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Wikipedia

Penny Lane

April 24, 2023

This article is about the song. For other uses, see Penny Lane (disambiguation).

"Penny Lane" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever". It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. The lyrics refer to Penny Lane, a street in Liverpool, and make mention of the sights and characters that McCartney recalled from his upbringing in the city.

"Penny Lane"
US picture sleeve
Single by the Beatles
A-side"Strawberry Fields Forever" (double A-side)
Released13 February 1967 (1967-02-13)
Recorded29 December 1966 – 17 January 1967
StudioEMI, London
Genre
Length3:03
Label
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
Promotional film
"Penny Lane" on YouTube

The Beatles began recording "Penny Lane" in December 1966, intending it as a song for their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Instead, after it was issued as a single to satisfy record company demand for a new release, the band adhered to their policy of omitting previously released singles from their albums. The song features numerous modulations that occur mid-verse and between its choruses. Session musician David Mason played a piccolo trumpet solo for its bridge section.

"Penny Lane" was a top-five hit across Europe and topped the US Billboard Hot 100. In Britain, due to chart protocol regarding double A-sides, it was the first Beatles single since "Please Please Me" in 1963 to fail to reach number 1 on the Record Retailer chart. In November 1967, "Penny Lane" was included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the track at number 280 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2006, Mojo ranked the song at number 9 of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs".

Background and inspiration

Penny Lane is a road in the south Liverpool suburb of Mossley Hill. The name also applies to the area surrounding its junction with Smithdown Road and Allerton Road, and to the roundabout at Smithdown Place that was the location for a major bus terminus, originally an important tram junction of Liverpool Corporation Tramways.[6] The roundabout was a frequent stopping place for John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison during their years as schoolchildren and students.[6] Bus journeys via Penny Lane and the area itself subsequently became familiar elements in the early years of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership.[7] In 2009, McCartney reflected:

"Penny Lane" was kind of nostalgic, but it was really [about] a place that John and I knew ... I'd get a bus to his house and I'd have to change at Penny Lane, or the same with him to me, so we often hung out at that terminus, like a roundabout. It was a place that we both knew, and so we both knew the things that turned up in the story.[8]

Lennon's original lyrics for "In My Life" had included a reference to Penny Lane.[9] Soon after the Beatles recorded "In My Life" in October 1965, McCartney mentioned to an interviewer that he wanted to write a song about Penny Lane. A year later, he was spurred to write the song once presented with Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever".[10][11] McCartney also cited Dylan Thomas's nostalgic poem "Fern Hill" as an inspiration for "Penny Lane".[12] Lennon co-wrote the lyrics with McCartney.[13][14] He recalled in a 1970 interview: "The bank was there, and that was where the trams sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was reliving childhood."[13]

Writing for the song took place early in the sessions for what became the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album,[15] which commenced following a three-month period when the Beatles had pursued individual interests.[16] Beatles biographer Ian MacDonald suggested an LSD influence, saying that the lyrical imagery points to McCartney first taking LSD in late 1966. MacDonald concluded that the lyric "And though she feels as if she's in a play / She is anyway" was one of the more "LSD-redolent phrases" in the Beatles' catalogue.[17] Music critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler similarly described the subject matter as "essentially 'Liverpool-on-a-sunny-hallucinogenic-afternoon'".[18]

Composition

Music

 
The barber shop (pictured in 2018) formerly owned by Harry Bioletti, who is referred to in the song as "a barber showing photographs / Of every head he's had the pleasure to know".

"Penny Lane" begins in the key of B major[19] and is in 4/4 time throughout.[20] The song comprises three rounds of two verses and a chorus, with the chorus repeated during the final round.[20] In its melody, the composition has a double tonic structure of B major verse (in I–vi–ii–V cycles) and A major chorus connected by formal pivoting dominant chords.[21] In the opening bars in B major, after singing "In Penny Lane" (in an F♯–B–C♯–D♯ melody note ascent) McCartney sings the major third of the first chord in the progression (on "Lane") and major seventh (on "barber") then switches to a Bm chord, singing the flattened third notes (on "know" with a i7 [Bm7] chord) and flattened seventh notes (on "come and go" [with a ♭VImaj7 [Gmaj7] chord] and "say hello" [with a V7sus4 [F♯7sus4] chord]).[22] Musicologist Dominic Pedler describes this as a profound and surprising innovation involving abandoning mid-cycle what initially appears to be a standard I–vi–ii–V doo-wop pop chord cycle.[23]

The song features contrasting verse–chorus form.[24] To get from the verse "In the pouring rain – very strange" McCartney uses an E chord as a pivot, (it is a IV chord in the preceding B key and a V in the looming A key) to take listeners back into the chorus ("Penny Lane is in my ears ..."). Likewise to get back from the chorus of "There beneath the blue suburban skies I sit, and meanwhile back ...", McCartney uses an F♯7 pivot chord, which is a VI in the old A key and a V in the new B key. The lyrics "very strange" and "meanwhile back" reflect these tonal shifts.[25]

Lyrics

 
"Penny Lane" sample
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Lyrically there are several ambiguous and surreal images. The song is seemingly narrated on a fine summer day ("beneath the blue suburban skies"), yet at the same time it is raining ("the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain") and approaching winter ("selling poppies from a tray" implies Remembrance Day, 11 November). MacDonald stated: "Seemingly naturalistic, the lyric scene is actually kaleidoscopic. As well as raining and shining at the same time, it is simultaneously summer and winter."[26] The fireman and fire engine referred to in the lyrics were based on memories of the fire station at Mather Avenue,[27] while the barber shop was Bioletti's, where McCartney, Harrison and Lennon each had their hair cut as children.[28] The line "Four of fish and finger pies" is British slang. "A four of fish" refers to fourpennyworth of fish and chips, while "finger pie" is sexual slang for fingering.[29][nb 1]

According to music critic and musicologist Wilfrid Mellers, writing in his 1973 book Twilight of the Gods: "For both musical and verbal reasons, the song comes out as childishly merry yet dreamily wild at the same time. The hallucinatory feeling concerns problems of identity rather than drugs specifically, asking what, among our childhood memories, is reality and what is illusion."[31]

Production

Main recording

External video
  "Penny Lane (Take 6 / Instrumental)"

Production began in Studio 2 at EMI Studios on 29 December 1966[32] with piano as the main instrument.[33] McCartney intended the song to have a "clean" sound akin to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album.[34] Engineer Geoff Emerick recalled McCartney playing Pet Sounds repeatedly during recording session breaks, adding that "it wasn't altogether unsurprising [when] he wanted 'a really clean American sound'" for "Penny Lane".[35][nb 2] Initially, McCartney recorded keyboard parts onto the individual tracks of the four-track tape: a basic piano rhythm on track one; a second piano, recorded through a Vox guitar amplifier with added reverb, on track two; a prepared piano producing a "honky-tonk" sound on track three; and percussion effects and a harmonium playing high notes fed through the guitar amplifier on track four.[37][38] On 30 December, the four tracks were mixed together to form the first track of a new tape.[37]

On 4 January 1967, the Beatles' first session of the new year, Lennon and Harrison overdubbed contributions on piano and lead guitar, respectively, and McCartney added a lead vocal, which he then replaced the following day.[39] Further overdubs, on 6 January, included Ringo Starr's drums, McCartney's bass guitar and Lennon's rhythm guitar, as well as handclaps, congas, harmony vocals and more piano.[39] Following another reduction mix, brass and woodwind instruments, including four flutes, were added on 9 and 12 January,[40] from a score by producer George Martin, guided by McCartney's suggested melody lines.[37] On 10 January, the Beatles overdubbed effects such as scat harmony singing and a handbell, the latter in recognition of the fireman and fire engine mentioned in the lyrics. The second overdubbing session for the classical instrumentation, on 12 January, featured two further trumpets, two oboes, two cors anglais and a double bass.[40]

Piccolo trumpet solo

 
The piccolo trumpet solo performed by David Mason
Hertsgaard describes the solo as "so unmistakably a part of 'Penny Lane'", adding that "[it] rises out of the din like a bird taking wing at dawn. The sense of freedom, energy, and sheer happiness is glorious."[41]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

McCartney was dissatisfied with the initial attempts at the song's instrumental fill, and was inspired to use a piccolo trumpet after seeing trumpeter David Mason play the instrument during a BBC television broadcast of the second Brandenburg Concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach.[40] On 17 January, Mason recorded the instrumental solo used for the final mix.[1] Martin later wrote, "The result was unique, something which had never been done in rock music before."[42] The solo is in a mock-Baroque style for which the piccolo trumpet (a small instrument built about one octave higher than the standard instrument) is particularly suited, having a clean and clear sound which penetrates well through thicker midrange textures.[43] According to Emerick, Mason "nailed it" at some point during the recording; McCartney tried to get him to do another take but Martin insisted it was not necessary, sensing Mason's fatigue.[44][nb 3] He also played over the song's final chorus, replacing the oboe parts from that portion of the track.[46]

Mason later said he was impressed that Lennon, Harrison and Starr were present at the session, demonstrating a common interest in shaping the result,[41] although he was taken aback by their new look of moustaches and psychedelic clothing.[47][nb 4] Mason was paid £27 and 10 shillings for the session[40] and achieved international renown for his performance.[52][nb 5] In author Mark Hertsgaard's description, the trumpet solo is the recording's "pièce de résistance" and evokes a "sense of freedom, energy, and sheer happiness".[41] Author Jonathan Gould describes the sound as "impossibly high and bright", and says that the solo represents a "neo-Baroque pastiche of every fanfare ever blown" and casts a magical spell that allows the Beatles to insert the risqué "Four of fish and finger pies" line into the chorus that follows.[54] Classical music scholar Barry Millington described Mason's contribution as "surreal, unearthly ... a fusion of classical and rock" and commented that "so high does the part go", it was mistakenly assumed to have been sped up after recording.[52]

Alternative mixes

External video
  "Penny Lane (Capitol Records Mono US Promo Mix)"

The original US promo single mix of "Penny Lane" had an additional flourish of piccolo trumpet notes at the end of the song.[55] This mix was quickly superseded by one without the last trumpet passage, but not before copies had been pressed and sent to radio stations.[56][57] By the late 1980s, these discs were among the rarest and most valuable Beatles collectibles.[56] "Penny Lane" was mixed in stereo for the first time in 1971, for a West German issue of the Magical Mystery Tour LP and, in 1980, this mix, with the addition of the trumpet ending, was included on the US Rarities compilation and the UK set The Beatles Box.[58] A remix of the song released on the outtakes compilation Anthology 2 in 1996 included the closing trumpet flourish[46] and the solo (by cor anglais and trumpet) that had been replaced by Mason's overdub for the 1967 single.[55] The original promo single mix was made available again in 2017, when it was included on a CD of mono mixes in the six-disc 50th-anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper.[59] The two- and six-disc anniversary editions also featured a new remix of "Penny Lane" prepared by Giles Martin, designed to allow the keyboard parts to be heard distinctly.[37]

Promotional film

The Beatles' low public profile since completing their 1966 US tour in late August caused concern for Brian Epstein, their manager, who feared that the band's popularity might suffer. Wary also of the threat presented by the Monkees, an American television and recording act formed in the Beatles' image,[60] Epstein conceded to pressure from EMI in January 1967 and approached Martin for a new single by the band.[61][62] Martin told him that they had recorded "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane", which he considered to be the group's best songs up to that point.[63]

 
Street view of Stratford, east London, in 2008. Stratford's Angel Lane filled in for Penny Lane in the Beatles' promo clip.

The promotional film for "Penny Lane" was, together with the clip for "Strawberry Fields Forever", one of the first examples of what became known as a music video.[64][65] The films were directed by Peter Goldmann, a Swedish television director, and produced by Tony Bramwell for Epstein's company Subafilms.[66][67] The clip for "Penny Lane" includes footage of Liverpool[68] – such as the number 46 bus to Penny Lane, the shelter on the roundabout, and a fireman riding a white horse[69] – but street scenes featuring the Beatles were instead filmed in and around Angel Lane in Stratford, in the east of London.[70] This filming includes the band members riding horses and took place on 5 February.[61][71] Another street scene features only Lennon, walking along King's Road, Chelsea[72] among a crowd in a manner that author Robert Rodriguez terms "as if in a nostalgic reverie".[73]

More filming was done in Knole Park in Sevenoaks,[71] where the clip for "Strawberry Fields Forever" had been filmed the week before.[66] Shot on 7 February, this footage includes further horse-riding scenes, with the band members dressed in matching red tunics, and the closing scene, when they arrive at a table set up in the park, bearing a large candelabra.[61][74] During the horse ride, they pass by a stage filled with their guitars and drum kit, the latter bearing the familiar Beatles logo.[75][76] The musicians sit at the table, where they are waited on by two attendants (played by Bramwell and Mal Evans)[67] dressed in Renaissance-era costumes and wigs,[77] and presented with their musical instruments.[74] According to music critic Chris Ingham, the film appears to be "little more than an extra-curricular afterthought" relative to the surreal and experimental "Strawberry Fields Forever" clip. He adds that it nevertheless closes with "another iconoclastic gesture" as Lennon overturns the table and scatters its contents.[78]

 
The clip's closing scene, in which the Beatles drink tea at an outdoor table and are presented with their guitars

In their avoidance of any performance-related content, the clips developed the promotional medium the Beatles had introduced in 1966 with their clips for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain".[79][80][nb 6] According to Hertsgaard, since the band avoided any attempt to play or sing, the clip for "Penny Lane" consists of images that "amplify or somehow comment on" the song's themes. He says the "most arresting" scenes are Lennon's walk along the sun-lit city street, the Beatles riding their horses through a stone archway, and the four band members "sitting at an immaculately set table in the middle of a field, where they are served tea in what is very plainly bitterly cold weather".[81] Journalist and broadcaster Joe Cushley described the film as "Lewis-Carroll-goes-to-Liverpool".[82] McCartney predicted at the time of the single's release: "In the future all records will have vision as well as sound. In twenty years time, people will be amazed to think we just listened to records."[79]

Release

"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were released as a double A-side single,[83] in a fashion identical to that of the Beatles' previous single, "Eleanor Rigby" / "Yellow Submarine".[62][84] The release took place in the United States on 13 February 1967[85] and in the United Kingdom on 17 February.[86] It was the first single by the Beatles to be sold with a picture sleeve in the UK, a practice rarely used there at that time.[83][87] Expectations were high for the release, since it was the band's first new music since they had decided to abandon touring,[88] a decision that had led to speculation in the press in late 1966 that the group would disband.[89][90] Comparing the two sides, author Clinton Heylin writes that McCartney was possibly "fearful of alienating fans unduly" with the more dense and experimental "Strawberry Fields Forever". He says that with "Penny Lane", McCartney was "again cast in the role of the great populariser" by providing the "more prosaic depiction of the Liverpool of their youth ... set to another of his eminently hummable melodies".[91] In his book Electric Shock, Peter Doggett describes "Strawberry Fields Forever" as art pop, "self-consciously excluding the mass audience", and likens "Penny Lane" to pop art in its evoking "multifaceted substance out of the everyday".[92]

The promotional films for the single presented the Beatles' moustachioed look to their audience for the first time.[70][71] The new look was the focus of much scrutiny,[93] as facial hair went against convention for pop idols and implied maturation.[94][nb 7] Promotion for the single and its musical content left many listeners unable to recognise the act as the Beatles.[96] In author Kevin Courrier's description, the picture sleeve showed the Beatles dressed and posing formally as if they were "arcane artifacts from the nineteenth century", with the portrait set inside a gold picture frame. The reverse was a collage of photos of the band members as infants.[96]

The clips were first broadcast in America on The Ed Sullivan Show and in Britain on Top of the Pops,[97] a day before the respective release dates in those two countries.[98] On 25 February, they aired on The Hollywood Palace, a traditional US variety program hosted by actor Van Johnson, who claimed that the Beatles had created the films especially for his show.[99] Amid screams from female members of the studio audience, Johnson described the "Penny Lane" clip as "the most imaginative treatment of a song I have ever seen".[100] According to Rodriguez, however, Johnson's reaction was clearly bemusement at "what youth entertainment had become", as demonstrated in his mannered introduction to "Strawberry Fields Forever".[101] The films attracted a similar level of confusion on the more youth-focused American Bandstand, on 11 March, where host Dick Clark invited comments from his studio audience.[102] Clark introduced the clip with a warning that it showed a "very interesting and different looking Beatles", after which he sought opinions from his teenage audience with what author Doyle Greene describes as "an urgent solemnity as if he were discussing the Zapruder film".[97] The responses were less dismissive than those given to "Strawberry Fields Forever".[103][104] Male reaction was marginally more favourable than female, as the women variously focused on the "weird", "ugly" or supposedly aged appearance of the band members.[105] After "Penny Lane", one young man complained that the Beatles were "as bad as the Monkees",[97] while another said, "They went out with the Twist."[68]

Since the Beatles usually did not include songs released as singles on their albums, both "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were left off Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[106] With their omission, the Liverpool childhood theme that had been a loose concept behind the album was abandoned.[107] Courrier describes the single as "a conceptual 45 if ever there was one".[5][nb 8] Martin came to regret the decision to omit the two songs,[110][111] describing it as "the biggest mistake of my professional life".[112][nb 9] Against the Beatles' wishes, "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album in November 1967.[114][115] In 2017, both songs were included on the two-disc and six-disc 50th-anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper.

Reception

In Britain, most reviewers were initially confused by the single[116] and predicted that the Beatles' creative advances might not be rewarded in record sales.[117] The commercial qualities of "Penny Lane" ensured that it was the more favourably received of the two songs.[118] Melody Maker said the brass parts were "beautifully arranged" and concluded: "Tinged with sentimentality, the number slowly builds into an urgent, colourful and vivid recollection of the Liverpool street that the Beatles remember so clearly."[119] An editorial in The Times said: "'Penny Lane' looks back to the days when parochialism was not an attitude to be derided. While it may seem that the commonplace suburb is a pleasanter source of inspiration than a psychedelic ecstasy, it may also be that the song is instinctively satisfying a youthful appetite for simplicity ..."[118]

"Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" was the first Beatles single since "Please Please Me" in 1963 to fail to reach number 1 on Record Retailer's chart (later the UK Singles Chart).[120] With "Penny Lane" as the side favoured by the chart,[121] the single was held at number 2 behind Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me",[122][123] even though the Beatles' record sold considerably more.[124] This was due to chart protocol whereby only the sales of the better-selling side of a double A-side were eligible, and the record's overall sales were effectively halved.[125] On the national chart compiled by Melody Maker, the combination was number 1 for three weeks.[126][127] Its failure to top the Record Retailer chart provoked comments in the UK press that the Beatles' position of eminence was at an end,[128] with headlines such as "Has the Bubble Burst?"[129] The band were unperturbed by the result.[130] In Starr's recollection, it was a "relief" and "took the pressure off" the group,[131] while Lennon said in a late 1966 interview: "We sort of half hope for the downfall. A nice downfall. Then we would just be a pleasant old memory."[132][nb 10]

First, there was a leap in the kind of material they were writing from Rubber Soul (1965) to Revolver (1966). They were obviously moving ahead. The second indication that something was going on was the "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields" single, which got people very excited ... Of course, nobody knew then it would be Sgt. Pepper and all that that entailed.[133]

– Derek Taylor recalling the reaction to the single in Los Angeles

In the United States, the song became the band's 13th single to reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, doing so for a week before being knocked off by the Turtles' "Happy Together".[134] With "Penny Lane" as the favoured side, the single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 20 March 1967.[135] There, the single initiated an upsurge in the ongoing critical discourse on the aesthetics and artistry of pop music,[136] as, centring on the Beatles' work, writers sought to elevate pop in the cultural landscape for the first time.[137][138] One of these laudatory appraisals came from Time magazine,[139] whose writers said that the Beatles had "bridged the heretofore impassable gap between rock and classical, mixing elements of Bach, Oriental and electronic music with vintage twang to achieve the most compellingly original sounds ever heard in pop music".[140][141] In his television show Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution, American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein highlighted the trumpet solo on "Penny Lane" among examples of the genre's eclectic qualities that made contemporary pop music worthy of recognition as art.[142]

The single was also number 1 in Australia (for five weeks), West Germany (four weeks), the Netherlands and New Zealand (each for three weeks), Canada, Denmark and Malaysia. In France, it peaked at number 4.[143]

Influence and legacy

According to historian David Simonelli, further to "Tomorrow Never Knows" in 1966, "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" "establish[ed] the Beatles as the most avant-garde [pop] composers of the postwar era". He also says:

With this double-sided single, the Beatles planted the flag of Romanticism squarely at the center of psychedelic rock. They emphasized innocence, childhood as purity, improvisation, and the spirits of individuality and community united as one. For the next three to five years, these ideals would dominate rock music on both sides of the Atlantic. The Beatles' vision dominated the entire rock music world.[144]

Ian MacDonald comments on "Penny Lane"'s place in an era of high optimism in Britain marked by a vibrant arts scene, England's victory in the 1966 World Cup, and the Beatles' standing as "arbiters of a positive new age" in which outdated social mores would be superseded by a young, classless worldview. He writes: "With its vision of 'blue suburban skies' and boundlessly confident vigour, 'Penny Lane' distills the spirit of that time more perfectly than any other creative product of the mid-Sixties. Couched in the primary colours of a picture-book, yet observed with the slyness of a gang of kids straggling home from school, 'Penny Lane' is both naive and knowing – but above all thrilled to be alive."[145] MacDonald adds that although the song "fathered a rather smug English pop vogue for brass bands and gruff Northern imagery", its sequence in the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine demonstrated it to be "as subversively hallucinatory as 'Strawberry Fields'".[17] Music critic Tim Riley praised the musical arrangement and said the song was "as perfect as pop gets". He also wrote: "'Penny Lane' survives as a classic because its surface charm masks its structural intelligence – the appeal is as simple and sweet as the youthful glow it recaptures."[143]

Some commentators have described the pairing as pop music's best double A-side.[90][146] In 2011, Rolling Stone ranked "Penny Lane" at number 456 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[147] On the magazine's 2021 revised list, the song appears at number 280.[148] In Mojo's list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs", published in 2006, the song appeared at number 9. In his commentary on the track, Neil Innes admired McCartney's melodic gifts and the key changes, and he described the song as "mould-breaking" with lyrics that "ran like a movie".[149] Sociologist Andy Bennett views the characters in the lyrics as representing a "story book version of British suburban life", an approach that he says anticipated television soap operas such as Brookside and EastEnders. Bennett writes that a similar notion of "Britishness" informed music videos by Britpop acts in the 1990s, particularly Blur's "Parklife", which brought to life some of the lyrical imagery of Lennon–McCartney songs and the "utopian reminiscing" evident in "Penny Lane".[150]

 
A Penny Lane street sign in Liverpool

The promotional clips for "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" are recognised as pioneering works in the medium of music video.[151] In 1985, they were the oldest selections included in the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)'s exhibition of the most influential music videos.[152] The two films occupied a similar place in MoMA's 2003 "Golden Oldies of Music Video" exhibition, where they were presented by avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson.[153][nb 11]

 
Streetscape showing the Penny Lane roundabout (centre left) and shops in 2018

Liverpool poet Roger McGough credited "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" as the first examples of British streets and locations being celebrated in pop music and of the Beatles creating a "mythology" for Liverpool.[156] The song's popularity led to the regular theft of Penny Lane street signs and the area becoming one of the city's major tourist attractions.[157] As of 2014, the roundabout was home to the Sgt. Pepper Bistro & Bus Shelter, although the business had long ceased operating.[158] The feature films Wonderwall (for which Harrison supplied the instrumental musical score in 1968) and Almost Famous include characters named after the song.[159] Former adult film star Jennifer Ketcham said she chose her pseudonym Penny Flame to reflect her fondness of the Beatles song and marijuana.[159]

German politician Martin Schulz once described the song as a working class anthem. He said that it is his favourite Beatles song and it can reduce him to tears sometimes. It is a symbol of class consciousness for him and the Beatles′ working class background reminds him of his own. "The message is that everything you experience in life can be traced back to the street where you come from. You can never escape your origins" he said in answer to a question asked by a union magazine.[160]

Song ownership, McCartney live performances and cover versions

In 1969, the Beatles' publishing company Northern Songs was acquired by ATV, a media company owned by Lew Grade.[161] By 1985, ATV was being run by Australian entrepreneur Robert Holmes à Court, who decided to sell the catalogue to Michael Jackson.[162] Before the sale, Jackson allowed the rights for "Penny Lane" to be exempt from the deal and given instead to Holmes à Court's teenage daughter.[163] As of 2009, Catherine Holmes à Court-Mather was still the copyright owner of "Penny Lane", which is one of the few Lennon–McCartney songs not owned by Sony Music Publishing.[162][nb 12]

"Penny Lane" was instantly popular with both contemporary pop artists and supper club entertainers. According to author Alan Clayson, it was one of several McCartney compositions that "walked a safe and accessible line" and allowed easy interpretation during a period when "schmaltz was represented in the charts as much as psychedelia".[164] Artists who have covered the song include Amen Corner, Judy Collins, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, Engelbert Humperdinck, James Last, Enoch Light, Kenny Rankin, John Valby, Newton Wayland and Kai Winding.[159] The Rutles' 1978 song "Doubleback Alley" is a parody of "Penny Lane".[134] Written by Innes, it was part of the Rutles' TV film satirising the Beatles' career, All You Need Is Cash.[165]

McCartney has regularly included the song in his tour set lists.[166] He first performed it on his New World Tour in 1993.[167] Elvis Costello performed "Penny Lane" during a concert at the White House in June 2010 when McCartney received the Gershwin Prize from President Barack Obama.[134] In his introduction to the song, Costello said that his mother had grown up less than a mile from Penny Lane, and so hearing the Beatles single had been a powerful moment for him and his family.[168]

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald:[169]

The Beatles

Additional musicians

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
France — 75,000[189]
Japan — 200,000[190]
United Kingdom
1967 release 		— 500,000[191]
United Kingdom (BPI)[192]
2010 release 		Silver 200,000 
United States (RIAA)[193] Gold 1,500,000[191]
Summaries
Worldwide
1967 slaes 		— 2,000,000[191]

  Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

  1. ^ According to MacDonald, this phrase was most likely Lennon's idea.[30]
  2. ^ McCartney said he especially admired the "harmonic structures" of the songs on Pet Sounds and the choice of instruments used in Brian Wilson's musical arrangements, and that these elements encouraged him to think the Beatles could "get further out" than the Beach Boys had.[36]
  3. ^ Emerick also comments in his autobiography that before this recording, the high E was considered unreachable by trumpet players, but has been expected of them since the performance on the record.[45]
  4. ^ By late December, the Beatles each sported moustaches,[48] which Harrison attributed to "the synchronicity and the collective consciousness" of the time.[49] McCartney had worn a false moustache as a disguise while travelling in Europe in November[50] and appreciated its ability to mask his identity as a Beatle.[51]
  5. ^ In August 1987, the piccolo trumpet Mason played on the Beatles' "Penny Lane" and "All You Need Is Love" was sold in an auction at Sotheby's for $10,846.[53]
  6. ^ The non-performance aspect of the two 1967 promos was in response to the Musicians' Union's ban on miming on television.[70][74]
  7. ^ Playwright Joe Orton, who wrote a screenplay for a proposed Beatles film in January 1967, said McCartney's moustache made him look like a "turn-of-the-century anarchist".[95]
  8. ^ For Sgt. Pepper, McCartney instead initiated a concept he had first considered while travelling in late 1966 – that of the Beatles adopting alter egos and recording as members of Sgt. Pepper's band.[108][109]
  9. ^ According to Martin, the songs would have appeared on the album instead of McCartney's "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Lovely Rita".[113]
  10. ^ McCartney later recalled reading the newspapers' predictions with amusement and thinking "You just wait", confident of the quality of Sgt. Pepper.[129]
  11. ^ The "Penny Lane" clip was included on the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1+.[154][155]
  12. ^ The others include the A- and B-sides of the Beatles' first two singles. "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" are owned by McCartney's MPL Communications, while "Please Please Me" and its B-side, "Ask Me Why", are administered by Universal Music Publishing Group.[162]

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External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Magical Mystery Tour.
  • Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
  • Golden Oldies of Music Video a presentation from New York's MoMA originally screened on 17 April 2003

April 24, 2023
penny, lane, this, article, about, song, other, uses, disambiguation, song, english, rock, band, beatles, that, released, february, 1967, double, side, single, with, strawberry, fields, forever, written, primarily, paul, mccartney, credited, lennon, mccartney,. This article is about the song For other uses see Penny Lane disambiguation Penny Lane is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in February 1967 as a double A side single with Strawberry Fields Forever It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon McCartney songwriting partnership The lyrics refer to Penny Lane a street in Liverpool and make mention of the sights and characters that McCartney recalled from his upbringing in the city Penny Lane US picture sleeveSingle by the BeatlesA side Strawberry Fields Forever double A side Released13 February 1967 1967 02 13 Recorded29 December 1966 17 January 1967StudioEMI LondonGenrePsychedelic pop 1 2 progressive pop 3 4 baroque pop 5 Length3 03LabelParlophone UK Capitol US Songwriter s Lennon McCartneyProducer s George MartinThe Beatles singles chronology Eleanor Rigby Yellow Submarine 1966 Penny Lane Strawberry Fields Forever 1967 All You Need Is Love 1967 Promotional film Penny Lane on YouTubeThe Beatles began recording Penny Lane in December 1966 intending it as a song for their album Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band Instead after it was issued as a single to satisfy record company demand for a new release the band adhered to their policy of omitting previously released singles from their albums The song features numerous modulations that occur mid verse and between its choruses Session musician David Mason played a piccolo trumpet solo for its bridge section Penny Lane was a top five hit across Europe and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 In Britain due to chart protocol regarding double A sides it was the first Beatles single since Please Please Me in 1963 to fail to reach number 1 on the Record Retailer chart In November 1967 Penny Lane was included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album In 2021 Rolling Stone ranked the track at number 280 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time In 2006 Mojo ranked the song at number 9 of The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs Contents 1 Background and inspiration 2 Composition 2 1 Music 2 2 Lyrics 3 Production 3 1 Main recording 3 2 Piccolo trumpet solo 3 3 Alternative mixes 4 Promotional film 5 Release 6 Reception 7 Influence and legacy 8 Song ownership McCartney live performances and cover versions 9 Personnel 10 Charts 10 1 Weekly charts 10 2 Year end charts 11 Certifications 12 Notes 13 References 14 External linksBackground and inspiration EditPenny Lane is a road in the south Liverpool suburb of Mossley Hill The name also applies to the area surrounding its junction with Smithdown Road and Allerton Road and to the roundabout at Smithdown Place that was the location for a major bus terminus originally an important tram junction of Liverpool Corporation Tramways 6 The roundabout was a frequent stopping place for John Lennon Paul McCartney and George Harrison during their years as schoolchildren and students 6 Bus journeys via Penny Lane and the area itself subsequently became familiar elements in the early years of the Lennon McCartney songwriting partnership 7 In 2009 McCartney reflected Penny Lane was kind of nostalgic but it was really about a place that John and I knew I d get a bus to his house and I d have to change at Penny Lane or the same with him to me so we often hung out at that terminus like a roundabout It was a place that we both knew and so we both knew the things that turned up in the story 8 Lennon s original lyrics for In My Life had included a reference to Penny Lane 9 Soon after the Beatles recorded In My Life in October 1965 McCartney mentioned to an interviewer that he wanted to write a song about Penny Lane A year later he was spurred to write the song once presented with Lennon s Strawberry Fields Forever 10 11 McCartney also cited Dylan Thomas s nostalgic poem Fern Hill as an inspiration for Penny Lane 12 Lennon co wrote the lyrics with McCartney 13 14 He recalled in a 1970 interview The bank was there and that was where the trams sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there the fire engines were down there It was reliving childhood 13 Writing for the song took place early in the sessions for what became the Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band album 15 which commenced following a three month period when the Beatles had pursued individual interests 16 Beatles biographer Ian MacDonald suggested an LSD influence saying that the lyrical imagery points to McCartney first taking LSD in late 1966 MacDonald concluded that the lyric And though she feels as if she s in a play She is anyway was one of the more LSD redolent phrases in the Beatles catalogue 17 Music critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler similarly described the subject matter as essentially Liverpool on a sunny hallucinogenic afternoon 18 Composition EditMusic Edit The barber shop pictured in 2018 formerly owned by Harry Bioletti who is referred to in the song as a barber showing photographs Of every head he s had the pleasure to know Penny Lane begins in the key of B major 19 and is in 4 4 time throughout 20 The song comprises three rounds of two verses and a chorus with the chorus repeated during the final round 20 In its melody the composition has a double tonic structure of B major verse in I vi ii V cycles and A major chorus connected by formal pivoting dominant chords 21 In the opening bars in B major after singing In Penny Lane in an F B C D melody note ascent McCartney sings the major third of the first chord in the progression on Lane and major seventh on barber then switches to a Bm chord singing the flattened third notes on know with a i7 Bm7 chord and flattened seventh notes on come and go with a VImaj7 Gmaj7 chord and say hello with a V7sus4 F 7sus4 chord 22 Musicologist Dominic Pedler describes this as a profound and surprising innovation involving abandoning mid cycle what initially appears to be a standard I vi ii V doo wop pop chord cycle 23 The song features contrasting verse chorus form 24 To get from the verse In the pouring rain very strange McCartney uses an E chord as a pivot it is a IV chord in the preceding B key and a V in the looming A key to take listeners back into the chorus Penny Lane is in my ears Likewise to get back from the chorus of There beneath the blue suburban skies I sit and meanwhile back McCartney uses an F 7 pivot chord which is a VI in the old A key and a V in the new B key The lyrics very strange and meanwhile back reflect these tonal shifts 25 Lyrics Edit Penny Lane sample source source track Problems playing this file See media help Lyrically there are several ambiguous and surreal images The song is seemingly narrated on a fine summer day beneath the blue suburban skies yet at the same time it is raining the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain and approaching winter selling poppies from a tray implies Remembrance Day 11 November MacDonald stated Seemingly naturalistic the lyric scene is actually kaleidoscopic As well as raining and shining at the same time it is simultaneously summer and winter 26 The fireman and fire engine referred to in the lyrics were based on memories of the fire station at Mather Avenue 27 while the barber shop was Bioletti s where McCartney Harrison and Lennon each had their hair cut as children 28 The line Four of fish and finger pies is British slang A four of fish refers to fourpennyworth of fish and chips while finger pie is sexual slang for fingering 29 nb 1 According to music critic and musicologist Wilfrid Mellers writing in his 1973 book Twilight of the Gods For both musical and verbal reasons the song comes out as childishly merry yet dreamily wild at the same time The hallucinatory feeling concerns problems of identity rather than drugs specifically asking what among our childhood memories is reality and what is illusion 31 Production EditMain recording Edit External video Penny Lane Take 6 Instrumental Production began in Studio 2 at EMI Studios on 29 December 1966 32 with piano as the main instrument 33 McCartney intended the song to have a clean sound akin to the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album 34 Engineer Geoff Emerick recalled McCartney playing Pet Sounds repeatedly during recording session breaks adding that it wasn t altogether unsurprising when he wanted a really clean American sound for Penny Lane 35 nb 2 Initially McCartney recorded keyboard parts onto the individual tracks of the four track tape a basic piano rhythm on track one a second piano recorded through a Vox guitar amplifier with added reverb on track two a prepared piano producing a honky tonk sound on track three and percussion effects and a harmonium playing high notes fed through the guitar amplifier on track four 37 38 On 30 December the four tracks were mixed together to form the first track of a new tape 37 On 4 January 1967 the Beatles first session of the new year Lennon and Harrison overdubbed contributions on piano and lead guitar respectively and McCartney added a lead vocal which he then replaced the following day 39 Further overdubs on 6 January included Ringo Starr s drums McCartney s bass guitar and Lennon s rhythm guitar as well as handclaps congas harmony vocals and more piano 39 Following another reduction mix brass and woodwind instruments including four flutes were added on 9 and 12 January 40 from a score by producer George Martin guided by McCartney s suggested melody lines 37 On 10 January the Beatles overdubbed effects such as scat harmony singing and a handbell the latter in recognition of the fireman and fire engine mentioned in the lyrics The second overdubbing session for the classical instrumentation on 12 January featured two further trumpets two oboes two cors anglais and a double bass 40 Piccolo trumpet solo Edit The piccolo trumpet solo performed by David Mason source source Hertsgaard describes the solo as so unmistakably a part of Penny Lane adding that it rises out of the din like a bird taking wing at dawn The sense of freedom energy and sheer happiness is glorious 41 Problems playing this file See media help McCartney was dissatisfied with the initial attempts at the song s instrumental fill and was inspired to use a piccolo trumpet after seeing trumpeter David Mason play the instrument during a BBC television broadcast of the second Brandenburg Concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach 40 On 17 January Mason recorded the instrumental solo used for the final mix 1 Martin later wrote The result was unique something which had never been done in rock music before 42 The solo is in a mock Baroque style for which the piccolo trumpet a small instrument built about one octave higher than the standard instrument is particularly suited having a clean and clear sound which penetrates well through thicker midrange textures 43 According to Emerick Mason nailed it at some point during the recording McCartney tried to get him to do another take but Martin insisted it was not necessary sensing Mason s fatigue 44 nb 3 He also played over the song s final chorus replacing the oboe parts from that portion of the track 46 Mason later said he was impressed that Lennon Harrison and Starr were present at the session demonstrating a common interest in shaping the result 41 although he was taken aback by their new look of moustaches and psychedelic clothing 47 nb 4 Mason was paid 27 and 10 shillings for the session 40 and achieved international renown for his performance 52 nb 5 In author Mark Hertsgaard s description the trumpet solo is the recording s piece de resistance and evokes a sense of freedom energy and sheer happiness 41 Author Jonathan Gould describes the sound as impossibly high and bright and says that the solo represents a neo Baroque pastiche of every fanfare ever blown and casts a magical spell that allows the Beatles to insert the risque Four of fish and finger pies line into the chorus that follows 54 Classical music scholar Barry Millington described Mason s contribution as surreal unearthly a fusion of classical and rock and commented that so high does the part go it was mistakenly assumed to have been sped up after recording 52 Alternative mixes Edit External video Penny Lane Capitol Records Mono US Promo Mix The original US promo single mix of Penny Lane had an additional flourish of piccolo trumpet notes at the end of the song 55 This mix was quickly superseded by one without the last trumpet passage but not before copies had been pressed and sent to radio stations 56 57 By the late 1980s these discs were among the rarest and most valuable Beatles collectibles 56 Penny Lane was mixed in stereo for the first time in 1971 for a West German issue of the Magical Mystery Tour LP and in 1980 this mix with the addition of the trumpet ending was included on the US Rarities compilation and the UK set The Beatles Box 58 A remix of the song released on the outtakes compilation Anthology 2 in 1996 included the closing trumpet flourish 46 and the solo by cor anglais and trumpet that had been replaced by Mason s overdub for the 1967 single 55 The original promo single mix was made available again in 2017 when it was included on a CD of mono mixes in the six disc 50th anniversary edition of Sgt Pepper 59 The two and six disc anniversary editions also featured a new remix of Penny Lane prepared by Giles Martin designed to allow the keyboard parts to be heard distinctly 37 Promotional film EditThe Beatles low public profile since completing their 1966 US tour in late August caused concern for Brian Epstein their manager who feared that the band s popularity might suffer Wary also of the threat presented by the Monkees an American television and recording act formed in the Beatles image 60 Epstein conceded to pressure from EMI in January 1967 and approached Martin for a new single by the band 61 62 Martin told him that they had recorded Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane which he considered to be the group s best songs up to that point 63 Street view of Stratford east London in 2008 Stratford s Angel Lane filled in for Penny Lane in the Beatles promo clip The promotional film for Penny Lane was together with the clip for Strawberry Fields Forever one of the first examples of what became known as a music video 64 65 The films were directed by Peter Goldmann a Swedish television director and produced by Tony Bramwell for Epstein s company Subafilms 66 67 The clip for Penny Lane includes footage of Liverpool 68 such as the number 46 bus to Penny Lane the shelter on the roundabout and a fireman riding a white horse 69 but street scenes featuring the Beatles were instead filmed in and around Angel Lane in Stratford in the east of London 70 This filming includes the band members riding horses and took place on 5 February 61 71 Another street scene features only Lennon walking along King s Road Chelsea 72 among a crowd in a manner that author Robert Rodriguez terms as if in a nostalgic reverie 73 More filming was done in Knole Park in Sevenoaks 71 where the clip for Strawberry Fields Forever had been filmed the week before 66 Shot on 7 February this footage includes further horse riding scenes with the band members dressed in matching red tunics and the closing scene when they arrive at a table set up in the park bearing a large candelabra 61 74 During the horse ride they pass by a stage filled with their guitars and drum kit the latter bearing the familiar Beatles logo 75 76 The musicians sit at the table where they are waited on by two attendants played by Bramwell and Mal Evans 67 dressed in Renaissance era costumes and wigs 77 and presented with their musical instruments 74 According to music critic Chris Ingham the film appears to be little more than an extra curricular afterthought relative to the surreal and experimental Strawberry Fields Forever clip He adds that it nevertheless closes with another iconoclastic gesture as Lennon overturns the table and scatters its contents 78 The clip s closing scene in which the Beatles drink tea at an outdoor table and are presented with their guitars In their avoidance of any performance related content the clips developed the promotional medium the Beatles had introduced in 1966 with their clips for Paperback Writer and Rain 79 80 nb 6 According to Hertsgaard since the band avoided any attempt to play or sing the clip for Penny Lane consists of images that amplify or somehow comment on the song s themes He says the most arresting scenes are Lennon s walk along the sun lit city street the Beatles riding their horses through a stone archway and the four band members sitting at an immaculately set table in the middle of a field where they are served tea in what is very plainly bitterly cold weather 81 Journalist and broadcaster Joe Cushley described the film as Lewis Carroll goes to Liverpool 82 McCartney predicted at the time of the single s release In the future all records will have vision as well as sound In twenty years time people will be amazed to think we just listened to records 79 Release Edit Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were released as a double A side single 83 in a fashion identical to that of the Beatles previous single Eleanor Rigby Yellow Submarine 62 84 The release took place in the United States on 13 February 1967 85 and in the United Kingdom on 17 February 86 It was the first single by the Beatles to be sold with a picture sleeve in the UK a practice rarely used there at that time 83 87 Expectations were high for the release since it was the band s first new music since they had decided to abandon touring 88 a decision that had led to speculation in the press in late 1966 that the group would disband 89 90 Comparing the two sides author Clinton Heylin writes that McCartney was possibly fearful of alienating fans unduly with the more dense and experimental Strawberry Fields Forever He says that with Penny Lane McCartney was again cast in the role of the great populariser by providing the more prosaic depiction of the Liverpool of their youth set to another of his eminently hummable melodies 91 In his book Electric Shock Peter Doggett describes Strawberry Fields Forever as art pop self consciously excluding the mass audience and likens Penny Lane to pop art in its evoking multifaceted substance out of the everyday 92 The promotional films for the single presented the Beatles moustachioed look to their audience for the first time 70 71 The new look was the focus of much scrutiny 93 as facial hair went against convention for pop idols and implied maturation 94 nb 7 Promotion for the single and its musical content left many listeners unable to recognise the act as the Beatles 96 In author Kevin Courrier s description the picture sleeve showed the Beatles dressed and posing formally as if they were arcane artifacts from the nineteenth century with the portrait set inside a gold picture frame The reverse was a collage of photos of the band members as infants 96 The clips were first broadcast in America on The Ed Sullivan Show and in Britain on Top of the Pops 97 a day before the respective release dates in those two countries 98 On 25 February they aired on The Hollywood Palace a traditional US variety program hosted by actor Van Johnson who claimed that the Beatles had created the films especially for his show 99 Amid screams from female members of the studio audience Johnson described the Penny Lane clip as the most imaginative treatment of a song I have ever seen 100 According to Rodriguez however Johnson s reaction was clearly bemusement at what youth entertainment had become as demonstrated in his mannered introduction to Strawberry Fields Forever 101 The films attracted a similar level of confusion on the more youth focused American Bandstand on 11 March where host Dick Clark invited comments from his studio audience 102 Clark introduced the clip with a warning that it showed a very interesting and different looking Beatles after which he sought opinions from his teenage audience with what author Doyle Greene describes as an urgent solemnity as if he were discussing the Zapruder film 97 The responses were less dismissive than those given to Strawberry Fields Forever 103 104 Male reaction was marginally more favourable than female as the women variously focused on the weird ugly or supposedly aged appearance of the band members 105 After Penny Lane one young man complained that the Beatles were as bad as the Monkees 97 while another said They went out with the Twist 68 Since the Beatles usually did not include songs released as singles on their albums both Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were left off Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band 106 With their omission the Liverpool childhood theme that had been a loose concept behind the album was abandoned 107 Courrier describes the single as a conceptual 45 if ever there was one 5 nb 8 Martin came to regret the decision to omit the two songs 110 111 describing it as the biggest mistake of my professional life 112 nb 9 Against the Beatles wishes Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album in November 1967 114 115 In 2017 both songs were included on the two disc and six disc 50th anniversary editions of Sgt Pepper Reception EditIn Britain most reviewers were initially confused by the single 116 and predicted that the Beatles creative advances might not be rewarded in record sales 117 The commercial qualities of Penny Lane ensured that it was the more favourably received of the two songs 118 Melody Maker said the brass parts were beautifully arranged and concluded Tinged with sentimentality the number slowly builds into an urgent colourful and vivid recollection of the Liverpool street that the Beatles remember so clearly 119 An editorial in The Times said Penny Lane looks back to the days when parochialism was not an attitude to be derided While it may seem that the commonplace suburb is a pleasanter source of inspiration than a psychedelic ecstasy it may also be that the song is instinctively satisfying a youthful appetite for simplicity 118 Strawberry Fields Forever Penny Lane was the first Beatles single since Please Please Me in 1963 to fail to reach number 1 on Record Retailer s chart later the UK Singles Chart 120 With Penny Lane as the side favoured by the chart 121 the single was held at number 2 behind Engelbert Humperdinck s Release Me 122 123 even though the Beatles record sold considerably more 124 This was due to chart protocol whereby only the sales of the better selling side of a double A side were eligible and the record s overall sales were effectively halved 125 On the national chart compiled by Melody Maker the combination was number 1 for three weeks 126 127 Its failure to top the Record Retailer chart provoked comments in the UK press that the Beatles position of eminence was at an end 128 with headlines such as Has the Bubble Burst 129 The band were unperturbed by the result 130 In Starr s recollection it was a relief and took the pressure off the group 131 while Lennon said in a late 1966 interview We sort of half hope for the downfall A nice downfall Then we would just be a pleasant old memory 132 nb 10 First there was a leap in the kind of material they were writing from Rubber Soul 1965 to Revolver 1966 They were obviously moving ahead The second indication that something was going on was the Penny Lane Strawberry Fields single which got people very excited Of course nobody knew then it would be Sgt Pepper and all that that entailed 133 Derek Taylor recalling the reaction to the single in Los Angeles In the United States the song became the band s 13th single to reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 doing so for a week before being knocked off by the Turtles Happy Together 134 With Penny Lane as the favoured side the single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 20 March 1967 135 There the single initiated an upsurge in the ongoing critical discourse on the aesthetics and artistry of pop music 136 as centring on the Beatles work writers sought to elevate pop in the cultural landscape for the first time 137 138 One of these laudatory appraisals came from Time magazine 139 whose writers said that the Beatles had bridged the heretofore impassable gap between rock and classical mixing elements of Bach Oriental and electronic music with vintage twang to achieve the most compellingly original sounds ever heard in pop music 140 141 In his television show Inside Pop The Rock Revolution American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein highlighted the trumpet solo on Penny Lane among examples of the genre s eclectic qualities that made contemporary pop music worthy of recognition as art 142 The single was also number 1 in Australia for five weeks West Germany four weeks the Netherlands and New Zealand each for three weeks Canada Denmark and Malaysia In France it peaked at number 4 143 Influence and legacy EditAccording to historian David Simonelli further to Tomorrow Never Knows in 1966 Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane establish ed the Beatles as the most avant garde pop composers of the postwar era He also says With this double sided single the Beatles planted the flag of Romanticism squarely at the center of psychedelic rock They emphasized innocence childhood as purity improvisation and the spirits of individuality and community united as one For the next three to five years these ideals would dominate rock music on both sides of the Atlantic The Beatles vision dominated the entire rock music world 144 Ian MacDonald comments on Penny Lane s place in an era of high optimism in Britain marked by a vibrant arts scene England s victory in the 1966 World Cup and the Beatles standing as arbiters of a positive new age in which outdated social mores would be superseded by a young classless worldview He writes With its vision of blue suburban skies and boundlessly confident vigour Penny Lane distills the spirit of that time more perfectly than any other creative product of the mid Sixties Couched in the primary colours of a picture book yet observed with the slyness of a gang of kids straggling home from school Penny Lane is both naive and knowing but above all thrilled to be alive 145 MacDonald adds that although the song fathered a rather smug English pop vogue for brass bands and gruff Northern imagery its sequence in the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine demonstrated it to be as subversively hallucinatory as Strawberry Fields 17 Music critic Tim Riley praised the musical arrangement and said the song was as perfect as pop gets He also wrote Penny Lane survives as a classic because its surface charm masks its structural intelligence the appeal is as simple and sweet as the youthful glow it recaptures 143 Some commentators have described the pairing as pop music s best double A side 90 146 In 2011 Rolling Stone ranked Penny Lane at number 456 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 147 On the magazine s 2021 revised list the song appears at number 280 148 In Mojo s list of The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs published in 2006 the song appeared at number 9 In his commentary on the track Neil Innes admired McCartney s melodic gifts and the key changes and he described the song as mould breaking with lyrics that ran like a movie 149 Sociologist Andy Bennett views the characters in the lyrics as representing a story book version of British suburban life an approach that he says anticipated television soap operas such as Brookside and EastEnders Bennett writes that a similar notion of Britishness informed music videos by Britpop acts in the 1990s particularly Blur s Parklife which brought to life some of the lyrical imagery of Lennon McCartney songs and the utopian reminiscing evident in Penny Lane 150 A Penny Lane street sign in Liverpool The promotional clips for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever are recognised as pioneering works in the medium of music video 151 In 1985 they were the oldest selections included in the New York Museum of Modern Art MoMA s exhibition of the most influential music videos 152 The two films occupied a similar place in MoMA s 2003 Golden Oldies of Music Video exhibition where they were presented by avant garde artist Laurie Anderson 153 nb 11 Streetscape showing the Penny Lane roundabout centre left and shops in 2018 Liverpool poet Roger McGough credited Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever as the first examples of British streets and locations being celebrated in pop music and of the Beatles creating a mythology for Liverpool 156 The song s popularity led to the regular theft of Penny Lane street signs and the area becoming one of the city s major tourist attractions 157 As of 2014 the roundabout was home to the Sgt Pepper Bistro amp Bus Shelter although the business had long ceased operating 158 The feature films Wonderwall for which Harrison supplied the instrumental musical score in 1968 and Almost Famous include characters named after the song 159 Former adult film star Jennifer Ketcham said she chose her pseudonym Penny Flame to reflect her fondness of the Beatles song and marijuana 159 German politician Martin Schulz once described the song as a working class anthem He said that it is his favourite Beatles song and it can reduce him to tears sometimes It is a symbol of class consciousness for him and the Beatles working class background reminds him of his own The message is that everything you experience in life can be traced back to the street where you come from You can never escape your origins he said in answer to a question asked by a union magazine 160 Song ownership McCartney live performances and cover versions EditIn 1969 the Beatles publishing company Northern Songs was acquired by ATV a media company owned by Lew Grade 161 By 1985 ATV was being run by Australian entrepreneur Robert Holmes a Court who decided to sell the catalogue to Michael Jackson 162 Before the sale Jackson allowed the rights for Penny Lane to be exempt from the deal and given instead to Holmes a Court s teenage daughter 163 As of 2009 Catherine Holmes a Court Mather was still the copyright owner of Penny Lane which is one of the few Lennon McCartney songs not owned by Sony Music Publishing 162 nb 12 Penny Lane was instantly popular with both contemporary pop artists and supper club entertainers According to author Alan Clayson it was one of several McCartney compositions that walked a safe and accessible line and allowed easy interpretation during a period when schmaltz was represented in the charts as much as psychedelia 164 Artists who have covered the song include Amen Corner Judy Collins Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Engelbert Humperdinck James Last Enoch Light Kenny Rankin John Valby Newton Wayland and Kai Winding 159 The Rutles 1978 song Doubleback Alley is a parody of Penny Lane 134 Written by Innes it was part of the Rutles TV film satirising the Beatles career All You Need Is Cash 165 McCartney has regularly included the song in his tour set lists 166 He first performed it on his New World Tour in 1993 167 Elvis Costello performed Penny Lane during a concert at the White House in June 2010 when McCartney received the Gershwin Prize from President Barack Obama 134 In his introduction to the song Costello said that his mother had grown up less than a mile from Penny Lane and so hearing the Beatles single had been a powerful moment for him and his family 168 Personnel EditAccording to Ian MacDonald 169 The Beatles Paul McCartney vocal pianos bass harmonium tambourine effects John Lennon backing vocal piano guitar congas handclaps George Harrison backing vocal lead guitar handclaps Ringo Starr drums handbellAdditional musicians George Martin piano orchestral arrangement Ray Swinfield P Goody Manny Winters flutes piccolos David Mason piccolo trumpet solo Leon Calvert Freddy Clayton Bert Courtley Duncan Campbell trumpets flugelhorn Dick Morgan Mike Winfield oboes cor anglais Frank Clarke double bassCharts EditWeekly charts Edit Chart 1967 PeakpositionAustralian Go Set National Top 40 170 1Austria O3 Austria Top 40 171 5Belgium Ultratop 50 Flanders 172 4Canada Top Singles RPM 173 1Finland Suomen virallinen lista 174 4Ireland IRMA 175 2Italy Musica e Dischi 176 3Netherlands Single Top 100 177 1New Zealand Listener Chart 178 1Sweden Kvallstoppen 179 1Sweden Tio i Topp 180 1UK Singles OCC 181 2US Billboard Hot 100 182 1US Cash Box Top 100 183 1West German Musikmarkt Hit Parade 184 1 Year end charts Edit Chart 1967 RankCanada 185 21Top 100 Songs of 1967 186 55US Billboard 187 55US Cash Box 188 45Certifications EditRegion Certification Certified units salesFrance 75 000 189 Japan 200 000 190 United Kingdom1967 release 500 000 191 United Kingdom BPI 192 2010 release Silver 200 000 United States RIAA 193 Gold 1 500 000 191 SummariesWorldwide1967 slaes 2 000 000 191 Sales streaming figures based on certification alone Notes Edit According to MacDonald this phrase was most likely Lennon s idea 30 McCartney said he especially admired the harmonic structures of the songs on Pet Sounds and the choice of instruments used in Brian Wilson s musical arrangements and that these elements encouraged him to think the Beatles could get further out than the Beach Boys had 36 Emerick also comments in his autobiography that before this recording the high E was considered unreachable by trumpet players but has been expected of them since the performance on the record 45 By late December the Beatles each sported moustaches 48 which Harrison attributed to the synchronicity and the collective consciousness of the time 49 McCartney had worn a false moustache as a disguise while travelling in Europe in November 50 and appreciated its ability to mask his identity as a Beatle 51 In August 1987 the piccolo trumpet Mason played on the Beatles Penny Lane and All You Need Is Love was sold in an auction at Sotheby s for 10 846 53 The non performance aspect of the two 1967 promos was in response to the Musicians Union s ban on miming on television 70 74 Playwright Joe Orton who wrote a screenplay for a proposed Beatles film in January 1967 said McCartney s moustache made him look like a turn of the century anarchist 95 For Sgt Pepper McCartney instead initiated a concept he had first considered while travelling in late 1966 that of the Beatles adopting alter egos and recording as members of Sgt Pepper s band 108 109 According to Martin the songs would have appeared on the album instead of McCartney s When I m Sixty Four and Lovely Rita 113 McCartney later recalled reading the newspapers predictions with amusement and thinking You just wait confident of the quality of Sgt Pepper 129 The Penny Lane clip was included on the Beatles 2015 video compilation 1 154 155 The others include the A and B sides of the Beatles first two singles Love Me Do and P S I Love You are owned by McCartney s MPL Communications while Please Please Me and its B side Ask Me Why are administered by Universal Music Publishing Group 162 References EditCitations a b Ingham 2006 p 195 Heylin 2007 p 153 Philo 2015 p 119 Willis 2014 p 220 a b Courrier 2009 p 157 a b Davies 2016 Beatles Places gt Penny Lane Womack 2014 pp 724 25 Harper Simon 9 September 2009 Paul McCartney Interview The story behind the classics clashmusic com Retrieved 8 July 2015 Turner 2012 p 106 Everett 1999 p 84 Hertsgaard 1996 pp 111 12 391 Womack 2014 pp 722 724 25 a b MacDonald 2005 p 222 Hertsgaard 1996 p 391 Sounes 2010 pp 160 61 Gould 2007 pp 367 371 a b MacDonald 2005 p 223 Carr amp Tyler 1978 p 62 MacDonald 2005 p 497 a b Pollack Alan W 1995 Notes on Penny Lane Soundscapes Retrieved 13 June 2019 Pedler 2003 p 658 Pedler 2003 pp 658 59 Pedler 2003 p 659 Everett 1999 p 86 Pedler 2003 pp 348 49 MacDonald 2005 p 179 Miles 1997 p 307 Turner 2012 pp 132 133 Mann Brent 2005 Blinded by the Lyrics Behind the Lines of Rock amp Roll s Most Baffling Songs New York NY Citadel Press p 171 ISBN 978 08065 2695 9 MacDonald 2005 p 222fn Everett 1999 pp 86 331 Lewisohn 2005 p 91 Babiuk 2002 p 195 Wawzenek Brian 17 May 2017 Paul McCartney Waxes Nostalgic Gets Kaleidoscopic on Penny Lane The Story Behind Every Sgt Pepper Song Ultimate Classic Rock Retrieved 3 October 2018 Emerick amp Massey 2006 p 142 Babiuk 2002 p 197 a b c d Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band Super Deluxe Edition booklet The Beatles London Apple Records 2017 p 91 a href Template Cite AV media notes html title Template Cite AV media notes cite AV media notes a CS1 maint others in cite AV media notes link Winn 2009 pp 80 81 a b Lewisohn 2005 p 92 a b c d Lewisohn 2005 p 93 a b c Hertsgaard 1996 p 211 Martin amp Hornsby 1994 p 202 Steele Perkins 2001 p 120 Emerick amp Massey 2006 p 145 Emerick amp Massey 2006 a b Winn 2009 p 82 Cunningham 1998 pp 148 49 Everett 1999 p 71 The Beatles 2000 p 236 Sounes 2010 pp 157 58 Turner 2016 pp 363 64 a b Millington Barry 9 June 2011 David Mason Obituary The Guardian Retrieved 27 May 2019 Kozinn Allan 2 September 1988 Auctions The New York Times Retrieved 25 April 2015 Gould 2007 p 379 a b Everett 1999 p 85 a b Lewisohn 2005 p 94 MacDonald 2005 p 223fn Winn 2009 pp 82 83 Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band Super Deluxe Edition CD sleeve The Beatles London Apple Records 2017 a href Template Cite AV media notes html title Template Cite AV media notes cite AV media notes a CS1 maint others in cite AV media notes link Gould 2007 pp 373 377 a b c Miles 2001 p 255 a b Rodriguez 2012 p 196 Spitz 2005 p 656 Austerlitz 2007 pp 17 18 19 Frontani 2007 pp 132 33 a b Winn 2009 p 85 a b Davies 2016 Beatles on TV gt Penny Lane promotional film clip Subafilms a b Harris John March 2007 The Day the World Turned Day Glo Mojo p 80 Winn 2009 p 87 a b c Wawzenek Bryan 11 March 2017 How the Beatles Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever Videos Changed Everything Ultimate Classic Rock Retrieved 20 May 2019 a b c Ingham 2006 p 165 K Jeff 6 February 2021 On This Day in 1967 the Beatles Filmed Penny Lane Lone Star 92 5 iHeartRadio Retrieved 10 June 2021 Rodriguez 2012 pp 200 01 a b c Rodriguez 2012 p 200 Courrier 2009 p 164 Greene 2016 p 35 Ingham 2006 pp 165 66 Ingham 2006 p 166 a b Hertsgaard 1996 p 8 Austerlitz 2007 p 18 Hertsgaard 1996 p 392 Cushley Joe 2003 Boys on Film Mojo Special Limited Edition 1000 Days of Revolution The Beatles Final Years Jan 1 1968 to Sept 27 1970 London Emap p 21 a b Lewisohn 2005 p 98 Frontani 2007 p 131 Castleman amp Podrazik 1976 pp 61 62 Miles 2001 p 257 Rodriguez 2012 p 199 Turner 2012 p 131 Hertsgaard 1996 pp 88 211 a b Unterberger Richie The Beatles AllMusic Retrieved 26 May 2019 Heylin 2007 p 72 Doggett 2015 p 373 Frontani 2007 p 133 Turner 2016 p 393 Sounes 2010 p 167 a b Courrier 2009 p 165 a b c Greene 2016 p 34 Rodriguez 2012 pp 200 201 Frontani 2007 pp 134 35 Frontani 2007 p 135 Rodriguez 2012 p 201 Rodriguez 2012 pp 201 02 Winn 2009 pp 85 87 Courrier 2009 pp 165 66 Greene 2016 pp 34 35 Philo 2015 p 120 Gould 2007 pp 377 384 Clayson 2003 p 117 Irvin Jim March 2007 The Big Bang Mojo p 78 The Beatles 2000 p 239 Cunningham 1998 p 154 Rodriguez 2012 pp 197 98 Hertsgaard 1996 p 219 Lewisohn 2005 p 131 Greene 2016 pp 41 42 Rodriguez 2012 pp 199 200 Heylin 2007 p 103 a b O Gorman Martin 2002 Strange Fruit Mojo Special Limited Edition 1000 Days That Shook the World The Psychedelic Beatles April 1 1965 to December 26 1967 London Emap p 94 MM staff 11 February 1967 Beatles on TV Melody Maker p 1 Womack 2014 pp 694 723 24 Sullivan 2017 p 411fn Rodriguez 2012 p 198 Doggett 2015 p 389 Billboard staff 7 February 2014 Beatles Timeline The Fab Four s 50 Most Memorable Moments gt 023 051 February 13 1967 Strawberry Fields Penny Lane single released billboard com Retrieved 15 January 2018 Womack 2014 pp 694 95 Castleman amp Podrazik 1976 p 338 Everett 1999 pp xiii 87 Heylin 2007 pp 103 04 a b Hertsgaard 1996 pp 212 392 Hertsgaard 1996 p 212 The Beatles 2003 The Beatles Anthology 8 DVDs Apple Corps Event occurs at episode 6 0 41 17 ASIN B00008GKEG barcode 24349 29699 Turner 2016 p 358 Duffy Thom 1 June 1987 Everybody s Getting on Sgt Pepper Bandwagon Orlando Sentinel Retrieved 2 June 2019 a b c Womack 2014 p 724 Castleman amp Podrazik 1976 p 331 Gendron 2002 pp 193 94 Hamilton Jack 24 May 2017 Sgt Pepper s Timing Was As Good As Its Music Slate Retrieved 3 November 2018 Rodriguez 2012 pp 211 223 24 Gendron 2002 p 194 Spitz 2005 p 657 Time staff 3 March 1967 Other Noises Other Notes Time p 63 Archived from the original on 20 February 2008 Retrieved 20 July 2008 Frontani 2007 p 154 a b Sullivan 2017 p 412 Simonelli 2013 p 106 MacDonald 2005 p 221 Hertsgaard 1996 p 209 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 456 The Beatles Penny Lane Rolling Stone 11 December 2003 Retrieved 8 July 2015 The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time gt 280 The Beatles Penny Lane Rolling Stone 15 September 2021 Retrieved 23 September 2021 Alexander Phil et al July 2006 The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs Mojo p 92 Bennett 2000 pp 196 97 Burns 2000 p 176 New York staff 31 August 1985 Clips Receive an Artful Showcase Billboard p 51 Retrieved 15 December 2017 Film Exhibitions Golden Oldies of Music Video Museum of Modern Art 2003 Archived from the original on 18 July 2007 Retrieved 15 December 2017 Rowe Matt 18 September 2015 The Beatles 1 To Be Reissued With New Audio Remixes And Videos The Morton Report Retrieved 9 January 2016 Guardian music 30 October 2015 The Beatles Penny Lane Watch the restored video theguardian com Retrieved 30 May 2019 Turner 2012 p 132 Turner 2012 pp 132 33 Womack 2014 p 725 a b c Fontenot Robert The Beatles Songs Penny Lane The history of this classic Beatles song continued oldies about com Archived from the original on 4 April 2015 Retrieved 27 May 2019 Feldenkirchen Markus 12 October 2017 Martin Schulz Inside the Failed Campaign Der Spiegel ISSN 2195 1349 Retrieved 28 March 2022 Miles 2001 p 344 a b c Billboard New York Ed Christman Susan Butler Paul Sexton 10 August 2009 Beatles copyrights in McCartney s distant sights Reuters Archived from the original on 3 January 2014 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Forde Eamonn 22 March 2016 The Long and Winding Road How Paul McCartney is clawing back his catalogue theguardian com Retrieved 5 June 2019 Clayson 2003 p 116 Planer Lindsay The Rutles The Rutles AllMusic Retrieved 30 May 2019 Turner 2016 p 404 Sounes 2010 p 439 Fischer Jonathan L 3 June 2010 McCartney Rocks Obama at the White House Rolling Stone Retrieved 5 June 2019 MacDonald 2005 pp 221 223 Go Set Australian Charts 19 April 1967 poparchives com au Retrieved 21 March 2015 The Beatles Penny Lane in German O3 Austria Top 40 Retrieved 16 May 2016 The Beatles Penny Lane in Dutch Ultratop 50 Retrieved 16 May 2016 Top RPM Singles Issue 10048 RPM Library and Archives Canada Retrieved 16 May 2016 Nyman Jake 2005 Suomi soi 4 Suuri suomalainen listakirja in Finnish 1st ed Helsinki Tammi ISBN 951 31 2503 3 The Irish Charts Search Results Penny Lane Irish Singles Chart Retrieved 16 May 2016 Classifiche Musica e dischi in Italian Retrieved 31 May 2022 Set Tipo on Singoli Then in the Titolo field search Penny Lane The Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever Penny Lane in Dutch Single Top 100 Retrieved 16 May 2016 Flavour of New Zealand 7 April 1967 Hallberg Eric 1993 Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvallstoppen i P 3 Sveriges radios topplista over veckans 20 mest salda skivor 10 7 1962 19 8 1975 Drift Musik p 130 ISBN 9163021404 Hallberg Eric Henningsson Ulf 1998 Eric Hallberg Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna pa forsok 1961 74 Premium Publishing p 53 ISBN 919727125X Official Singles Chart Top 100 Official Charts Company Retrieved 16 May 2016 The Beatles Chart History Hot 100 Billboard Retrieved 16 May 2016 CASH BOX Top 100 Singles Week ending March 25 1967 Cash Box magazine Retrieved 16 June 2016 Offizielle Deutsche Charts Enter Beatles in the search box in German GfK Entertainment Charts Retrieved 16 May 2016 RPM 100 Top Singles of 1967 RPM Library and Archives Canada Archived from the original on 12 August 2016 Retrieved 18 June 2016 Top 100 Songs of 1967 oldtimemusic com Retrieved 12 August 2016 Top 100 Hits of 1967 Top 100 Songs of 1967 musicoutfitters com Retrieved 18 June 2016 The Cash Box Year End Charts 1967 Cashbox Archives Retrieved 18 June 2016 Syndicat National de l Edition Phonographique SNEP Fabrice Ferment ed TOP 1967 40 ans de tubes 1960 2000 les meilleures ventes de 45 tours amp CD singles in French OCLC 469523661 Archived from the original on 27 February 2022 Retrieved 27 March 2023 via Top France fr Cash Box Japan PDF Cash Box 15 June 1968 p 52 Retrieved 27 March 2023 a b c Murrells Joseph 1985 Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s an illustrated directory Arco Pub p 234 amp 235 ISBN 0668064595 It also sold 350 000 in its first three days in Britain where it was released on 17 February and easily passed the half million mark later U S A sales were over 1 500 000 and the global total well in excess of two million British single certifications Beatles Penny Lane British Phonographic Industry Retrieved 20 November 2020 American single certifications The Beatles Penny Lane Recording Industry Association of America Sources Austerlitz Saul 2007 Money for Nothing A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes New York NY Continuum ISBN 978 0 8264 1818 0 Babiuk Andy 2002 Beatles Gear All the Fab Four s Instruments from Stage to Studio San Francisco CA Backbeat Books ISBN 0 87930 731 5 The Beatles 2000 The Beatles Anthology San Francisco CA Chronicle Books ISBN 0 8118 2684 8 Bennett Andy 2000 Sitting in an English Garden Comparing Representations of Britishness in the Songs of the Beatles and 1990s Britpop Groups In Inglis Ian ed The Beatles Popular Music and Society A Thousand Voices Basingstoke UK Macmillan Press ISBN 978 0 333 76156 4 Burns Gary 2000 Refab Four Beatles for Sale in the Age of Music Video In Inglis Ian ed The Beatles Popular Music and Society A Thousand Voices Basingstoke UK Macmillan Press ISBN 978 0 333 76156 4 Carr Roy Tyler Tony 1978 The Beatles An Illustrated Record London Trewin Copplestone Publishing ISBN 0 450 04170 0 Castleman Harry Podrazik Walter J 1976 All Together Now The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961 1975 New York NY Ballantine Books ISBN 0 345 25680 8 Clayson Alan 2003 Paul McCartney London Sanctuary ISBN 1 86074 482 6 Courrier Kevin 2009 Artificial Paradise The Dark Side of the Beatles Utopian Dream Westport CT Praeger ISBN 978 0 313 34586 9 Cunningham Mark 1998 Good Vibrations A History of Record Production London Sanctuary ISBN 978 1 860742422 Davies Hunter 2016 The Beatles Book London Random House ISBN 978 1 47350247 5 Doggett Peter 2015 Electric Shock From the Gramophone to the iPhone 125 Years of Pop Music London The Bodley Head ISBN 978 1 84792 218 2 Emerick Geoff Massey Howard 2006 Here There and Everywhere My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles New York NY Gotham ISBN 978 1 59240 269 4 Everett Walter 1999 The Beatles as Musicians Revolver Through the Anthology New York NY Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 512941 0 Frontani Michael R 2007 The Beatles Image and the Media Jackson MS University Press of Mississippi ISBN 978 1 57806 965 1 Gendron Bernard 2002 Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club Popular Music and the Avant Garde Chicago IL University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 28737 9 Gould Jonathan 2007 Can t Buy Me Love The Beatles Britain and America London Piatkus ISBN 978 0 7499 2988 6 Greene Doyle 2016 Rock Counterculture and the Avant Garde 1966 1970 How the Beatles Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground Defined an Era Jefferson NC McFarland ISBN 978 1 4766 6214 5 Hertsgaard Mark 1996 A Day in the Life The Music and Artistry of the Beatles London Pan Books ISBN 0 330 33891 9 Heylin Clinton 2007 The Act You ve Known for All These Years The Life and Afterlife of Sgt Pepper Edinburgh UK Canongate ISBN 978 1 84195 955 9 Ingham Chris 2006 The Rough Guide to the Beatles London Rough Guides ISBN 978 1 84353 720 5 Lewisohn Mark 2005 1988 The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962 1970 London Bounty Books ISBN 978 0 7537 2545 0 MacDonald Ian 2005 Revolution in the Head The Beatles Records and the Sixties 2nd rev ed London Pimlico ISBN 1 84413 828 3 Martin George Hornsby Jeremy 1994 All You Need Is Ears New York NY St Martin s Press ISBN 0 312 11482 6 Miles Barry 1997 Paul McCartney Many Years from Now New York NY Henry Holt amp Company ISBN 0 8050 5249 6 Miles Barry 2001 The Beatles Diary Volume 1 The Beatles Years London Omnibus Press ISBN 0 7119 8308 9 Pedler Dominic 2003 The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles London Omnibus Press ISBN 978 0 7119 8167 6 Philo Simon 2015 British Invasion The Crosscurrents of Musical Influence Lanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 0 8108 8627 8 Rodriguez Robert 2012 Revolver How the Beatles Reimagined Rock n Roll Milwaukee WI Backbeat Books ISBN 978 1 61713 009 0 Simonelli David 2013 Working Class Heroes Rock Music and British Society in the 1960s and 1970s Lanham MD Lexington Books ISBN 978 0 7391 7051 9 Sounes Howard 2010 Fab An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney London HarperCollins ISBN 978 0 00 723705 0 Spitz Bob 2005 The Beatles The Biography New York NY Little Brown and Company ISBN 1 84513 160 6 Steele Perkins Crispian 2001 The Trumpet Menuhin Music Guides London Kahn amp Averill ISBN 1 871082 69 2 Sullivan Steve 2017 Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings Volumes 3 amp 4 Lanham MD Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 978 1 4422 5448 0 Turner Steve 2012 1994 A Hard Day s Write The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song London Carlton ISBN 978 1 78097 096 7 Turner Steve 2016 Beatles 66 The Revolutionary Year New York NY Ecco ISBN 978 0 06 247558 9 Willis Paul E 2014 1978 Profane Culture Princeton NJ Princeton University Press ISBN 978 1 4008 6514 7 Winn John C 2009 That Magic Feeling The Beatles Recorded Legacy Volume Two 1966 1970 New York NY Three Rivers Press ISBN 978 0 307 45239 9 Womack Kenneth 2014 The Beatles Encyclopedia Everything Fab Four Santa Barbara CA ABC CLIO ISBN 978 0 313 39171 2 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Magical Mystery Tour Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles official website Golden Oldies of Music Video a presentation from New York s MoMA originally screened on 17 April 2003 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Penny Lane amp oldid 1149850910, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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