I had to drive up to Liverpool, for a business meeting, in the 80s. Imagine my feelings when, slightly lost, I found myself driving down Penny Lane! It was like finding Narnia!
I lived in Stratford, London in 1966 and 1967. One day my sister (14) came galloping in shouting that the Beatles were in Angel Lane not far from where we lived. We ran up Western Street and there they were with a huge film crew and horses filming scenes for this video. Quite why they chose Stratford I can’t imagine. I remember Angel Lane as a run-down very old street with an open market day. I was eight years old and from rural Essex so seeing live eels sliding about in steel trays in the fishmongers frontages was unpleasant. I remember being a bit shocked by the Beatles appearances. For me when I’d seen them on television they were clean shaven and with that mop top really popular Beatles cut. I saw them that day with peculiar moustaches and different hair and it was a surprise. For decades I was convinced that Penny Lane in the song was in fact Angel Lane and I knew because “I was there!” Oh dear….wrong. London was buzzing at that time and day trips into the city on the underground were great, we’d go to Carnaby Street and the West End to see the colour and fashion, my sister loved it all. We owned a cafe at the time and the jukebox was updated every week so the latest hits were always playing hot off the press and at the time it was an endless river of great stuff, although my taste in music at eight years old was questionable at best.
Paul was listening to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #2 on tv and the sound of the small piccolo trumpet caught his ear. He then had the actual musician from that tv performance come and do the Penny Lane recording.
David Mason was an English orchestral, solo and session trumpet player. He played the flugelhorn for the premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams's ninth symphony and the piccolo trumpet solo on the Beatles' song "Penny Lane". Wikipedia Born: April 2, 1926, London, United Kingdom Died: April 29, 2011 (age 85 years), London, United Kingdom
Paul could play the trumpet a bit (he traded his trumpet for his first guitar because he wanted to sing too) but he'd never played piccolo trumpet and wanted a guest artist who could do justice to the ideas he was working with.
Paul insisted on the piccolo trumpet with the ultra high pitch range for the interlude. What went on inside their minds is where their true talent laid. I loved all of their stuff but still as a young teen in 1963 I look back and I have the most affection for them when they were just a band. Their early work always makes me smile. I believe they were happiest when they just played music without the technological help. 2 guitars, bass and drums in front to people. That is where you really see the foundation of who they really were. But I suppose you had to be there in that time to understand. One of the greatest gifts in my life. They inspired my 40 year career as a musician. Without them I would have lived working in a factory somewhere.
Liverpool had/has green busses -not red like London. Some parts were filmed around Liverpool's Penny Lane bus exchange, and shops. The parts with the Beatles were filmed closer to London -Horses and park, like "Strawberry Fields" was not filmed there. I visited Penny Lane, and John's home, where he lived with his Aunt, and Uncle, is a street away. There is this tradition that this area of Liverpool has to keep a Bank, a Barber, the Bus station and roundabout -for the song and tourism. The Actual Strawberry Fields (what was a Salvation Army home and park) is about a mile or so, away from P.Lane. I had a Cat, a fine Tabby, whom I named Penny Lane (Mrs. Penny) -she was joined by a male Cat, whom I named George,...I am a Beatles fan. (Penny died in 2022; George "is")
Spent the early part of my childhood, in the 60s, living near Penny Lane and other places mentioned in the lyrics but never realised it. After we moved away from Liverpool, I moved back again as an adult in the 70s and only then did I realise that I used to live, and now had moved back, to the area immortalised in my favourite Beatles song.
@@stevedahlberg8680 Maybe not. I probably subconsciously remembered things about this area and so when I was looking for a place to move to, out of my parents house, I found myself sort of going "home". I think I like this song so much because of the nostalgia I felt going back to this area and the same feeling whenever I hear it. But then it is a good song and was, maybe still is, a great part of Liverpool.
I lived in Hillside Road (Menlove Avenue at the top of the road and Allerton Road at the bottom) from 1975 to 1987, so know all of the places mentioned in the song. For those who don't know: the barber shop is still there; the bank was a Martins Bank at the time (later taken over by Barclays); the 'shelter in the middle of the roundabout' was the terminus building for buses whose terminus was 'Penny Lane'. Penny Lane is actually across the road from the shelter. I passed the shelter twice a day on the way to and from work, and it was amazing to see coaches constantly there with tourists from all over the world poring over the things mentioned in the song and taking shitloads of photos!
@@Pokafalva In the late 70s I lived near the end of Ullet Road, near the junction with Smithdown Road, and I remember going along there and down Penny Lane many time for shopping or just out for a wander. That's north of Sefton Park, but back when I was a toddler, we used to live just west of the park in a road off Lark Lane; went back there about 10 years ago and while the north side of Sefton Park still looked familiar the west and south sides around Lark Lane and Aigburth Road looked nothing like my memories from being there from birth to around 4 years old back in the late 50s and early 60s. It probably has changed a lot but my memories are very vague too.
@@PaulMDove2I know all of those places you mention. I also should have said that mention of a 'fireman' in the song probably related to the the staff who manned the Fire Station on Mather Avenue. My mother-in-law was Matron of Lathbury House, the old people's home on Ullet Road just before the junction with Smithdown Road. Small world!
"the production, the horns, the bouncy piano, I guess that was down to George Martin" Well actually Paul was very much in control of this track, starting with multiple piano overdubs using different pianos and effects to build up the sound that's the basis of the track (buried somewhere in the dense mix are still more piano overdubs added later by George Martin and John). Geoff Emerick said “Paul had very definite thoughts about the instrumentation he wanted on 'Penny Lane. George Martin was tasked with creating an arrangement for flutes, trumpets, piccolo, and flugelhorn, to which were added oboes, cor anglais (English horn), and bowed double bass.” When all of that and the vocals and other sound effects had been added Paul then decided he wanted a piccolo trumpet solo, having watched a Bach concert on TV. He came up with that part himself in the studio and sang/played it for George Martin and soloist David Mason. George Martin said: "I could have written some notes myself, but they wouldn't have been such good notes."
"Strawberry Fields" & "Penny Lane" were the first two songs recorded for Sgt. Pepper, but were rush-released as a double-A-side single, due to pressure from Capitol Records. The Beatles didn't want Sgt. Pepper to include any singles, so they were left off the album. In the US, they were included on the Magical Mystery Tour album at the end of 1967; in Britain, they didn't appear on an album until 1967-1970 (a.k.a. the Blue compilation), released in 1973.
If you want to visit Britain there is a Beatleweek in Liverpool every year. Book a room at the Adelphi Hotel which has four stages with Beatles cover bands from six pm to twelve pm every night. And everywhere in the town there’s Beatles music. The Cavern of course and much more. Like a trip to Penny Lane and perhaps get a haircut in the barbershop. Or visit the entrance to Strawberry fields. Me and my wife used to call it Loverpool.
Yep. As a Scouser in my teens in the 1960s, 'finger pie' had nothing to do with food, and we all sussed it on the first time of hearing! And there's a certain connotation to 'fish' which we all knew also...
They had no idea! 😀 In some respects John and Paul remained naughty teenagers at heart, taking the opportunity to slip something risque into their songs, whenever they could. I loved the story of the 'tit-tit-tit--tit' backing vocals in Girl, that George Martin said would 'of course' have to be replaced with something more appropriate. But Paul batted his long eyelashes innocently and assured him it was OK, because it was in fact 'dit-dit-dit-dit' they were singing, not 'tit' at all... George was sceptical but eventually let it pass, and apparently those naughty boys had a great laugh about it afterwards. What he thought of the 'phwooohh' inhalation noises, I don't recall! 😀
@@kjellcarlsson5639 Yep. They put that kind of thing in other songs as well. Girl: 'tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit,'. Day Tripper: She's a 'big teaser' - 'She's a prick teaser'.
John wanted to write a nostalgia song about his childhood in Liverpool and couldn't make it work, so he rethought the concept, dropped all the specific references, and turned it into "In My Life," where he talks about nostalgia in a more abstract way. Paul then took John's original idea and basically said "I can make this work." The result was two absolute masterpieces, starting from the same basic germ of an idea and growing in completely different directions.
At 3:37, if you're quick, you can just get a glimpse of the black-painted Bioletti's - the barber's shop where it all all happened - just before the bus comes by and obscures it. Nowadays it's called Slavin's but is still a hairdresser's. Paul visited it a few years ago as part of his tour of old haunts in Liverpool in a Carpool Karaoke episode. There were old photos on the wall of the younger, mop-top era Beatles having their hair cut, and Paul poses for a new one with the current staff. He also visits his old family home near Penny Lane, and plays the piano there. They pass the church where Paul sang in the choir as a boy and his brother got married, and visit the roundabout where the pretty nurse sold poppies (for Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day in the UK, commemorating the fallen of WWI and later wars) where they try their hand at busking. The day out ends with a fabulous surprise show at a local pub, with Paul and his current band acting as a human jukebox for the pub patrons to select their favourite Beatles numbers. It's an absolute trip. If you're beginning to love seeing glimpses of the Beatles 'au naturel' and are interested to see more of where they grew up, this is a must see video, available here on YT. Billions of views, of course. I think it would make a fun 'reaction' episode, if you felt like doing it.
This and Strawberry Fields are so improved by listening without the video, which at the time was our first exposure, but no method to access afterward. Thanks for relistening without it on Strawberry.
Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were the first two songs recorded for Sgt. Pepper which took them 6 months to record. But the record company said they needed a single. So they released these two songs which never made it onto Sgt. Pepper. Later in the year they were included on the U.S. version of Magical Mystery Tour. Probably one of the greatest double A-sided singles ever.
Nearly right! 'When I'm 64' was slotted in between 'Strawberry Fields' and 'Penny Lane' at the tail end of 1966. They broke for Christmas and started afresh with John singing 'A Day In The Life'. Engineer Geoff Emerick was gobsmacked, his reaction was he couldn't believe John could write a better song than 'Strawberry Fields' but he had, but I digress.
Amazing how many really great Beatles songs there are. Penny Lane is one of them. Paul singing beautifully, and John coming in at certain moments with a gorgeous raspy vocal. Soooooo good.
Note the sound of McCartney’s Rickenbacker 4003 bass with flat wound strings through a fender, bassman amp all tubed very much on the treble side with even order harmonics
"Penny Lane" is an actual place in Liverpool England, where all of the Beatles were from as kids and young adults. Everything and place, they are singing about in the song, is real, or was in their youth. We all remember places from our youth and remember them with fond memories. Penny Lane was that place for the members of The Beatles.
BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN and do it with lyrics in front of you. One of Lennon's best lyric'd numbers. PENNY and STRAWBERRY were the first time folks had seen John wearing glasses, too, and they became the ultra chic wear.
The songs of my youth growing up with The BEATLES all over the radio stations every day that most of us sang along knowing all the words and songs by then!
I have always loved Ringo's drummond, even from their earliest days when they first acquired him. All the way through. Another one that I think is just fantastic bit of drumming that fits the song so perfectly and grounds those abstract elements you were talking about, is, Come Together.
This and Strawberry Fields were recorded in 1966 - amazing. At this point most people still thought of them as the 'lovable mop tops' that appeared in 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Help', etc. They made this video and another for 'Strawberry FIelds' around the same time to promote the new songs. The 'Strawberry Fields' video was shown on American bandstand in early 67. A lot of those kids weren't ready for the 'new' Beatles appearance. They weren't quite so 'clean cut'. Dick Clark showed the video, then asked some of the kids on the show what they thought. It's pretty humorous listening to the reactions.
The films for "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were shown first in the United States on the Ed Sullivan show, the day before the single was released in February 1967. The American Bandstand showing was about a month later. It's true that the mustaches were a surprise, and didn't go over very well with a lot of young girls.
We are a video generation, but when the Beatles made music, it was music to be listened to, not watched. The only way to understand what the Beatles were producing is with a really good headphone and your eyes closed. Try it sometime.
hey that's actually really beautiful that you don't have time to respond to all the comments...😊 that means that you're becoming more and more successful!!!!
It’s crazy how a couple of islands (Great Briton) can have such a musical effect on the world. And then think about how a tiny area of those islands can concentrate so many game changing bands. Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. It’s only a Northern song, but thank you. Roxy Music - The Thrill Of It All The Kinks - Around the Dial Blue Öyster Cult - I Love the Night Band of Horses - Wicked Gil Lush - Desire Lines
Lee, once you've been through their albums, "A Hard Day's Night", and "Help", please check out those movies. They both, especially "A Hard Day's Night ", show the humorous cheekiness of the early "Fab Four"! I think you would get a kick out of both! movies!
The Beatles' "videos" were rarely seen by most people back in the sixties. They would be shown on television sporadically around the time the singles were out to promote them and were pretty much forgotten until more recently. As someone who has followed The Beatles since around the time they broke up when I was a teenager, I didn't see any of these until the last ten years.
I'm 55, it's good to see gen z seeing how great the Beatles were/are. I think in another 60 years they'll be further scene as some mid-19th century GOOD composer like Chopin or Beethoven.
Wow, I am adopted as well. And after all those years I did finally meet my birth mom and other biological members of my family, and my birth mom and I have a good relationship and text and talk on the phone on a regular basis and have visited each other in person a couple times and will do so again here at some point. I'm just so glad that that finally came about after wondering about it for decades.
The melody in this song will stay with you forever. The song was a massive hit on the radio, and I've heard the line "It's a clean machine" many many times since. Glad you enjoyed it!
The songs always played out so beautifully in my mind before TH-cam was a thing and I learned about these promo films. Don't get me wrong, I love these films but I'm glad that I was able to create my own inner experience with the songs first. PS: The piccolo trumpet solo is everything!
Upbeat, plus some. Paul was a master of upbeat, seemingly lightweight songwriting. When I visited Penny Lane roundabout it was as described in the song. This song, like many Beatles' songs, simply makes me feel better. Every time. I appreciate your reaction.
Ringo is that last bit of seasoning or the ingredient needed to make the perfect dish. 😂. A scouse dish 😂😂 A pan of scouse lar . Great reaction brother.
Ringo drumming is his . There might have been a song here or there where there was suggestion but Ringo did his on thing, George Martin wasn't impress at the beginning but later said he was a great drummer . .
In before the block. They started sessions for "Strawberry Fields Forever" in late 1966. "Penny Lane" was started soon after, and -- as has been said many times -- the two songs formed the most famous double-A side single not to hit number one. But the band and George Martin threw themselves into the recording and production, definitely inspired by what Brian Wilson was doing, but also building on their own work. One important thing about this film was that it ushered in a new look for John Lennon. Up til then he had avoided ever being photographed or seen in public wearing glasses, but he must have decided it was no longer practical to not wear them at all times. So the famous round glasses make their first appearance in context of a Beatles production (he did also wear the same glasses in the film "How I Won The War", which he filmed in Spain in autumn 1966.)
According to Ringo, the reason his style is unique is because he’s a left-handed person playing a right handed drum kit. So he can’t do things the way a right handed drummer would play a right handed kit. He starts with his left hand, not his right. As far as the promotional films are concerned, I think they distract from the song. Music is meant to hear not see. 🕊❤️🎼
One distinctive thing about “Penny Lane” is the extremely high pitched trumpet solos. They are performed on a piccolo trumpet, an instrument that Paul McCartney had heard on BBC. He asked George Martin about it, and Martin recruited David Mason, a master of the piccolo trumpet to play on the track. By all accounts, his performance is extraordinary, as those high notes are very difficult.
George's father was a bus driver, and would have driven through Penny Lane a lot, where the lads often used to meet up when schoolboys. Paul's dad was a fireman during WW2 and John had used Penny Lane (and many other places in Liverpool) as a nostalgic memory in his first draft of the lyrics for In My Life before he rewrote that song with less specific and more universal phrases (there are places I remember)
A few years ago we discovered one of our trumpet players played piccolo trumpet (we had 6 horns: 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, and 3 saxes/woodwinds), so I wrote this out. It was way beyond cool!
The Piccolo trumpet player they hired for the solo was David Mason, and he managed a bit of magic himself when he was able to reach the final note, which was technically out of the range of the instrument, but Paul convinced him he could do it: th-cam.com/video/top2SkATHI4/w-d-xo.html
As you say - would the Sgt Pepper album have been improved by including both Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever ? Probably yes. The 2 songs were respectively Paul and John's reflections on Liverpool. No doubt in my mind it is the best double A side ever. Kept off the top spot by Englebert Humperdinck's "Release Me". There was one story that those calculating the chart art the time made the error of dividing sales of this by 2 because there were 2 "A" sides - not sure to be honest, and "Release Me" was actually the top selling single in the UK in 1967.
You should listen and react to the original studio (White Album) version of 'Helter Skelter' for one of the great rockers of The Beatles enormous catalog. Love what you are doing bro! Keep the faith and best wishes....
There is a fine documentary you might enjoy. “Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution with Howard Goodall”. This brilliant album becomes even more impressive once you discover this skill and innovation required to bring it into being.
I remember hearing the record for the first time in Feb 1967. I was 11. I didn't recognize them in the photos on the record sleeve of the 45. It was weird. They had different hair, beards, mustaches!
I'm a guitar player not a drummer ,but I saw a few lemgthy interviews with Ringo . He demonstrated on one instance on a drum kit ,that he was actually a left handed drummer and by playing righty , it caused him to drag ever so slightly . For that reason , he stated it was why it so hard for most drummers to emulate him .
I am too young to have lived when this double a single was released and then I really dont know how people experienced it then, but I always though it was a shame that they wouldnt wait a bit to make them part of the Sgt Peppers album. If they had included these two songs that album would be BY FAR the best album ever. Many still rank the album at the top but with Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane there would be no doubt. Im sure it all worked out anyway and the songs were made part of the Magical Mystery Tour album, which I think is a very good album but IMHO both songs wouldve found a better place on the Sgt Peppers album
One of the many mysteries of the Beatles. But to them, it was no mystery. The record company wants to release the two songs early- before the album was finished? Uh, they were pretty good, but, OK, sure, why not, no big deal- we've got more where those came from! Done.
Per a TV interview with Paul McCartney, John Lennon wrote Strawbery Fields a real area he once lived near and it inspired him to write about a real place he lived by Penny Lane. And of course, they both always worked together on the final arrangements details.
The greatest Beatles instrumental thanks to George Martin scoring Paul's vocal musings and hiring David Mason of the LSO to play the piccolo trumpet. Absolute genius! Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields should have been on the 2nd side of the disc in addition to George's It's All Too Much and can Rita, 64, and the corn flake song, which would have made the B side as strong as the A side.
![[BAEMON NEWS 7] NEW ALBUM COMING IN](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wtVeAPimOyo/mqdefault.jpg)
I had to drive up to Liverpool, for a business meeting, in the 80s. Imagine my feelings when, slightly lost, I found myself driving down Penny Lane! It was like finding Narnia!
Wow!
Considering their whole carrier, I think they were not a band but simply a miracle.
Paul (PennyLane) and John (Strawberry Fields) wrote about neighborhoods where they grew up.
I lived in Stratford, London in 1966 and 1967. One day my sister (14) came galloping in shouting that the Beatles were in Angel Lane not far from where we lived. We ran up Western Street and there they were with a huge film crew and horses filming scenes for this video. Quite why they chose Stratford I can’t imagine. I remember Angel Lane as a run-down very old street with an open market day. I was eight years old and from rural Essex so seeing live eels sliding about in steel trays in the fishmongers frontages was unpleasant.
I remember being a bit shocked by the Beatles appearances. For me when I’d seen them on television they were clean shaven and with that mop top really popular Beatles cut. I saw them that day with peculiar moustaches and different hair and it was a surprise. For decades I was convinced that Penny Lane in the song was in fact Angel Lane and I knew because “I was there!” Oh dear….wrong.
London was buzzing at that time and day trips into the city on the underground were great, we’d go to Carnaby Street and the West End to see the colour and fashion, my sister loved it all. We owned a cafe at the time and the jukebox was updated every week so the latest hits were always playing hot off the press and at the time it was an endless river of great stuff, although my taste in music at eight years old was questionable at best.
Wow, you have great memories!
Sweet stories!
Paul was listening to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #2 on tv and the sound of the small piccolo trumpet caught his ear. He then had the actual musician from that tv performance come and do the Penny Lane recording.
David Mason was an English orchestral, solo and session trumpet player. He played the flugelhorn for the premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams's ninth symphony and the piccolo trumpet solo on the Beatles' song "Penny Lane". Wikipedia
Born: April 2, 1926, London, United Kingdom
Died: April 29, 2011 (age 85 years), London, United Kingdom
Paul could play the trumpet a bit (he traded his trumpet for his first guitar because he wanted to sing too) but he'd never played piccolo trumpet and wanted a guest artist who could do justice to the ideas he was working with.
1967 brilliance written by Paul McCartney.
Paul insisted on the piccolo trumpet with the ultra high pitch range for the interlude. What went on inside their minds is where their true talent laid. I loved all of their stuff but still as a young teen in 1963 I look back and I have the most affection for them when they were just a band. Their early work always makes me smile. I believe they were happiest when they just played music without the technological help. 2 guitars, bass and drums in front to people. That is where you really see the foundation of who they really were. But I suppose you had to be there in that time to understand. One of the greatest gifts in my life. They inspired my 40 year career as a musician. Without them I would have lived working in a factory somewhere.
I wasnt there and I too like their early stuff at least as much as their later experiments and this is coming from a metalhead...cheers
Dave Mason of the London Philharmonic Orchestra was responsible for the piccolo trumpet on Penny Lane.
Liverpool had/has green busses -not red like London. Some parts were filmed around Liverpool's Penny Lane bus exchange, and shops. The parts with the Beatles were filmed closer to London -Horses and park, like "Strawberry Fields" was not filmed there. I visited Penny Lane, and John's home, where he lived with his Aunt, and Uncle, is a street away. There is this tradition that this area of Liverpool has to keep a Bank, a Barber, the Bus station and roundabout -for the song and tourism. The Actual Strawberry Fields (what was a Salvation Army home and park) is about a mile or so, away from P.Lane.
I had a Cat, a fine Tabby, whom I named Penny Lane (Mrs. Penny) -she was joined by a male Cat, whom I named George,...I am a Beatles fan. (Penny died in 2022; George "is")
RIP john.... Thank you for everything ❤
Spent the early part of my childhood, in the 60s, living near Penny Lane and other places mentioned in the lyrics but never realised it. After we moved away from Liverpool, I moved back again as an adult in the 70s and only then did I realise that I used to live, and now had moved back, to the area immortalised in my favourite Beatles song.
That's wild!
@@stevedahlberg8680 Maybe not. I probably subconsciously remembered things about this area and so when I was looking for a place to move to, out of my parents house, I found myself sort of going "home". I think I like this song so much because of the nostalgia I felt going back to this area and the same feeling whenever I hear it. But then it is a good song and was, maybe still is, a great part of Liverpool.
I lived in Hillside Road (Menlove Avenue at the top of the road and Allerton Road at the bottom) from 1975 to 1987, so know all of the places mentioned in the song. For those who don't know: the barber shop is still there; the bank was a Martins Bank at the time (later taken over by Barclays); the 'shelter in the middle of the roundabout' was the terminus building for buses whose terminus was 'Penny Lane'. Penny Lane is actually across the road from the shelter. I passed the shelter twice a day on the way to and from work, and it was amazing to see coaches constantly there with tourists from all over the world poring over the things mentioned in the song and taking shitloads of photos!
@@Pokafalva In the late 70s I lived near the end of Ullet Road, near the junction with Smithdown Road, and I remember going along there and down Penny Lane many time for shopping or just out for a wander.
That's north of Sefton Park, but back when I was a toddler, we used to live just west of the park in a road off Lark Lane; went back there about 10 years ago and while the north side of Sefton Park still looked familiar the west and south sides around Lark Lane and Aigburth Road looked nothing like my memories from being there from birth to around 4 years old back in the late 50s and early 60s. It probably has changed a lot but my memories are very vague too.
@@PaulMDove2I know all of those places you mention. I also should have said that mention of a 'fireman' in the song probably related to the the staff who manned the Fire Station on Mather Avenue. My mother-in-law was Matron of Lathbury House, the old people's home on Ullet Road just before the junction with Smithdown Road. Small world!
"the production, the horns, the bouncy piano, I guess that was down to George Martin" Well actually Paul was very much in control of this track, starting with multiple piano overdubs using different pianos and effects to build up the sound that's the basis of the track (buried somewhere in the dense mix are still more piano overdubs added later by George Martin and John). Geoff Emerick said “Paul had very definite thoughts about the instrumentation he wanted on 'Penny Lane. George Martin was tasked with creating an arrangement for flutes, trumpets, piccolo, and flugelhorn, to which were added oboes, cor anglais (English horn), and bowed double bass.” When all of that and the vocals and other sound effects had been added Paul then decided he wanted a piccolo trumpet solo, having watched a Bach concert on TV. He came up with that part himself in the studio and sang/played it for George Martin and soloist David Mason. George Martin said: "I could have written some notes myself, but they wouldn't have been such good notes."
"Strawberry Fields" & "Penny Lane" were the first two songs recorded for Sgt. Pepper, but were rush-released as a double-A-side single, due to pressure from Capitol Records. The Beatles didn't want Sgt. Pepper to include any singles, so they were left off the album. In the US, they were included on the Magical Mystery Tour album at the end of 1967; in Britain, they didn't appear on an album until 1967-1970 (a.k.a. the Blue compilation), released in 1973.
If you want to visit Britain there is a Beatleweek in Liverpool every year. Book a room at the Adelphi Hotel which has four stages with Beatles cover bands from six pm to twelve pm every night. And everywhere in the town there’s Beatles music. The Cavern of course and much more. Like a trip to Penny Lane and perhaps get a haircut in the barbershop. Or visit the entrance to Strawberry fields. Me and my wife used to call it Loverpool.
Somehow the "Four of fish and finger pie" line managed to get past the BBC censor!
Yep. As a Scouser in my teens in the 1960s, 'finger pie' had nothing to do with food, and we all sussed it on the first time of hearing! And there's a certain connotation to 'fish' which we all knew also...
They had no idea! 😀
In some respects John and Paul remained naughty teenagers at heart, taking the opportunity to slip something risque into their songs, whenever they could. I loved the story of the 'tit-tit-tit--tit' backing vocals in Girl, that George Martin said would 'of course' have to be replaced with something more appropriate. But Paul batted his long eyelashes innocently and assured him it was OK, because it was in fact 'dit-dit-dit-dit' they were singing, not 'tit' at all... George was sceptical but eventually let it pass, and apparently those naughty boys had a great laugh about it afterwards. What he thought of the 'phwooohh' inhalation noises, I don't recall! 😀
@@PokafalvaAnd I heard from a Scouser that having a “clean machine” was an expression between lads going out on a Friday night. Correct?
@@kjellcarlsson5639 Yep. They put that kind of thing in other songs as well. Girl: 'tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit,'. Day Tripper: She's a 'big teaser' - 'She's a prick teaser'.
@@Pokafalva👍🏼 That’s so funny. And bold. Pushing the boundaries. As always.
John wanted to write a nostalgia song about his childhood in Liverpool and couldn't make it work, so he rethought the concept, dropped all the specific references, and turned it into "In My Life," where he talks about nostalgia in a more abstract way. Paul then took John's original idea and basically said "I can make this work." The result was two absolute masterpieces, starting from the same basic germ of an idea and growing in completely different directions.
Penny Lane/Strawberry fields was released as a single and, in Britain, songs released as singles were typically not included on albums.
Probably the most imitated pop song ever.
At 3:37, if you're quick, you can just get a glimpse of the black-painted Bioletti's - the barber's shop where it all all happened - just before the bus comes by and obscures it. Nowadays it's called Slavin's but is still a hairdresser's.
Paul visited it a few years ago as part of his tour of old haunts in Liverpool in a Carpool Karaoke episode. There were old photos on the wall of the younger, mop-top era Beatles having their hair cut, and Paul poses for a new one with the current staff. He also visits his old family home near Penny Lane, and plays the piano there. They pass the church where Paul sang in the choir as a boy and his brother got married, and visit the roundabout where the pretty nurse sold poppies (for Remembrance Day, also known as Poppy Day in the UK, commemorating the fallen of WWI and later wars) where they try their hand at busking.
The day out ends with a fabulous surprise show at a local pub, with Paul and his current band acting as a human jukebox for the pub patrons to select their favourite Beatles numbers. It's an absolute trip.
If you're beginning to love seeing glimpses of the Beatles 'au naturel' and are interested to see more of where they grew up, this is a must see video, available here on YT. Billions of views, of course. I think it would make a fun 'reaction' episode, if you felt like doing it.
Penny lane. One of their best for sure❤
This and Strawberry Fields are so improved by listening without the video, which at the time was our first exposure, but no method to access afterward. Thanks for relistening without it on Strawberry.
I don’t recall seeing any Beatles videos until VCRs in the ‘80s. (Come to think of it, I didn’t see *any* videos pre-MTV :-)
Both videos were played on the Ed Sullivan show on February 12, 1967. After that, music only for a long time!
Exactly right about Ringo as the anchor and a humble stylist without pretension.
Your reactions are thoughtful, articulate and entertaining. Keep up the great work.
I really appreciate the way you actually Listen rather than stopping and chatting or playing along, like others do.
Much enjoy your Vids! Cheers
Back in the day no one saw these videos. Just listened to the records. Once in a while a film might be on a show etc.
Right...no one saw videos... didn't even know they existed! It's so fun to see them now.
@@nanlewisThey played the videos on TV shows, like Ed Sullivan.
Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were the first two songs recorded for Sgt. Pepper which took them 6 months to record. But the record company said they needed a single. So they released these two songs which never made it onto Sgt. Pepper. Later in the year they were included on the U.S. version of Magical Mystery Tour. Probably one of the greatest double A-sided singles ever.
Yeah what a duo of tracks. So much great music they didn't have enough space for it all lol
Nearly right! 'When I'm 64' was slotted in between 'Strawberry Fields' and 'Penny Lane' at the tail end of 1966. They broke for Christmas and started afresh with John singing 'A Day In The Life'. Engineer Geoff Emerick was gobsmacked, his reaction was he couldn't believe John could write a better song than 'Strawberry Fields' but he had, but I digress.
Amazing how many really great Beatles songs there are. Penny Lane is one of them. Paul singing beautifully, and John coming in at certain moments with a gorgeous raspy vocal. Soooooo good.
Just over 4 years from writing love love me do to, then the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain, very strange.
An artistic progression like no other.
I'm a hardcore Beatlemaniac and I truly appreciate your observations and insights. Very well done!
All Beatles music is stuck in my head for ever❤
From 63-70 they were the soundtrack from age 13-20 and evert time I hear a Beatles song in takes me right back to the year it came out, memories...
I was 6-13. Crazy for them then, just as crazy now.
God this song will never get old 😊
Most songs should be listened to without the video and then with the video.
Most Beatles videos are not official videos.
Note the sound of McCartney’s Rickenbacker 4003 bass with flat wound strings through a fender, bassman amp all tubed very much on the treble side with even order harmonics
"Penny Lane" is an actual place in Liverpool England, where all of the Beatles were from as kids and young adults. Everything and place, they are singing about in the song, is real, or was in their youth. We all remember places from our youth and remember them with fond memories. Penny Lane was that place for the members of The Beatles.
superb production on this record. A very high standard the Beatles had. still sounds great today.
BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN and do it with lyrics in front of you. One of Lennon's best lyric'd numbers. PENNY and STRAWBERRY were the first time folks had seen John wearing glasses, too, and they became the ultra chic wear.
Damn dude, almost 17K!!! We like you!! ❤😂😊
I appreciate yall so much 🙏💓
The songs of my youth growing up with The BEATLES all over the radio stations every day that most of us sang along knowing all the words and songs by then!
I have always loved Ringo's drummond, even from their earliest days when they first acquired him. All the way through. Another one that I think is just fantastic bit of drumming that fits the song so perfectly and grounds those abstract elements you were talking about, is, Come Together.
This was 😃 you make my day every day ❤
This and Strawberry Fields were recorded in 1966 - amazing. At this point most people still thought of them as the 'lovable mop tops' that appeared in 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Help', etc. They made this video and another for 'Strawberry FIelds' around the same time to promote the new songs. The 'Strawberry Fields' video was shown on American bandstand in early 67. A lot of those kids weren't ready for the 'new' Beatles appearance. They weren't quite so 'clean cut'. Dick Clark showed the video, then asked some of the kids on the show what they thought. It's pretty humorous listening to the reactions.
Hahaha they discovered themselves! Damn you Bob Dylan. What did you do??
Just kidding. I loved this. The French horn was just perfect.
The films for "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were shown first in the United States on the Ed Sullivan show, the day before the single was released in February 1967. The American Bandstand showing was about a month later. It's true that the mustaches were a surprise, and didn't go over very well with a lot of young girls.
When i got this album, i couldnt believe the diveristy in it. This song just made ya feel good!
We are a video generation, but when the Beatles made music, it was music to be listened to, not watched. The only way to understand what the Beatles were producing is with a really good headphone and your eyes closed. Try it sometime.
hey that's actually really beautiful that you don't have time to respond to all the comments...😊 that means that you're becoming more and more successful!!!!
I enjoyed the video, first time seeing. Ringo struggling with the dismount from the horse was classic Ringo persona.
RINGO IS LEFT HANDED ON A RIGHT HANDED KIT...THEREFOR DIFFERENT AND INTERESTING FILLS.......LOVE YOUR SHOW !!
It’s crazy how a couple of islands (Great Briton) can have such a musical effect on the world. And then think about how a tiny area of those islands can concentrate so many game changing bands. Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. It’s only a Northern song, but thank you.
Roxy Music - The Thrill Of It All
The Kinks - Around the Dial
Blue Öyster Cult - I Love the Night
Band of Horses - Wicked Gil
Lush - Desire Lines
Lee, once you've been through their albums, "A Hard Day's Night", and "Help", please check out those movies. They both, especially "A Hard Day's Night ", show the humorous cheekiness of the early "Fab Four"! I think you would get a kick out of both! movies!
It really cemented in my head after watching the "Get Back" series what a genius McCartney was.....they just ask him for a hit and he writes it!
The Beatles' "videos" were rarely seen by most people back in the sixties. They would be shown on television sporadically around the time the singles were out to promote them and were pretty much forgotten until more recently. As someone who has followed The Beatles since around the time they broke up when I was a teenager, I didn't see any of these until the last ten years.
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
my fave beatles song ever
I'm 55, it's good to see gen z seeing how great the Beatles were/are. I think in another 60 years they'll be further scene as some mid-19th century GOOD composer like Chopin or Beethoven.
Lol I'm not gen z but thank you. I'll be 30 in 2 months
Have me a smile this morning seeing them having a good time.
Wow, I am adopted as well. And after all those years I did finally meet my birth mom and other biological members of my family, and my birth mom and I have a good relationship and text and talk on the phone on a regular basis and have visited each other in person a couple times and will do so again here at some point. I'm just so glad that that finally came about after wondering about it for decades.
One of my favorite tunes and the other side of Strawberry Fields. it was a single 45. loved the trumpets and total orchestration, bouncy tune.
Helter Skelter bro. from the white album. The 1st heavy metal song.
Lee has already reacted "Helter Skelter" but the video got blocked later.
We dissected this song in music class. Had a very cool teacher!
I have a lot of rough nights these days so I totally empathize... sending Good vibes to you.🌈
The melody in this song will stay with you forever. The song was a massive hit on the radio, and I've heard the line "It's a clean machine" many many times since. Glad you enjoyed it!
He is definitely one of my favorite drummers. along with Bonzo & Artimus pyle .
The songs always played out so beautifully in my mind before TH-cam was a thing and I learned about these promo films. Don't get me wrong, I love these films but I'm glad that I was able to create my own inner experience with the songs first. PS: The piccolo trumpet solo is everything!
PPS You should watch and react to the Carpool Karaoke episode where McCartney revisits Penny Lane (among other amazing places)!
Upbeat, plus some. Paul was a master of upbeat, seemingly lightweight songwriting. When I visited Penny Lane roundabout it was as described in the song. This song, like many Beatles' songs, simply makes me feel better. Every time. I appreciate your reaction.
Ringo is that last bit of seasoning or the ingredient needed to make the perfect dish. 😂. A scouse dish 😂😂 A pan of scouse lar . Great reaction brother.
One of the many masterpieces they made. 🎶🎶🎶👍
As always, thanks for the great reaction.
I love the beatles and i love you
Ringo drumming is his . There might have been a song here or there where there was suggestion but Ringo did his on thing, George Martin wasn't impress at the beginning but later said he was a great drummer .
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A little ditty from Paul. He was brilliantly inconsistent, often superb sometimes a bit whimsical.
As I recall, these promo vids were a new thing. We were still quite a few years away from actual music videos
Yeah these are actually short art films. Not really a music video. If I call it that it's out of me being so used to calling the music videos lol
@@L33Reacts Yeah man. I get it. The music video has become such a point of reference in our culture it's almost a generic term
Even in 1967 George Martins production way before its time. RIP.
It wound up on Magical Mystery Tour
Naughty lyric "For her fish and finger pies" ..That one got past the censors.😆
Four of fish - was in 60s Liverpool four pennies worth of fish and chips... Finger pie's- is the naughty bit
In before the block. They started sessions for "Strawberry Fields Forever" in late 1966. "Penny Lane" was started soon after, and -- as has been said many times -- the two songs formed the most famous double-A side single not to hit number one. But the band and George Martin threw themselves into the recording and production, definitely inspired by what Brian Wilson was doing, but also building on their own work. One important thing about this film was that it ushered in a new look for John Lennon. Up til then he had avoided ever being photographed or seen in public wearing glasses, but he must have decided it was no longer practical to not wear them at all times. So the famous round glasses make their first appearance in context of a Beatles production (he did also wear the same glasses in the film "How I Won The War", which he filmed in Spain in autumn 1966.)
According to Ringo, the reason his style is unique is because he’s a left-handed person playing a right handed drum kit. So he can’t do things the way a right handed drummer would play a right handed kit. He starts with his left hand, not his right.
As far as the promotional films are concerned, I think they distract from the song.
Music is meant to hear not see.
🕊❤️🎼
As with Strawberry Fields Forever, most of Penny Lane promo was filmed at Knole Park and around West Malling.
Always cool to see the Beatles
🙏🏼🙏🏼 hope your nights get better. I enjoy your show.
One distinctive thing about “Penny Lane” is the extremely high pitched trumpet solos. They are performed on a piccolo trumpet, an instrument that Paul McCartney had heard on BBC. He asked George Martin about it, and Martin recruited David Mason, a master of the piccolo trumpet to play on the track. By all accounts, his performance is extraordinary, as those high notes are very difficult.
Good song for a tired day. They were so darned cute.
George's father was a bus driver, and would have driven through Penny Lane a lot, where the lads often used to meet up when schoolboys. Paul's dad was a fireman during WW2 and John had used Penny Lane (and many other places in Liverpool) as a nostalgic memory in his first draft of the lyrics for In My Life before he rewrote that song with less specific and more universal phrases (there are places I remember)
I always loved Baby You're A Rich Man (lennon) off same album
Greatest A / A Sides in 45 History!
A few years ago we discovered one of our trumpet players played piccolo trumpet (we had 6 horns: 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, and 3 saxes/woodwinds), so I wrote this out. It was way beyond cool!
Magical Mystery Tour is one of the best psychedelic albums ever.
"It's a clean machine"!
The Piccolo trumpet player they hired for the solo was David Mason, and he managed a bit of magic himself when he was able to reach the final note, which was technically out of the range of the instrument, but Paul convinced him he could do it: th-cam.com/video/top2SkATHI4/w-d-xo.html
As you say - would the Sgt Pepper album have been improved by including both Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever ? Probably yes. The 2 songs were respectively Paul and John's reflections on Liverpool.
No doubt in my mind it is the best double A side ever. Kept off the top spot by Englebert Humperdinck's "Release Me". There was one story that those calculating the chart art the time made the error of dividing sales of this by 2 because there were 2 "A" sides - not sure to be honest, and "Release Me" was actually the top selling single in the UK in 1967.
They all could ride horses and did a good job ...lol. love your video reaction.✌💫
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed. I used to ride when I was younger too my mom is a trainer/breeder
Welcome in Liverpool anytime 😊
It’s also included on the album Magical Mystery Tour album sound track.
You should listen and react to the original studio (White Album) version of 'Helter Skelter' for one of the great rockers of The Beatles enormous catalog.
Love what you are doing bro! Keep the faith and best wishes....
There is a fine documentary you might enjoy. “Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution with Howard Goodall”. This brilliant album becomes even more impressive once you discover this skill and innovation required to bring it into being.
I remember hearing the record for the first time in Feb 1967. I was 11. I didn't recognize them in the photos on the record sleeve of the 45. It was weird. They had different hair, beards, mustaches!
I'm a guitar player not a drummer ,but I saw a few lemgthy interviews with Ringo . He demonstrated on one instance on a drum kit ,that he was actually a left handed drummer and by playing righty , it caused him to drag ever so slightly . For that reason , he stated it was why it so hard for most drummers to emulate him .
I am too young to have lived when this double a single was released and then I really dont know how people experienced it then, but I always though it was a shame that they wouldnt wait a bit to make them part of the Sgt Peppers album. If they had included these two songs that album would be BY FAR the best album ever. Many still rank the album at the top but with Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane there would be no doubt. Im sure it all worked out anyway and the songs were made part of the Magical Mystery Tour album, which I think is a very good album but IMHO both songs wouldve found a better place on the Sgt Peppers album
One of the many mysteries of the Beatles. But to them, it was no mystery. The record company wants to release the two songs early- before the album was finished? Uh, they were pretty good, but, OK, sure, why not, no big deal- we've got more where those came from! Done.
Apparently, the all the sites mentioned in the song are real. There's even a "Penny Lane Tour" in Liverpool that points out all the landmarks. :-)
I would refer you to the Video made by Sina, one of the best drummers in the world, on why Ringo is a genius.
Per a TV interview with Paul McCartney, John Lennon wrote Strawbery Fields a real area he once lived near and it inspired him to write about a real place he lived by Penny Lane. And of course, they both always worked together on the final arrangements details.
The greatest Beatles instrumental thanks to George Martin scoring Paul's vocal musings and hiring David Mason of the LSO to play the piccolo trumpet. Absolute genius! Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields should have been on the 2nd side of the disc in addition to George's It's All Too Much and can Rita, 64, and the corn flake song, which would have made the B side as strong as the A side.
dont know what the corn flake song is but I am with you on Rita meter maid....when Im 64 is terrific though
@@junkersish Cornflakes is John's Good Morning, Good Morning that was inspired by the Kellogg commercial of their cornflake brand.