In 1967 John Lennon and Paul McCartney worked together to write a new batch of songs for The Beatles' eighth studio album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. During their writing sessions, the pair heard some tragic news about one of their friends, prompting them to write candidly about losing one of their pals.
In McCartney's new book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, he delved into the secrets of how he and Lennon wrote A Day In The Life. The song was a joint effort between the two pals mourning the loss of their friend, Tara Browne.
In McCartney's new book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, he delved into the secrets of how he and Lennon wrote A Day In The Life. The song was a joint effort between the two pals mourning the loss of their friend, Tara Browne.
Paul described the young man as "a very good friend. A young boy, lovely guy, very sweet, very gentle".
The Hey Jude singer then revealed: "Suddenly, this friend of ours was dead and, you know, being the sixties we used to get high with him and stuff. So that just morphed itself into the story of 'He blew his mind out in a car.'"
McCartney went on: "We took that little incident and just massaged it and put that little poetic thought into the song." He later said: "John came over as he often did and he said: 'Look, I've got this idea.' So, he started to play the first verse. Then we got a newspaper and we started to look at stories in the newspaper and we started to try to write a verse about it." But that loss of their friend wasn't the only inspiration behind A Day In The Life.
Paul said: "So there’s me and John sitting up in my little music room with the two guitars and we’re playing it, we’re writing it, we’re scribbling down the lyrics."
McCartney added: "Then we get to the middle bit and I start to get a little bit autobiographical then. I’ve got a story in my head which is about when I used to go to school in Liverpool."
Using this thought process Paul continued the story by writing of a "half-hour bus journey into the city where the school was" after his morning routine of "woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head”.
Paul recalled: "It was beautiful it was just started off, the first verse and the melody was brought in by John."
John Lennon also spoke about writing the song while speaking in 1970. He said: "Paul and I were definitely working together, especially on A Day in the Life. The way we wrote a lot of the time, you'd write the good bit, the part that was easy, like 'I read the news today' or whatever it was, then when you got stuck or whenever it got hard, instead of carrying on, you just drop it.
"Then we would meet each other, and I would sing half, and he would be inspired to write the next bit and vice versa. He was a bit shy about it because I think he thought it's already a good song. "So we were doing it in his room with the piano. He said 'Should we do this?' [I replied:] 'Yeah, let's do that.'"
McCartney added: "Then we get to the middle bit and I start to get a little bit autobiographical then. I’ve got a story in my head which is about when I used to go to school in Liverpool."
Using this thought process Paul continued the story by writing of a "half-hour bus journey into the city where the school was" after his morning routine of "woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head”.
Paul recalled: "It was beautiful it was just started off, the first verse and the melody was brought in by John."
John Lennon also spoke about writing the song while speaking in 1970. He said: "Paul and I were definitely working together, especially on A Day in the Life. The way we wrote a lot of the time, you'd write the good bit, the part that was easy, like 'I read the news today' or whatever it was, then when you got stuck or whenever it got hard, instead of carrying on, you just drop it.
"Then we would meet each other, and I would sing half, and he would be inspired to write the next bit and vice versa. He was a bit shy about it because I think he thought it's already a good song. "So we were doing it in his room with the piano. He said 'Should we do this?' [I replied:] 'Yeah, let's do that.'"
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