Recording "A Day In The Life" - Take 1

John started writing the song on January 7, 1967 because that is the day that the articles appeared in the newspaper. He probably brought the song over to Paul's house that day or the next (January 8) during which time they finished it up. John and Paul wrote songs very quickly and they usually didn't spend more than an afternoon actually writing the song. Most of the songs they wrote were also recorded very quickly. For a song as complex as "A Day In The Life", it's amazing just how fast it was recorded. This was a time in the Beatles' career where they were using the studio for a lot of experimentation. In earlier years, they would go into the studio and record a song using just their instruments (guitars, bass and drums) and their voices. Sometimes they might bring outside musicians in to help (some strings or wind instrumentalists for example) but this was the exception, not the rule. However, in late 1966 and early 1967, they were bringing musical ideas into the studio and sometimes they might spend a week or two just creating the sounds associated with a single song. The Beatles didn't actually begin recording "A Day In The Life" until Thursday, January 19, 1967. Why the 10 day wait between writing the song and recording it? Well, they were busy recording Paul's wonderful song, Penny Lane which they started recording on December 29, 1966 and was completed on Tuesday January 17, 1967. Thursday 19 January, 1967 Abbey Road Studio Two: 7.30pm-2.30am. Recording: 'In the Life Of. . .' (working title of 'A Day In The Life') (takes 1-4). Producer: George Martin. Engineer: Geoff Emerick. 2nd Engineer: Phil McDonald. From little acorns ... The song which was to become the stunning finale of the Beatles' next album, 'A Day In The Life', started out simply - but no less magnificently - as a stark, bare recording. A clear parallel between take one of 'A Day In The Life' (or 'In The Life Of . . .' as it was known on this first day only) and Take One of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' can be drawn in that both sowed the seeds of what would become epic recordings, yet at their early stages both were no less beautiful in their simplicity. And both, of course, were John Lennon songs. Take One of 'A Day In The Life' used just two of the four available tracks: a basic rhythm (bongos, maracas, piano and guitar) on track one and a heavily echoed Lennon vocal on track four. At this stage of the recording the Beatles only knew that something would later be taped for the song's middle eight structure. Precisely what they did not know. But to mark out the place where the unknown item would go they had Mal Evans (their roadie and personal assistant) count out the bars, numbers 1 to 24. And to enter into the true spirit of the Beatles recordings 1967-style, this laboured counting was plastered with tape echo, increasing with the numbers until by 24 it sounded like he was in a cave. He was also backed by the tinkling of a piano, the notes climbing in tandem with the numbers. To mark the end of the middle eight overdub section an alarm clock was sounded. There was no Paul McCartney vocal yet, merely instruments at the point where his contribution would later be placed, but then John's vocal returned, leading into another Mal Evans one to 24 count and then a single piano - building, building, building, building, stop. Breathtaking stuff indeed. Counting the 24 bars Listen to Take 1 with George Martin Listen to an edit of Take 1 and 2 Continue to the next recording session...

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