo, the song was complete. Mason recalls coming to the session, "Although Paul seemed to be in charge, and I was the only one playing, the other three Beatles were there too. They all had funny clothes on, candy-striped trousers, floppy yellow bow ties etc. I asked Paul if they'd been filming because it really looked like they had just come off a film set. John Lennon interjected: 'Oh no mate, we always dress like this!'"

Promo Video

See main articles: Filming Penny Lane Promo - February 5, 1967 and Filming Penny Lane Promo - February 7, 1967
After it was decided Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane would be released as a single, promo videos for each had to be filmed. The video, as well as the one for Strawberry Fields Forever were produced by Tony Bramwell and directed by Peter Goldmann. The Beatles began filming on February 5, 1967, in Stratford, London. They rode horses and circled Angel Lane. On February 7, they went to Knole Park in Kent, where they had previously filmed the Strawberry Fields Forever promotional video. They rode horses through an archway, then sitting down on a dinner table and being served their instruments. Ringo said of the video, The Penny Lane one on the horses wasn't quite that exciting for me; it was a bit real!" The footage would later be edited along with footage shot in Liverpool of all the places mentioned and of green busses from Liverpool. This was filmed on an unknown date.

Single Release and Chart Success

Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever would be released in February 1967, with a picture sleeve in Britain, which was unusual for the time. George Martin recalls, "The only reason that Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane didn't go onto the new album was a feeling that if we issued a single, it shouldn't go onto an album. That was a crazy idea, and I'm afraid I was partly responsible. It's nonsense these days, but in those days it was an aspect that we'd try to give the public value for money. The idea of a double a-side came from me and Brian, really. Brian was desperate to recover popularity, and so we wanted to make sure that we had a marvellous seller. He came to me and said, 'I must have a really great single. What have you got?' I said, 'Well, I've got three tracks - and two of them are the best tracks they've ever made. We could put the two together and make a smashing single.' We did, and it was a smashing single - but it was also a dreadful mistake. We would have sold far more and got higher up the charts if we had issued one of those with, say, When I'm Sixty-Four on the back." Surpisingly, for the first time since 1963, this single failed to reach number one in the UK charts, being kept off the top spot by "Release Me" by Englebert Humperdinck. However, it topped the charts in the US, and other countries it was released. George said of being kept off the top spot, "It was pretty bad, wasn't it, that Engelbert Humperdinck stopped Strawberry Fields Forever from getting to number one? But I don't think it was a worry. At first, we wanted to have good chart positions, but then I think we started taking it for granted. It might have been a bit of a shock being number two - but then again, there were always so many different charts that you could be number two in one chart and number one in another."

LOVE Mix

Though not designated it's own mix, various overdubs made for Penny Lane were incorporated into some mixes on the 2006 album LOVE. The first occurence is part of David Mason's piccolo trumpet solo being used in the background of the chorus of the mix of Glass Onion. The other occurence is the same solo being used in the outtro of a mix of Strawberry Fields Forever.

Personnel

The Beatles

Guest Musicians

Production

Recording Sessions


Available Versions

Available On

Cover Versions

Source

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