When I'm Sixty-Four

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When I'm Sixty-Four is a song off The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

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[edit] Writing

When I'm Sixty-Four was the first song to be recorded for the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Originally, it was intended to be the B-Side to the Strawberry Fields Forever single. The song, however, was written long before it was recorded. Paul had written it in the earliest days of The Beatles, when he "was about fifteen." He had composed it around 1957 on his family's piano at his house on 20 Forthlin Road. He said of the song, "Back then I wasn't necessarily looking to be a rock 'n' roller. When I wrote When I'm Sixty-Four I thought I was writing a song for Sinatra. There were records other than rock 'n' roll that were important to me." When The Beatles were heavily playing the Cavern Club, Paul would play a variation of this on piano when technical malfunctions kept the guitars from working. John recalled, "When I'm Sixty-Four was something Paul wrote in the Cavern days. We just stuck a few more words on it like 'grandchildren on your knee' and 'Vera, Chuck and Dave'. It was just one of those ones that he'd had, that we've all got, really; half a song. And this was just one that was quite a hit with us. We used to do them when the amps broke down, just sing it on the piano." After being left alone for many years, it was brought back in 1966, the year that James McCartney, Paul's father, turned 64. The song focuses on a young man looking forward to old age. To make the vocals sound more vivacious, they were sped up in the studio. For the 1966 version, George Martin created a clarinet score. Paul said in his authorized biography, Many Years Frm Now, "I thought it was a good little tune but it was too vaudevillian, so I had to get some cod lines to take the sting out of it, and put the tongue very firmly in cheek. It's pretty much my song. I did it in a rooty-tooty variety style... George helped me on a clarinet arrangement. I would specify the sound and I love clarinets so 'Could we have a clarinet quartet?' 'Absolutely.' I'd give him a fairly good idea of what I wanted and George would score it because I couldn't do that. He was very helpful to us. Of course, when George Martin was 64 I had to send him a bottle of wine." Martin would later regret not making When I'm Sixty Four the B-Side to Strawberry Fields forever, saying "The idea of a double a-side came from me and Brian, really... 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 them 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 in the charts if we had issued one of those with, say, When I'm Sixty-Four on the back."

[edit] Recording

In the Spring or Summer of 1960, The Beatles recorded much of their material they had then at Paul's house on Forthlin Road. Some of these songs included Hallelujah, I Love Her So, One After 909, and I'll Follow The Sun. Though most of these recordings have appeared on some release, either legitimate or bootleg, there are a select few that have not surfaced, including a recording of this song. This makes the 1960 version of When I'm Sixty Four one of the most sought-after Beatles recordings. They returned to the song on December 6, 1966, after recording Christmas messages for the pirate radio stations Radio London and Radio Caroline. They spent time afterwards rehearsing this song and later getting two proper takes of the basic track. On December 8, McCartney, without the other Beatles, recorded his lead vocals onto Take 2. The song was then left along until December 20, when John, Paul, and George taped backing vocals while Ringo played chimes. The song was completed the next day, when three clarinets were overdubbed. However, during the mixing stage, Paul decided that the song needed to be sped up, so on December 30, all previous mixes were scrapped for a new, sped-up one, which changed the key from C to D-flat major.

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[edit] The Beatles

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[edit] Available Versions

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Paul McCartney

  • Live on Latinamerica TV Show, Argentina, 1997, (Bootlegs)

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[edit] Cover Versions

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