THE BEATLES - PENNY LANE

PENNY LANE

THE BEATLES

SONGWRITERS: JOHN LENNON & PAUL MCCARTNEY

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: PENNY LANE

LABEL: PARLOPHONE

GENRE: ROCK

YEAR: 1967

 

             The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The group, whose best-known line-up comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, are regarded as the most influential band of all time. They were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and popular music's recognition as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways; the band later explored music styles ranging from ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.

     Led by primary songwriters Lennon and McCartney, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over three years from 1960, initially with Stuart Sutcliffe playing bass. The core trio of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, together since 1958, went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided and developed their recordings, greatly expanding their domestic success after their first hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. As their popularity grew into the intense fan frenzy dubbed "Beatlemania", the band acquired the nickname "the Fab Four", with Epstein, Martin and other members of the band's entourage sometimes given the informal title of "fifth Beatle".

           "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.

        The Beatles began recording "Penny Lane" in December 1966, intending it as a song for their álbum 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 key changes that occur mid-verse and between its choruses. Session musician David Mason played a piccolo trumpet solo over 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 2011, Rolling Stone ranked the track at number 456 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".

 

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs

Of every head he's had the pleasure to known

And all the people that come and go

Stop and say: Hello!

 

On the corner is a banker with a motor car

The little children laugh at him behind his back

And the banker never wears a mac

In the pouring rain, very strange

 

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes

There beneath the blue suburban skies

I sit and meanwhile back

 

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass

And in his pocket is a portrait of the queen

He likes to keep his fire engine clean

It´s a clean machine

 

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes

A four of fish and finger pies

In summer, meanwhile back

 

Behind the shelter in the middle of the roundabout

The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray

And though she feels as if she's in a play

She is anyway

 

In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer

We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim

And then the fireman rushes in

From the pouring rain, very strange

 

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes

There beneath the blue suburban skies

I sit and meanwhile back

 

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes

There beneath the blue suburban skies

Penny Lane!