The Making of: "A Day In The Life"
John Whelan
before the release of the Anthology book?
In their own words, the making of
"A Day In The Life"...
No other pop group since 1967 has ever written
something as brilliant as this, IMO. - J.W.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LENNON: "I was reading the paper one day and
noticed two stories. One was about the Guinness
heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main
headline story. He died in London in a car crash.
On the next page was a story about four thousand
potholes in the streets of Blackburn, Lancashire,
that needed to be filled. Paul's contribution was
the beautiful little lick in the song, 'I'd love to turn
you on,' that he'd had floating around in his head
and couldn't use. I thought it was a damn good
piece of work." SOURCE: Playboy Interviews.
McCartney also contributed the middle section of
the song that refers to waking up and catching
a bus.
The Guinness heir was Tara Browne, a friend of
the Beatles and other rock groups. On December
18, 1966, Browne went through red lights at 110 mph
in his Lotus Elan and smashed into the back of a
parked van in South Kensington. He was dead at
the age of twenty-one. SOURCE: Macs; Salewics
agrees on date, spelling of name, car, parked van,
location.
LENNON: "...There was a paragraph about four
thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, being
discovered, and there was still one word missing in
that particular verse when we began to record. I
knew the line should go: 'Now they know how many
holes it takes to (blank) the Albert Hall.' It was a
nonsense verse really, but for some reason I just
couldn't think of the bloody verb! What did the holes
do to the Albert Hall? It was actually Terry Doran
who finally said: 'Fill the Albert Hall, John.'"
SOURCE: Celebration and Own Words.
In sessions between January 19 (basic track) and
February 10, 1967 (orchestral track), at Abbey Road,
with an overdub February 22 (the one-chord ending)
SOURCE: Abbey; widespread agreement on two
main sessions.
Lennon's part of the song was recorded first, with him
on guitar and McCartney on piano. SOURCE: Road
GEOFF EMERICK: "Lennon's voice on 'A Day in the
Life' -- that was achieved with tape echo. We used to
send the feed from the vocal mike into a mono tape
machine. They had separate record and replay heads,
so we'd be recording the vocal on the tape, taking the
replay and feeding it back through the machine itself.
There was a big pot on the front of the machines, and
we used to turn up the record level until it started to
slightly feed back on itself, and gave this sort of twittery
vocal sound. Of course John was hearing echo in his
[headphones] as he was singing -- it wasn't put on
after -- and he used that as a rhythmic feel for singing.
That tape echo on the vocal always suited John's voice,
because he had a cutting voice that used to trigger it so
well." SOURCE: Musician (July 1987)
The need for a middle section became apparent. McCartney
offered some lyrics that he was intending for another song.
After discussion, they were accepted, as long as the
connecting part was very rhythmic. George Martin suggested
the connecting passages have a definite length. SOURCE:
Road.
GEORGE MARTIN: "In order to keep time, we got Mal
Evans to count each bar, and on the record you can still
hear his voice as he stood by the piano counting: 'one,
two, three, four...' For a joke, Mal set an alarm clock to go
off at the end of twenty-four bars, and you can hear that
too. We left it in because we couldn't get it off!"
SOURCE: Ears
Martin then asked what should be used in those long
connecting passages. McCartney answered that he wanted
a symphony orchestra to "freak out" during them. Martin
disagreed, but McCartney persisted. They compromised
on a smaller, forty-one piece orchestra. SOURCE: Road;
Ears indicates Lennon came up with the idea of using an
orchestra.
Lennon's only instruction to George Martin was that the sound
must rise up to "a sound like the end of the world."
The London Times (May 30, 1987); Ears says Lennon was
more explicit: "I'd like it to be from extreme quietness to
extreme loudness, not only in volume, but also for the sound
to expand as well" and more.
MARTIN: "[John] did explain what he wanted sufficiently for
me to be able to write a score. For the 'I'd like [sic] to turn
you *onnnnn*' bit, I used cellos and violas. I had them playing
those two notes that echo John's voice. However, instead
of fingering their instruments, which would produce crisp notes,
I got them to slide their fingers up and down the frets, building
in intensity until the start of the orchestral climax.
"That climax was something else again. What I did there was
to write, at the beginning of the twenty-four bars, the lowest
possible note for each of the instruments in the orchestra. At
the end of the twenty-four bars, I wrote the highest note each
instrument could reach that was near a chord of E major. Then
I put a squiggly line right through the twenty-four bars, with
reference points to tell them roughly what note they should have
reached during each bar. The musicians also had instructions
to slide as gracefully as possible between one note and the
next. In the case of the stringed instruments, that was a matter
of sliding their fingers up the strings. With keyed instruments,
like a clarinet and oboe, they obviously had to move their
fingers from key to key as they went up, but they were asked
to 'lip' the changes as much as possible too."
SOURCE: Ears.
McCartney suggested that Martin and the orchestra come to
the session in evening dress. SOURCE: Ears.
PETE SHOTTON: "The predominantly middle-aged [orchestra
members] were each handed a paper mask or some other
such party novelty. The orchestra leader, for instance, was
given a bright red nose, while the main violinist was obliged to
clutch his bow in a giant gorilla's paw." SOURCE: Shotton.
PETE SHOTTON: "[The musicians] were even more bemused,
if not downright aghast, by Paul McCartney's instructions that
they all play as out of tune and out of time as possible....Only
after repeated tries did the musicians finally deliver a
performance sufficiently chaotic to suit the Beatles' requirements."
SOURCE: Shotton
ERICH GRUENBERG, orchestra leader: "...They wanted
certain effects from the string players which were very difficult
to convey in writing, but they explained what they wanted.
It was an intensification of sound or a rise in pitch -- if you
remember there's a sort of spiraling chord that starts on a
semitone 'swirrel' and then rises up. The particular effect was
created by everyone doing his own thing, in a sense, because
it's the mixture of all these different ingredients that gives this
special effect." SOURCE: 20 Years; Ears says orchestra
leader was David McCallum and spells Erich as "Eric."
McCARTNEY: "...I suggest that what we should do was
write all but fifteen bars properly so that the orchestra could
read it, but where the fifteen bars began we would give the
musicians a simple direction: 'Start on your lowest note
and eventually, at the end of the fifteen bars, be at your
highest note.' How they got there was up to them, but it all
resulted in a crazy crescendo. It was interesting because
the trumpet players, always famous for their fondness for
lubricating substances, didn't care, so they'd be there at
the note ahead of everyone. The strings all watched each
other like little sheep: 'Are you going up?' Yes. 'So am I.'
And they'd go up. 'A little more?' Yes. And they'd go up a
little more, all very delicate and cozy, all going up together.
You listen to those trumpets. They're just freaking out."
SOURCE: 20 years
McCARTNEY: "The orchestra crescendo and that was
based on some ideas I'd been getting from Stockhausen
and people like that, which is more abstract."
SOURCE: Playboy (December 1984)
GEOFF EMERICK: "On the orchestral rush at the end of
the track, by careful fader manipulation I was gradually
building the crescendo to a peak. My technique was a
little bit psychological, because I would bring it up to a point
and then slightly fade it back in level, as I had a long time
to do so. It was just a case of really feeling the music, more
than the technical side." SOURCE: Musician (July 1987)
GEORGE MARTIN: "I wanted that [final piano] chord to
last as long as possible, and I told Geoff Emerick it would
be up to him, not the boys, to achieve that."
SOURCE: Ears
About twenty-four seconds into the sound of the final chord,
Emerick turned the sound level so high that the studio's
air-conditioners became audible. SOURCE: Lists; Love
supports.
DEREK TAYLOR: "The final bunched chords came from all
four Beatles and George Martin in the studio, playing three
pianos. All of them hit the chords simultaneously, as hard
as possible, with the engineer pushing the volume-input
faders way down on the moment of impact. Then, as the
noise gradually diminished, the faders were pushed up to
the top. It took forty-five seconds, and it was done three or
four times, piling on a huge sound -- one piano after another,
all doing the same thing." SOURCE: 20 Years.
Martin harbored reservations about the orchestral sequences:
"One part of me said, 'We're being a bit self-indulgent, we're
going a little bit over the top,' and the other part of me said,
'It's bloody marvelous! I think it's fantastic!' I was then thoroughly
reassured before I put the thing together, when I actually let an
American visitor hear a bit of 'A Day in the Life.' When that
happened he did a handstand, and I knew my worries were
over." SOURCE: Musician (July 1987).
GEORGE MARTIN: "[Ringo's] use of toms was also very
inventive. The 'A Day in the Life' tympani sound on the toms
was very characteristic." SOURCE: Musician (July 1987).
BBC BANNED "A DAY IN THE LIFE"
The song was banned by the BBC because of Paul's lyric
about having a smoke and going into a dream, construed
as being about marijuana. The four thousand holes in
Blackburn, Lancashire, were thought by some to be about
the tracks in a junkie's arm. SOURCE: Love
COMMENTS BY THE BEATLES:
McCARTNEY: "There'd been a story about a lucky man
who'd made the grade, and there was a photograph of him
sitting in his big car, and when John saw it he just had to
laugh! That's all just a little black comedy, you know. The
next bit was another song altogether, but it happened to
fit well with the first section. It was really only me remembering
what it was like to run up the road to catch the school bus,
having a smoke, and then going into class. We decided:
'Bugger this, we're going to write a real turn-on song!' It was
a reflection of my school days -- I would have a Woodbine
then, and somebody would speak and I would go into a
dream. This was the only one in the album written as a
deliberate provocation to people. But what we really wanted
was to turn you on to the truth rather than just bloody pot!"
SOURCE: Celebration and Own Words
McCARTNEY: "I remember being very conscious of the
words, 'I'd love to turn you on,' and thinking, 'Well, that's
about as risqué as we dare get at this point.' Well, the
BBC banned it...." SOURCE: Playboy (December 1984)
COMMENTS BY OTHERS:
LEONARD BERSTEIN, composer, conductor: "...Three
bars of 'A Day in the Life' still sustain me, rejuvenate me,
inflame my senses and sensibilities."
SOURCE: The Beatles by Geoffry Stokes (1979), via
Companion.
This song is one of Julian Lennon's favorites.
SOURCE: Circa 1984, Coleman.
Best Regards,
John in Canada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Take a very "Magical Mystery Tour" trip on the Beatles
and their history at:
http://www.ncf.ca/beatles/timeline.html
Feel free to bookmark or create a link!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brad Boes
particularly liked the quote from Leonard Bernstein-
Brad
I.M. Down
news:8qi0vt$m7r$1...@freenet9.carleton.ca...
> How about another little primer for you just
> before the release of the Anthology book?
>
> In their own words, the making of
> "A Day In The Life"...
I've seen bits of video pieces from this song with the orchestra wearing the
funny noses - Is there a full length video of *A Day In The Life* anywhere?
dlarsson
Excellant compilation of all the various commentary.
Here is an expansion of the "All You Need Is Ears" commentary
from George Martin.
MARTIN: "The Question was how were we going to fill
those twenty-four bars of emptiness? After all, it
was pretty boring! So I asked John for his ideas.
As always, it was a matter of trying to get inside his
mind, discover what pictures he was trying to paint. He said:
'What I'd like to hear is a tremendous buildup, from nothing to
something absolutely like the end of the world. I'd like it to be
from extreme quiteness to extreme loudness, not only in volume
but also for the sound to expand as well. I'd like to use a
symphony orchestra for it...tell you what George, you book
a symphony orchestra, and we'll get them in a studio and tell
them what to do.'
Come on John, I said, there's no way you can get a symphony
orchestra sitting around and say to them look fellers this is what
you're going to do. You've got to write something down for them.
But he did explain what he wanted sufficiently for me to be
able to write a score. What I did there was to write, at the
beginning of the twenty-four bars the lowest possible note
for each of the instruments in the orchestra. At the end of the
twenty-four bars, I wrote the highest note each instrument
could reach that was near the chord of E major. Then I
put a squiggly line right through the twenty-four bars,
with reference points to tell them roughly what note they
should have reached during the bar. I marked the music
'pianissimo' at the beginning and 'fortissimo' at the end."
-George Martin, "All You Need Is Ears"
John Whelan <an...@freenet.carleton.ca> wrote in message
news:8qi0vt$m7r$1...@freenet9.carleton.ca...
Chris Hoelscher
> I've seen bits of video pieces from this song with the orchestra wearing the
> funny noses - Is there a full length video of *A Day In The Life* anywhere?
well - yes - it is quite common in botleg circles - there is no Beatles
Miming or vocal participation, but it is the Beatles & Friends (Michael
Nesmith, etc) at the Feb 10 orchestral recording session of ADITL. (At
least you get to hear a clean intro to the song, which I had heard
previously only on BEATLES 1967-1970. When I get a chance, I will post
it to ALT.BINARIES.BEATLES
Chris Hoelscher
Chris Hoelscher
I.M. Down
jimsun
"dlarsson" <dlar...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:8qjblr$jvf$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...
You know Derek..There are at least 4 other statements from George
Martin(earluest I know of is from1971)
saying that Paul was the origin of the orchestral climax.
But I know it doesn't fit your fiction.
I'm so lucky to have heard it from George Martins own mouth too..Listening
at his Making of sgt. Pepper multimedia show with sir George just some feet
in front of me. He clearly stated that Paul was the one who wanted the
orchestra.
JLS
(by the way...Where the **** is jseraf??)
Anders Viberg
I.M. Down wrote:
> >
> > > I've seen bits of video pieces from this song with the orchestra
wearing
> the
> > > funny noses - Is there a full length video of *A Day In The Life*
> anywhere?
> >
> > well - yes - it is quite common in botleg circles - there is no Beatles
> > Miming or vocal participation, but it is the Beatles & Friends (Michael
> > Nesmith, etc) at the Feb 10 orchestral recording session of ADITL. (At
> > least you get to hear a clean intro to the song, which I had heard
> > previously only on BEATLES 1967-1970. When I get a chance, I will post
> > it to ALT.BINARIES.BEATLES
> >
> > Chris Hoelscher
>
> Thanks Chris!
Also you can see it in the Anthology.
/Anders
Derek J. Larsson
> Martin(earluest I know of is from1971)
> saying that Paul was the origin of the orchestral climax.
> But I know it doesn't fit your fiction.
>
First of all, it is not MY "fiction". This was direct
commentary from George Martin himself. Secondly, Martin,
in other remarks, has referred to the buildup as something
that both John & Paul were involved in. Martin's quoted
remarks here above are among the MOST DETAILED he ever
gave about this and the only place where he describes
the actual, musical scoring of the sounds that we hear on the record.
To then reject Martin's comments (that applied to John) is to reject
the best insiders account on this that we have.
> I'm so lucky to have heard it from George Martins own mouth too..Listening
> at his Making of sgt. Pepper multimedia show with sir George just some feet
> in front of me. He clearly stated that Paul was the one who wanted the
> orchestra.
"wanting an orchestra" is different from the specifics of
what the orchestra would actually do. I do not believe
George Martin lies ... so there is nothing contradictory
about this. They both had involvement in the buildup.
It may have been Paul's idea to use an orchestra and
John's idea to have this "tremendous buildup from
nothing to something absolutely like the end of the world."
That would certainly fit each of their personalities quite
well. John often talked about music in abstractions, concepts
and surrealistic language. Paul talked more about structure
and what instruments to use. If you add together the full
set of Martin's comments, the roles of John & Paul
appear to have broken down along those lines - which
you would intuitively expect from each of them in the first
place.
The piece, however, was scored by Martin (not any of the Beatles) ..
so who better than him than to provide details about
how the score came about. Martin has never retracted
or taken back the specific statements about the genesis
of the score itself and it's "motif" (which he attributes to Lennon).
The only proveable "fiction" here that I am aware of ... is the
stuff McCartney has said in MYFN in which neither
Lennon or George Martin is even mentioned at all - and
which perversely protray himself as the one who did this.
The fact that McCartney cuts out both Lennon and Martin
of his story about this shows us that his (McCartney) account
is what is not truthful here.
Martin's comments (above) came from his own
autobiography (which was generally very very
complimentary to Paul) and
this specific account was not filtered or edited by
either Apple or McCartney's Public-Relations people.
Therefore it is the best unfiltered interview about
the score of "A Day In The Life" that we have.
___________________________________________
"What I'd like to hear is a tremendous buildup, from nothing to
something absolutely like the end of the world. I'd like it to be
from extreme quiteness to extreme loudness, not only in volume
but also for the sound to expand as well."
-John Lennon
..... That is precisely what we hear on the record folks.....
Thank you John (expanding sound, end-of-the-world concept),
Thank you George (score implementation and the closing E chord),
Thank you Paul (use of orchestra)
-- Derek
======================================================
Derek J. Larsson EMail: derek_...@3com.com
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