"A Day In The Life" in Context A short essay by Anda's Dad

It's difficult to imagine today just how huge the Beatles were in 1967. At the time that "A Day In The Life" was written and recorded, the Beatles had announced to the world that they were no longer going to play live. They were going to continue recording music completely and entirely for their own pleasure. If the rest of the world enjoyed it, that would be a bonus. This song sums up the talent and the power that the Beatles commanded in their career. They had only begun to write and record the songs that were to become "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band". That album alone redefined the 1960s. As one writer has said, if the early 1960s were viewed in black and white, it was "Sgt. Pepper" that allowed us to see it in full, psychedelic colour. The rest of this project talks about the creation of the song, but here we can talk about it's impact. First and foremost, the song was never allowed to be played on the radio in Britain (and that was the only country that the Beatles really cared about). Two days before the album's release (June 1, 1967), the BBC, Britains national radio service announced that they were going to ban the song because of its drug references - specifically the line "I'd love to turn you on". The Beatles of course were upset, but once again, they had so much power and influence that it didn't really matter - they knew that it was a great song and they knew that everyone was going to listen to it. The Beatles were using drugs around the time that this song was written - specifically marijuana and (for John and George) LSD. This coloured the way that they heard music and the way they wrote it. Today they don't encourage anyone to take drugs, but at the same time, they do acknowledge the influence it had on them personally. Paul has said that the line "I'd love to turn you on" was specifically a drug reference but it's important to note that in 1967, when people 18-30 made up the largest segment of the population, a lot of people were taking drugs. As Paul said, "It was in the culture anyway". The Beatles have always maintained that they weren't leaders - but they did reflect what was going on around them. And certainly in their lives and the lives of their contemporaries and peers in Swinging London, summer of love 1967, phrases like "turn you on", "blew his mind", "had a smoke" were all references to doing drugs. Even the count-in to Take 1, with John counting "Sugarplum fairy, Sugarplum fairy" instead of "1, 2, 3, 4" is a reference to someone who supplies drugs. The orchestral buildup has been interpreted to be the musical equivalent of a drug rush. Once again, the Beatles weren't telling people to go out and do drugs, they were simply reflecting what was going on around them. And as a result, the song was banned from airplay in Britain. The album that it appeared on, "Sgt. Pepper" went on to redefine popular music. The album had so many firsts - even for the Beatles: It was the first album to have the lyrics printed on it They hired a commercial artist to design the cover The album didn't have any grooves between the songs to tell you where one song ended and the next started - it was like one big single They spent more money on the cover than they did recording most of their previous records They would not go on tour to promote the album - in fact they sent the album on tour to promote them More has been written about "Sgt. Pepper" than just about any other album and justifiably so. It displays the Beatles at the height of their creativity and cooperation. They had the confidence to do anything they wanted and they did - yet at the same time they did not go overboard and still released an album that is revered today as a milestone in recorded music. The last song on the album was "A Day in the Life". Yet it was the first song recorded for the album. As soon as it was completed, they knew that no other song could follow it. Again thing song shows John and Paul at their creative best and with a confidence matched by few other recording artists. With but a germ of a song, they begin recording it but at the same time leaving a 'space' in the middle. "We'll fill it up with something, once we figure out what that something is!". And they did. They caused new inventions to be created just to handle the technical demands that the Beatles were putting on their recording engineers - and this wasn't the first time. But throughout, they maintained a creative, light, almost festive atmosphere. In 1967, everything was an event, 'a happening' and this air was maintained through much of the recording of this album and throughout the balance of the summer. I suppose the true test of any creative piece of work is how it is perceived in subsequent years. This song is as fresh and creative as anything released today and I suppose that in the 35 years since this song was first recorded, musicians have been trying to duplicate the feat that the Beatles pulled off in a few short recording session in January and February of 1967. Pretty amazing...

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