The Epic Track: “A Day in the Life’

Editor’s Note: There are certain tracks that are, well, “epic” — memorable, larger than life, carved into music history. In this series, we look at one of them.

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“Man, I was a dish rag. I was floored. It took me several minutes to be able to talk after that.” – David Crosby on hearing “A Day in the Life” for the first time at the Abbey Road studio.

In 1967, The Beatles were fully immersed in their studio experimentation phase, even taking on the moniker of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” to further distance themselves from their earlier image.

The album features a wide range of styles, from the chirpy “With a Little Help from My Friends” to the mysticism of “Within You Without You” to the rollicking “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”. But NOTHING could prepare listeners for the closing track, “A Day In the Life.”

This five-minute and 35-second opus begins with the “news” of a fatal traffic accident (based on the real-life death of Guinness heir Tara Browne). We’re then taken to a movie theater for a war film, and onto a busy day at the office. Ultimately, we’re helping count the holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, enough to fill the Albert Hall.

None of it makes sense, and that’s the beauty of it. It can be summed up with the line, “I’d love to turn you on” (suggested by Paul, according to John). The controversial lyric led to the song being banned (for a little while, at least) by the BBC. And for the record, in 2010, John’s handwritten lyrics sold at Sotheby’s auction house for $1.2 million.

“A Day in the Life” starts with low-key acoustic guitar, bass, and piano, with Ringo’s brilliant, jazz-tinged fills. But then, there’s that 24-bar Orchestra Bit.

It’s been well-documented how the 41 musicians brought in to create this segment were understandably stumped. Producer George Martin said that John wanted something that would start at nothing and then reach a crescendo that “sounded like the end of the world.”

Martin stated, “What I did there was to write … 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 … 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 … Of course, they all looked at me as though I were completely mad.”

If that didn’t do it, the request for the musicians to don formal wear but to add odd hats, fake noses, and other silly gear pretty much let them know that they were in for something…interesting.

At that time, John and Paul were heavily influenced by avant-garde musicians like John Cage. And because it was 1967, they turned part of the recording (which took a total of 34 hours for the whole track) into a “happening.” Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mike Nesmith, Donovan, and Marianne Faithfull were all in the studio as Paul conducted the orchestra.

One of the most magnificent parts of “A Day in the Life” is the single thunderous chord that ends the track. It was an E-major played simultaneously on three pianos, and ringing for a full 42 seconds. To capture every bit, the recording level was turned up so high that you can hear the hum of the air conditioner in the studio.

While we’ve all heard this psychedelic masterpiece many times since the album’s release in May/June of ‘67 (UK/US), can you imagine being one of the first? No wonder David Crosby’s mind (already “stretched”, shall we say) was blown.

“A Day in the Life” takes seemingly mundane moments in a suburban life (reading the paper, dashing to the office, drifting off in a boring meeting) and then layers them with surrealistic vibes that hover menacingly around the edges. If The Beatles wanted to “turn us on,” mission accomplished.

-Cindy Grogan

Fair use image of Sgt. Pepper