THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

10-Beatles-A Day in the Life.

1967-It has never been released as a single in the UK.

Best Bit-At 2.16. As I have stated previously, regardless of whether a song was written by either John Lennon, (Strawberry Fields Forever) or Paul McCartney, (Yesterday) they were contractually obliged to share the writing credit ‘Lennon/McCartney,’ but on this song they both really did have input.

‘A Day in the Life’ is the last of the 13 tracks on the Beatles (see also best songs 599-456-319-238-218-141-80-51 and 5) eighth studio Album ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ from May 1967, the song and the Album were produced by the Beatles long term collaborator George Martin (1926-2016.) The personnel who played on ‘A Day in the Life’ were John Lennon, (lead vocal, and acoustic guitar) Paul McCartney, (lead vocal, piano, and bass guitar) George Harrison, (1943-2001) (see also best songs 737 and 726) (maracas) and Ringo Starr (drums, and congas.) Also playing on the song was George Martin, (harmonium) the Beatles road manager Mal Evans, (1935-1976) and a 40 piece orchestra.

The initial inspiration for ‘A Day in the Life’ came from John Lennon, (1940-1980) (see also best songs 927-473-456-168 and 20) after he had been reading two separate articles in the British newspaper the ‘Daily Mail’ on January 17th, 1967. One of the articles was a report about the Irish socialite and heir to the ‘Guinness’ fortune Tara Browne, (1945-1966) who Lennon had previously met, and had just been killed after recklessly driving his Lotus car through traffic lights into a stationary van, this is the subject that forms the first two verses of the song. The fifth and final verse was inspired by the headline ‘The holes in our roads,’ which told of how the ‘Blackburn Road Surveyor’ had counted 4,000 holes in the roads of Blackburn, in Lancashire, England. Lennon sarcastically tells us that they now know how many holes it takes to fill the ‘Albert Hall.’ Verse three also written by Lennon is about the unhappy experience he had while filming for his role in ‘How I Won the War,’ between September and October 1966, while all four Beatles were on hiatus.

It was Paul McCartney (see also best songs 646 and 107) who provided verse four. Lennon had nothing for the middle part of the song, and McCartney had lyrics written (‘Woke up, fell out of bed’) but no complete song to put them to. McCartney’s lyrics are a recollection of his younger years in Liverpool, which included riding on the number 82 bus to school, smoking, and going to class. McCartney also provided the line ‘I’d love to turn you on,’ which concludes two of the verses, McCartney has said,’This was the time of Tim Leary’s (1920-1996) ‘Turn on, tune in, drop out,’ and we wrote, ‘I’d love to turn you on.’ John and I gave each other a knowing look: ‘Uh-huh, it’s a drug song. You know that, don’t you?’ Prior to the recording of the ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ Album, McCartney was the only member of the Beatles who wasn’t using the drug ‘LSD,’ but after being introduced to it he claimed that he and Lennon were working together as a team better than ever. George Martin commented that he had always suspected that the line ‘Found my way upstairs and had a smoke’ was a drug reference, recalling how the Beatles would ‘disappear and have a little puff’, presumably of marijuana, but not in front of him.

The idea of using a 40 piece orchestra was also the idea of Paul McCartney, initially he had asked for a 90 piece orchestra but that proved logistically impossible. The orchestra part was recorded on February 10th, 1967, in Studio One, at EMI Studios at a cost of £367, which in the 2020’s is equivalent to over £7,000. George Martin and Paul McCartney conducted the orchestra who were told to attend the session dressed formally. When they got there, they were presented with party novelties, such as false noses, party hats, and gorilla-paw gloves to wear, as the idea was to record the session for a future documentary, which never came about, although parts of the session were added to the songs promotional video.

‘Woke up, fell 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.’