Penny Lane Lyrics



Lennon/McCartney


In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know.
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello.

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar,
The little children laugh at him behind his back.
And the banker never wears a mack
In the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back

In penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean,
It's a clean machine.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
A four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And tho' she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway.

In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer,
We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim.
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back.
Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies,
Penny Lane.

 
Lead Singer: Paul

Recording: 12/29/66, 12/30/66, 1/2/67, 1/5/67, 1/6/67, 1/9/67, 1/10/67, 1/12/67, 1/17/67
Mixing: 12/29/66, 12/30/66, 1/9/67, 1/12/67, 1/17/67, 1/25/67, 9/30/71
Length: 2:57
Take: 9

Anomalies

1:19-1:21
Crescendoing microphone feedback, similiar to at the end of the song but most likely an error
1:27,1:30,2:32 * NEW *
Bizarre sound on the 4th beat of each of these measures. Sounds like either a very low tuned timpani/floor tom, or like the studio was collapsing around the recording! Whatever the sound is, it is irregular and not consistent within the choruses.
2:04
Two bar passage of double bass, under the lines "banker sitting waiting for a trim". Was this a mixing decision (only to put double bass there, i.e. it could have been throughout the song), or was it recorded like that?.

Mike Dickson observes :-
"I understand that this is a deliberate musical effect, this particular song being littered with them. The sound of the double bass playing the slow deep lines is being used to signify the banker, presumably as an emblem of slowness or arthritis or something." br>Similarly with the fireman <-> tubular bell ....

Max Mismetti adds :-
I don't think they had channels enough to record a double bass isolated [to mix in later] It was supposed to be like that.

This was inspired by Paul McCartney's childhood memories of Penny Lane, an area in Liverpool, England.
The trumpet part was added after the rest of the song was finished. McCartney was watching the BBC when he saw a group called The New Philharmonia perform Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto #2." He got the idea to add a trumpet part, and asked the group's trumpet player, Dave Mason, to play on this. Mason brought 9 trumpets to the session, eventually deciding to use a B-flat piccolo trumpet. Mason, who is not the same Dave Mason from the group Traffic, played on a few other Beatles songs, including "A Day In The Life," "Magical Mystery Tour," and "All You Need Is Love."
Dave Mason played some trumpet for the end of the song, but it was cut out from the final release. It did make it onto the promotional single sent to radio stations, and was also used in the mix released on the Anthology album.
John Lennon played piano and George Harrison played the conga drum. There is no guitar.
There are some obscene references in this that were intentional - "Finger Pie" and "keeps his fire engine clean" were sexual slang.
The first time The Beatles appeared with facial hair was in the promotional film for this song.
Street signs on Penny Lane in Liverpool began disappearing after this was released. The town painted "Penny Lane" on buildings to avoid theft.
This was the Beatles' first single since "Please Please Me" 4 years earlier that didn't hit #1 in England.
Intended for the Sgt. Pepper album, Capitol Records released this as a single instead.
In the movie Almost Famous, Penny Lane is the name of one of the groupies. Kate Hudson was nominated for an Oscar for the role.


Magical Mystery Tour Lyrics   

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