TheBeatlesOnline

A Day In The Life

John Lennon: Vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
Paul McCartney: Vocals, piano, bass
George Harrison: Maracas
Ringo Starr: Drums, bongos, piano

Erich Gruenberg: Violin
Granville Jones: Violin
Bill Monro: Violin
Jurgen Hess: Violin
Hans Geiger: Violin
D. Bradley: Violin
Lionel Bentlery: Violin
David McCallum: Violin
Donald Weeks: Violin
Henry Datyner: Violin
Sidney Sax: Violin
Ernest Scott: Violin
John Underwood: Viola
Gwynne Edwards: Viola
Bernard Davis: Viola
John Meek: Viola
Francisco Gabarro: Cello
Dennis Vigay: Cello
Alan Dalziel: Cello
Alex Nifosi: Cello
Cyril MacArther: Double bass
Gordon Pearce: Double Bass
John Marson: Harpe
Basil Tschaikov: Clarinett
Jack Brymer: Clarinett
Roger Lord: Obo
N. Fawcett: Basoon
Alfred Waters: Basoon
Clifford Seville: Flute
David Sanderman: Flute
Alan Civil: French horn
Neil Sanders: French horn
David Mason: Trumpet
Monty Montgomery: Trumpet
Harold Jackson: Trumpet
Raymond Brown: Trombone
Raymond Premru: Trombone
T. Moore: Trombone
Michael Barnes: Tuba
Tristian Fry: Timpani, percussion
Marikje Koger: Tambourine
Mal Evans: Piano
George Martin: Harmonium

Recorded January 19, 20 and February 3, 10, 22 1967.

Available on:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Anthology 2
The Beatles 1967-1970(The Blue Album)

In January 1967, Lennon and McCartney were working on two completely different ideas, which they later discovered could be merged into one song. That song became A Day In The Life.

Lennon based his lyrics on both facts and fiction. On January 17 1967, he had been flicking through the Daily Mail newspaper and noticed a story about the death of Tara Browne, who died in a car accident on December 18 1966. Tara was one of the heirs to the Guinness fortune, and also a friend of the Beatles.

Lennon said: "I didn't copy the accident. 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 song - not noticing traffic lights and a crowd forming at the scene - were similarly part of the fiction."

The other story that caught Lennon's eye was the 'Far And Near' column in the same newspaper. A survey revealed that there were about 4000 holes in the streets of Blackburn, Lancashire. That's twenty-sixth of a hole in the road for each Blackburn resident, the survey added.

This triggered Lennon's fascination of the comical and surreal, and he started to write the lyrics:

"Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all,
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the…"

But that's as far as he got, as he couldn't think of a word that would rhyme with small…

"The Albert Hall," suggested his friend Terry Doran.

Meanwhile Paul was working on a song, which was reflecting on his schooldays in Liverpool. When John asked him for help to finish his song, Paul got an idea.

"It was another song all together but it happened to fit," he later said.

"It was just me remembering what it was like to run up the road to catch a bus to school, having a smoke and going into class… It was a reflection of my schooldays. I would have a Woodbine (a cheap unfiltered British cigarette) and somebody would speak and I would go into a dream."

It was Paul's idea to use a classical orchestra in order to bridge the gap between his own and Lennon's melody.

McCartney wanted 90 musicians, but in the end producer George Martin hired "only" 40. Still Paul got more than he bargained for. The orchestra was recorded four times, on all four tracks of a tape, and this was then mixed down to one track. Thus it sounded like the equivalent of 160 musicians.

The musicians were asked to go from one note to another in 24 bars. All of them started on the lowest note their instrument could play and ended on an E major. They would start quietly and gradually play louder and louder.

"We're to start very low in pitch and end up very high," Martin told the musicians.

"And whatever you do you do, don't listen to the fellow next to you because I don't want you to be doing the same thing."

"Of course they all looked at me as though I was mad," he added.

With the musicians playing to Martin's instructions, the Beatles tried their hardest to turn the recording session into a carnival. They had asked everyone to wear full evening dress, and during the session they handed out funny hats and carnival novelties such as red clown noses, upside down spectacles, fake cigars and imitation bald heads. Erich Gruenberg, leader of the violins, even had to wear a gorilla's paw on his bow hand!

Celebrity friends such as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull and Donovan were also present during the recording session.

Paul's idea had originally been to end the song with a choir of voices - a long "hummmmmm." This was recorded, but never used, as it was not considered powerful enough. Instead the song ended on one huge crashing piano chord - an E major played simultaneously by John, Paul, Ringo and Mal Evans, all sharing three pianos.

Not surprisingly, A Day In The Life, like many other Beatles songs, didn't escape the conspiracy theories.

"4000 holes" (in Blackburn) was supposed to be a reference to heroin addiction (see also Fixing A Hole.) The line "Found my way upstairs and had a smoke" was apparently about marijuana. "He blew his mind out in a car" allegedly supported the Paul-is-dead-theory.

A Day In The Life

I saw a film today oh, boy
The English army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to look
Having read the book
I'd love to turn you on.

Woke up, got out of bed
dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
and looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream
Ah

I read the news today oh, boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes
it takes to fill the Albert Hall
I'd love to turn you on