A mere 4 years from 'Please Please Me' to this was just a miraculous musical leap. The Beatles dragged us kids and the whole industry behind them as they experimented and invented. Kudos to George Martin too for his invaluable contribution.
George Martin the fifth Beatle which the Beatles always said he was. He worked with the Beatles not just as their music producer but played with the group on some of their songs in the early days before Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Clubs Band was released in 1967. This was the album that was the change in the Beatles music after the iconic Revolver album.
This was the first time I've listened to this song in a long time, and through headphones which really highlight all the production elements. One thing I was particularly struck by on this occasion was Ringo's drumming. He is often dissed for not having the flashiness of some of his contemporaries, but this song is an example of Ringo's greatness. His musicality is second to none, and nothing he does is ever indulgent. He plays in service to the song, and every fill is purposeful and punctuates the melody and the lyrics beautifully.
Ringo is a drumming virtuoso at bringing the right drums/percussion to the song. He was as essential to The Beatles, as the other three. He really shines on A Day in the Life.
Whoever responsible for changing Pepper From being Rolling Stone top LP after decades JUST PLAIN STUPID HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE (If you're lonely you can talk to me)🍏
It's the Beatles....and then there's everyone else. I was 16 in 1967 and 72 now. I have many bands and artists I love but, again, the Beatles are on another level. When my 3 kids were growing up I played their music constantly and my kids are forever Beatles fans!
Here's another interesting tidbit...just days after the Pepper album came out, Eric Clapton called George Harrison and told him about a guitarist they should go see play in London. The guitarists name was Jimi Hendrix, and Eric told George he had heard some good things about him. George, Paul, and Eric went to see him play, and Jimi opened his show with his version of Sgt Peppers, the opening song on the album. The guys were blown away. Turns out, Jimi was a big fan of the Beatles, and when he heard the Pepper album, he changed his setlist to include the song for the first time, the night the boys heard him. What a great tribute to a great band!
What's most amazing about the Beatles, I think, is that even now, listening to their songs today; and you still described this song as pushing the boundaries. Even though it's decades old.
The original song was John's but he felt it was incomplete. He showed it to Paul who came up with the middle part "Got up, got out of bed..." etc. John also said he wanted "war sounds". He, Paul and George Martin put their heads together and came up with the crescendos. For my money, this is the best Beatles song by far. Two musical geniuses at their creative peak. It changed everything. Popular music was never the same.
Per George Martin, they had 2 sections that needed to be filled and it was Paul who came up with the idea. He asked the orchestra to start at the lowest note and work up to the highest note. George said they just looked at him funny and he had to write up the score for them to play.
John's voice sounds very emotive in many songs and this is one of those. Imagine all those astonishing effects back in 1967, when everything was done using the skills and imagination of those involved, without the technology we have today, these lads were pioneers on so many aspects of music and culture.
Yeah, they had a total of 8 tracks on 1 tape. Syncing machines together was near impossible. Bouncing tracks can only take you so far. Had to be able to record multiple parts at the same time. All being mixed to stereo during recording. Sir George Martin advanced recording science with every Beatles album. None of the old head audio engineers of the day wanted to work with them. Sir George embraced it, becoming a legend, and the 5th Beatle, in the process. He also arranged almost all of the orchestral parts. Many Mic'ing, FX, EQ, Dynamics, and mixing& editing techniques, in various forms, date back to his intellectual experimenting with the Boys from Liverpool's recordings.
@@davidstephens6462 That's true, George Martin was an important influence to the boys, I think he never told them 'this cannot be done', just the opposite, they all experimented together to see how far they could go, as he himself or John once said, I don't remember, we all learned in the process, and boy, they did it in a big way. Also his musical contributions in some songs, my favorite 'In My Life', it's stunning.
@@juanita6479 - "In my life" is beautiful. His solo song "Mother" is heartbreaking. John was a genius as was George Martin. Martin encouraged them and let them experiment. Martin played the Baroque sounding piano on "In my life".
@@susieq9801 Yes 'Mother' is heartbreaking, and how about 'Julia', even more, also 'Free as a Bird' and 'Real Love' with that sad touch, both unfinished but embellished by his mates and his voice sounds longing, as Luke rightly described it. About 'In My Life' I like everything in the song, and that piano contribution from GM is what I refer as my favorite of his, simply perfect 👌
I heard he recorded his vocal in a special room for this song. And Martin applied some effects on his voice as well giving it an ethereal haunting quality that worked perfectly!
You absolutely get it. As an old man now, I am so glad that I lived in that time. We had hints in Rubber Soul and Revolver but when Pepper burst on the scene we were all gobsmacked. When you reached the end of Day In The Life you said what we all said on first listen: WOW. There are no other words.
@@finlybenyunes8385 Really? I quite like the word. It hints at an earlier more elegant era. I suppose i could have said "blown away" but that strikes me as more coarse. Horses for courses, i guess.
@@finlybenyunes8385 How about Flabbergasted? Is that any better? I prefer Mind Blown myself because that’s what it does. A stunning peak in a Masterpiece Album. The way Pepper flows like a river of ideas, I always listen to it complete. Thank you Beatles!
How refreshing to hear an intelligent analysis/first reaction to a classic of 60s psychedelia and one of the most sublime delights of the Beatles sublime (and delightful) catalogue. Subscribed!
Loved your comment at the end wishing you could have experienced this without hearing what came out from them later. A huge part of growing up during that period is that each album was revolutionary and changed music going forward. Going from "Love me Do" to this in a few short years is mind boggling.
The beginning of this song was based on two stories John Lennon read in the Daily Mail newspaper: Guinness heir Tara Browne dying when he smashed his lotus into a parked van, and an article in the UK Daily Express in early 1967 which told of how the Blackburn Roads Surveyor had counted 4000 holes in the roads of Blackburn and commented that the volume of material needed to fill them in was enough to fill the Albert Hall. Lennon took some liberties with the Tara Browne story - he changed it so he "Blew his mind out in the car." Peace out.
My absolute favorite Beatles song. I grew up listening to The Beatles with my mother and now I’m passing it down to my daughter. She loves them almost as much as I do! It just goes to show great music is forever. It’s been 55 years, and in another 55 years their music will still be relevant.
The Beatles will be listened to for much longer than 55 years from now. Just as we still listen to Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, etc today.
3:10 George Martin instructed the orchestra that he wanted them to time their own pace up the glissando, he didn't want a 'pure' transition with them all playing the same note at the same time. They all had to make their own way up whilst Mal Evans counted out the 24 bars so they knew how much time they had to reach the top target. They thought it was crazy but such was their trust in George that they nailed it.
Saw an interview with George Martin at Abbey Road Studio. He said he could remember the day John sang this like it was yesterday. And a tear rolled down his cheek.
George Martin certainly had a role to play. I just wish he credited the Beatles more so. These were their songs and if the disagreed... and they did a number of times... it didnt fly. Martin is more of a technical guy...high .. but still technical.
@@shanna9650 George Martin was more than just a technician. He was an innovative artist, just like all four of the Beatles. He experimented with lots of instruments, tones and effects, giving the Beatles that "Beatley" style from the get-go.
@@shanna9650 George Martin had great instincts himself and created the orchestral backings on many of the songs we love so much. think 'Yesterday', 'I am the Walrus' quickly come to mind. Story is told of john giving I am the Walrus to G Martin and saying 'lets see what you can do with that one' or some such, I can't imagine that song without the String Parts.
That first drum break is simply art. It's storytelling. It's brings you into the groove. People who don't appreciate Ringo don't appreciate music. He repeats the motif as the song continues, to give it a through-line. It adds to the awe-inspiring brilliance of the track perfectly.
Love the review. The great thing about living through the Beatles period was how something that was so massively popular could feel so personal, like you're alone in how you're affected, or even changed by it. I kept it to myself. Most people did. Wonderfully creative period of music history.
I was 13 yrs old when I bought this album A Day In The Life is one of my fav Beatles songs I grew up with each new album. It was a magical time. This was summer of 1967
John was working on a song he didn't know what to do with. Paul was working on a song of his own he was having trouble finishing . The producer George Marting suggested to them 'fuse the 2 songs together'...the rest is history.
I was 16 when the album came out. It just so happens my aunt left town for a week and my best friend's grandma left for a week so we were on our own. We decided at 10pm to go to Greenwich Village. At about 11:30pm we saw a crowd in front of a record store listening to a song. The song was "Fixin A Hole" all jazzy. We knew immediately this was something new by the Beatles. We stood there listening as the album played. Standing in that crowd was so cool! Will never forget it. In my opinion Rubber Soul, where the Beatles started experimenting and Revolver are just as Pepper. But that moment, that record captured the time like no other for me.
Back in the day, local DJs would play the entire track, with the fading reverb, all the way to the end, even though most kids would listen on tiny radios that couldn't reproduce it, and even though almost all other songs would have the DJ chiming in with an ad or something before it finished. That's how much power the Beatles had. People knew this album was something special.
I remember our Orlando radio station played the entire album when it came out, which was unprecedented. This was before home taping, so the record company didn't mind.
@@lauraallen55 I'm trying to remember where I heard this, too. There are dvds called Deconstructing the Beatles that you can still find on ebay. A guy by the name of Fineman (?) did programs many years ago ono each of their albums and he talked about the tracks of the songs and how they accomplished some of the things they did. I think that's where I may have heard about this.
Paul had a little "bit" lying around, not knowing what to do with it, and one day John came in after scribbling some lyrics down while reading through the morning paper. The lines from the song are almost word for word from the newspaper. He and Paul came up with the "love to turn you on"(John) and the orchestral crescendo (Paul). Written very quickly and one of their true masterpieces.
The day Sgt. Pepper came out in May 1967 a group of my friends from college and I got together for a first listen. This was happening across the country. This was just before the start of the "Summer of Love." We played it over and over and were blown away. The entire album is of a piece and there was more musical depth than anything that came before it. Over the years, I've listened to this album perhaps 100 times. I set the Beatles aside some years ago - I knew every word, every beat. My sense of wonder was dulled. Now, with reaction videos like yours, it takes me back to that day in 1967 and I can hear it through fresh ears. Thank you so much!
I had the good fortune to grow up with The Beatles. I was in the 4th or 5th grade when they first hit the radio in America and I was able to follow their evolution from a great pop band who ruled the radio to their demise, going out on the top of their game. Next song to check out: Tomorrow Never Knows. It was from the album before Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, and is the most evolved song (and trippiest song) until A Day in the Life. Great reaction!
Ringo's drum fills are sublime....The final note is the longest recorded note in music history....this song, along with the Sgt Pepper album which this was the final song, changed everything.It blew past boundaries and crossed lines never crossed in popular music before....
Now if only George Martin had insisted on including Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever in the album [as was the original intention] and not submitted to EMI's imbecilic demand that they be released as a single [arguably the most brilliant single ever, yet it failed inexplicably to make #1!] SPLHCB would remain incontestably the outstanding example of creative genius in the entire field of pop music, IMHO.
Difficult, maybe impossible, to pick up everything on a first listen ... but Ringo's drums on this are just as transcendent as all the other layers xxx
Sgt Pepper's was the soundtrack of the "Summer of Love" -- what a mind-blowing masterpiece to wrap-up the album. George Martin's contribution should be acknowledged because these recordings sounded amazing. Paul was listening to Stockhausen around this time, the influence can be heard. The Beatles were all around 25 years old and broke up before they were 30. Creativity drops off rapidly after 28, so maybe breaking up at this time made them untouchable.
This is literally news that happened one day that they put into the lyrics of this amazing song about rather ordinary events ,( save for the poor guy who ran a light and got killed). Who else could come up with something like this.....????
Yes simply a true Masterpiece of an album. In John Lennon's famous Rolling Stone magazine interview he said that album was definitely the high point ofboth him & McCartney working together as a team. Each bouncing ideas off each other. This album shows a Off Both their musical genius. This album kept people talking & still does.
When people first heard the Album they were use to hearing good songs here and there and by the end of the album when the piano fades on one note they were thinking what the hell did I just experience. The visions and feelings that the album gave them was a trip like none other.
The vocal style changed because it's Paul singing in the middle. :) The song is two songs spliced together, and also "Strawberry Fields Forever" is two different songs made into one. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" has also interesting sounds, not to mention "Only a Northern Song".
I think Strawberry Fields is two different takes spliced together, not two different songs. That’s why there’s a noticeable shift and John’s voice sounds so eerie; the two takes were recorded in different keys and different speeds, and the second take had to be slowed down to match the first.
Loved your reaction to one of my favorite Beatles masterpieces. You HEARD it… yeah, how about that alarm clock in the middle, setting up the transition, with the shaking image of what looks like Big Ben as the visual alarm going off. So much brilliance.
This song is simply about various articles they read in a newspaper for an example....from the last verse. ************************************************* I read the news today, oh boy Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire And though the holes were rather small They had to count them all........... ************************************************ This is amply from an article about the many pot holes there on the roads
One of the most atmospheric songs ever recorded. For the orchestral rush they asked the classical players to start at their lowest note and go to their highest. They didn;t care if they were all in synch as long as they all ended at the same time. Magical for sure. Oh and by the way there are 7 pianos striking the last chord. Took a few tries I imagine.
Much respect man for being able to appreciate this music. One of my favorite lines in the song is John talking about the man in the car blowing his mind out before noticing the light turned green. It's a reference to suicide and how if he took a moment to consider his surroundings, he'd have noticed things were already starting to change.
In reality, it was an article in the newspaper that John read about Tara Browne, the heir to the Guinness fortune, who was killed in a car crash. Tara was 21 years old and was a friend of Paul's.
I heard that the instructions for the crescendo was to do a chord progression, but each instrumentalist was to do it at whatever pace they wanted which produces that chaotic, discordant tension.
What makes me laugh is as I listen I know what it sounds like already and I know the words, obviously because of my age I’ve listened to this a million times! To watch someone hear it for the first time is really cool !
I couldn’t find the word but to me this song is a sing along! Know the words, the music, the breaks and even when the last nite ends! Someone new to it has no clue what’s coming!
That last note on the piano is exactly in the middle of the register and it is called "the heaven note" and they said they had no idea it was called that when they did it.
Great reaction. I keep coming back to this as my favourite beatles song because it's so mesmerising. Imagine how it sounded back in the day compared to all the other songs. It's really fun to research the lyrics.
It cannot be understated what this song meant in 1967. "Tomorrow Never Knows" changed everything in music on "Revolver" the year before and practically created psychedelic music - and "A Day in the Life", in '67 - the entire "Pepper" album, period - changed the world. Pink Floyd, the Stones, Hendrix, everyone at the time said they listened to the album with their jaws on the floor. What that record did just wasn't done in pop music. The amount of bands that would NOT exist today if "Pepper" hadn't been made would be staggering to consider. The fact that you're saying "it's like nothing I've ever heard before" - in 2023, almost SIXTY YEARS after it was made - just shows how absolutely insane the Beatles were.
How great of you to dive into this piece. It takes time to find your way through it. It changed my world when it first came. For me, after a million listening, it means this whole world of intense information and the world is moving at such an unbelievable pace but we’re McCartney just waking up getting out of bed and not even close to understanding the world as it is while we’re not involved, or paying attention. But, we can’t because it’s all just too much. Best, most powerful piece written since maybe Mozart or Gershwin. It’s waaaaay beyond drugs. Thank you for your insights. This
None of the Beatles knows it, but I'm personal friends with all four of them independently. In MY worrld, that is ! I'm born 1960, and I really felt the pleasure of growing up with the Beatles. - Especilly as I have a 12 year older brother, that also LOVED the Beatles. Sooo I guess You can truly say it was My cradle music
The original album mix for Sgt. Pepper's is in Mono, this is the mix intended for radio airplay. The stereo mix was the second mix intended for the Hi-Fi set. Stereo mixing using pan pots was not very widespread yet, and most stereo mixes were done with a basic three-way switch to assign the channel left, right, or center. That's what you're hearing on A Day in the Life.
And yet, as perfect as this is, still, it's made even greater by the context of the songs around it. Before the Beatles, albums were just collections of songs, A sides and B sides. They perfected the sequencing of songs, as well as the songs they sequenced. A review of the entire LP is warranted. Thanks.
So pleased you can appreciate this song. One of the best ever created. I remember reading that the Beatles had given the orchestra a starting and and ending note to all the instruments and told them to play it in a certain amount of time. Not sure if it's true but it sounds like that's exactly what happens. Great reaction!
You get it! A work of Genius! A mind blowing song! Paul contributed the middle part and the Piano 🎹 Chord at the end that ends it so dramatically! But the main melody and verses are Lennon’s! It is mostly his song. And earlier Lennon wrote She Said She Said and Tomorrow Never Knows! Proof of Lennon’s Genius! Stunning Songs that are eternal! Thanks, Beatles! So is Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby and I Saw Her Standing There! Proof of Macca’s Genius!
Actually it is not mostly Lennon's song. Paul developed the middle part, the orchestra swirl, and he also had a hand in the ahhs at the end of the dry part. This is very much a team effort. I think Lennon and McCartney were very much equals. Each had different strengths that they brought to the table and to separate one from the other would be a gross misunderstanding on how they made the music.
@@Robertj64 The Verse is the main part of the song and that was Lennon’s! Yes, Macca contributed the Bridge. The 2 Swirls and the Closing Piano chord I’m not certain about. You may be right but I’ll have to look into it further. Macca did give the Orchestra the instructions for those Swirls. Who played the Final piano 🎹 Chord? Macca or Lennon? Maybe both in unison? I’m not sure exactly but I’m going to find out! Yes, it was a collaboration. But to me the Verses of a song are the songs main part! We all live in a Yellow Submarine! It turns out Lennon wrote the melody and verse for Yellow Submarine. Then the words changed. That must be why they always shared the credits because they usually contributed something or dismissed something that didn’t work from the songs. Macca wanted to change the lyrics to Hey Jude. Lennon said the line he wanted to change was the best line in the whole song! The movement you need is on your shoulder. That’s a good line! So they definitely helped improve each other’s songs with constructive criticism! They were a team as well as rivals! My favorite is when Macca wrote I have to admit it’s getting better and Lennon shot back with it can’t get much worse! That is their partnership in a Nutshell! Macca the optimist and Lennon the Cynic! Good and bad, light and dark, day and night! They balanced each other out so well! They complimented each other perfectly! Enjoy! 👏🏻😊
I was ten years old when Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band album came out and I listened to it a few years later...with awe. The Beatles’ music was in 1967 light years away from what the other bands were putting out and they knew it. ‘A Day in the Life’ was the closing song of this iconic album. Its unorthodox arrangements and orchestrated parts were so that we didn’t know what to think other than we were witnessing genius at work.
The Beatles, + LSD and weed...created Rubber Soul,Revolver and Sargent Pepper. The Beatles experimentation opened their minds to endless possibilities as we all know. The Beatles, the band that launched a thousand trips. Im 70 and they opened my mind many years ago. Lover your reaction.
George Martin's expertise in recording orchestral players really comes to the front here. EMI was really a orchestral recording studio. The fifth Beatle (George Martin or Billy Preston) but obviously Martin had an ongoing input all the way along the Beatles discography to translate the artistic Beatles into the recording studio. Geoff Emerick also, of course.
This great song is simply about various news articles in a news paper Example..... The holes in Blackburn Lancaster were just about the many pot holes in the road there which needed to be fixed.
Back in 1967 absolutely revolutionary and there was nothing like it. The lyrics, the music, the cover of sgt.pepper, etc. Only that the lyrics of the music pieces were printed on the cover for reading has not existed before. Or all the people on the cover like Mohamed Ali, Karl Marx, Martin Luther, Edgar Ellen Poe .............. However, this album was also one of the most censored until then. Because of the many allusions in the lyrics to drugs and politics, this album was not played by many radio stations. That too was something completely new 😄
Haunting is the word I use to describe this song. John's voice is so dreamlike, it's hard to describe. Also, it's hard for me to listen to this song without emotion, because it happens to be the song the radio station i used to listen to, chose to play just after announcing John's death. So I will always associate this song with that announcement. It chokes me up every time.
The story lines in the song are all sub headings on the page of a newspaper one day. I've seen a copy of the page and it's all there, the man in the car crash, 4000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire etc. Brilliant songwriting and musical arrangement
I absolutely grew up with the Beatles. My family lived in London from 1958 to 1965. I was born there in 1960 and I have memories from when I was around 3 years old of Beatles songs that one of my older brothers would bring home on vinyl singles as the songs came out. I honestly cannot remember a time when they were not part of the soundtrack of my life.
And then I heard that the two swirling and building Crescendos were supposed to simulate a Head Rush! After getting High. It is incredible, isn’t it? The song is the Piece de Resistance on one of their greatest albums!
@@eileenegger1466 You mean a Sexual one? Stairway to Heaven does this musically by building and building until it climaxes at the end. You can interpret it anyway you like, of course but to me it simulates musically a head rush like from a drug. Songs mean different things to different people! That’s my take on it anyway! And when I heard that explanation it suddenly made sense to me. You can think something entirely different. That’s why music is so appealing! It’s an amazing song regardless! And that last Piano Chord is like a final stamp on it all! Enjoy!
This was a day some 50 odd years ago. The meaning, for me, suggests "creatio ex nihilo", something from nothing. It's about the "background noise" from the "Big Bang" (which is represented by the lingering reverb of the final chord.) The line about counting holes to see how many would "fill" Albert Hall(a space designed for maximum accoustics) brilliantly asserts the Zen metaphysics of the Heart Sutra-"Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form. A Day in the Life is "Much Ado about Nothing".
The Royal Albert Hall ! What Memories from the early 1970s :) Successive weeks seeing Deep Purple and Creedence Clearwater Revival with 5,000 others and the cost for both Concerts combined..? 50..............PENCE or 70 CENTS ...😀
I’ve been listening to this song my whole life but never seen the video. So many famous people in it. Blond woman jumping around near the beginning is Patti Boyd, George Harrison’s wife at the time. She later left him for Eric Clapton who wrote Layla about her. Also saw Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones, Michael York from the Monkees, along with George Martin, John Lennon, Paul McCartney
@@juanita6479 - Michael York was a British actor. Michael Nesmith was the Monkees guitarist. Donovan Leitch was a lovely folk singer in the 60's, "Jennifer Juniper", "Catch the Wind", "Mellow Yellow", "Sunshine Superman", etc. 😊
The section about "he blew his mind out in a car" was about a friend Tara Browne who died in a car crash...people just stood and stared . One of the Beatles' best. I like you and your videos .
60's and 70's stereo music recording was a brand new things and were getting popular with consumers. A lot fo the bands of that are played around quite a lot with stereo effects in recording.. Which is why it is almost always best to listen to that era's music with headphones or you really miss a lot.
The crescendo is amazing but nothing gets me like when Lennon sings ‘I’d love to turn you on’. The way he sings it like all your dreams and memories rolled together!
I read somewhere that the instructions that were given were as follows: In 24 bars, play a crescendo of every note on your instrument from lowest to highest, at your own pace, and make sure that you’re never playing the same note as the musician sitting beside you.
A mere 4 years from 'Please Please Me' to this was just a miraculous musical leap. The Beatles dragged us kids and the whole industry behind them as they experimented and invented. Kudos to George Martin too for his invaluable contribution.
Agree ! The Beatles were pioneers in so many ways !!
George Martin the fifth Beatle which the Beatles always said he was. He worked with the Beatles not just as their music producer but played with the group on some of their songs in the early days before Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Clubs Band was released in 1967. This was the album that was the change in the Beatles music after the iconic Revolver album.
I wouldn’t say George Martin, too…. As an afterthought…. I would say because of George Martin.
Absolutely 🎸
And kudos to LSD and Mary Jane 👌😊
John's voice is spine chilling. RINGO's drumming is perfect.
John found his lyrics in a newspaper.
They became the inspiration for the hoax, was Paul in the car?
This was the first time I've listened to this song in a long time, and through headphones which really highlight all the production elements. One thing I was particularly struck by on this occasion was Ringo's drumming. He is often dissed for not having the flashiness of some of his contemporaries, but this song is an example of Ringo's greatness. His musicality is second to none, and nothing he does is ever indulgent. He plays in service to the song, and every fill is purposeful and punctuates the melody and the lyrics beautifully.
Well said...I really notice the drumming this time also. Just perfect restraint and subtle genius.
Ringo is a drumming virtuoso at bringing the right drums/percussion to the song. He was as essential to The Beatles, as the other three. He really shines on A Day in the Life.
@@waynej2608 Yes!
Absolutely 📯
Ringo's drumming is genius.
The Beatles.
No one can touch them.
True pioneers of music composition.
Thank you Britain! 🇺🇸❤️🇬🇧
Whoever responsible for changing Pepper From being Rolling Stone top LP after decades JUST PLAIN STUPID HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE
(If you're lonely you can talk to me)🍏
You're quite welcome. Thank you for Grand Funk Railroad.
9
It's the Beatles....and then there's everyone else. I was 16 in 1967 and 72 now. I have many bands and artists I love but, again, the Beatles are on another level. When my 3 kids were growing up I played their music constantly and my kids are forever Beatles fans!
Here's another interesting tidbit...just days after the Pepper album came out, Eric Clapton called George Harrison and told him about a guitarist they should go see play in London. The guitarists name was Jimi Hendrix, and Eric told George he had heard some good things about him. George, Paul, and Eric went to see him play, and Jimi opened his show with his version of Sgt Peppers, the opening song on the album. The guys were blown away. Turns out, Jimi was a big fan of the Beatles, and when he heard the Pepper album, he changed his setlist to include the song for the first time, the night the boys heard him. What a great tribute to a great band!
What's most amazing about the Beatles, I think, is that even now, listening to their songs today; and you still described this song as pushing the boundaries. Even though it's decades old.
Agreed. The originality and power of the music is amazing. My favorite line is "now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall"!!
Me too!
"He had a voice that would send chills down your spine" - George Martin, talking about John Lennon's voice.
That's such a magical moment...
The astonishing production? Sir George Martin. Under it all, Ringo's incredible drumming
Beatles had 2 producers. Paul McCartney and George Martin. In that order.
The original song was John's but he felt it was incomplete. He showed it to Paul who came up with the middle part "Got up, got out of bed..." etc. John also said he wanted "war sounds". He, Paul and George Martin put their heads together and came up with the crescendos. For my money, this is the best Beatles song by far. Two musical geniuses at their creative peak. It changed everything. Popular music was never the same.
Per George Martin, they had 2 sections that needed to be filled and it was Paul who came up with the idea. He asked the orchestra to start at the lowest note and work up to the highest note. George said they just looked at him funny and he had to write up the score for them to play.
The collaboration / completions betw Paul, John and mr Martin are astounding
Paul also came up with: I'd love to turn uou on
It was suspected that LSD influenced this song, because it feels like an acid trip.
I agree, But it was THREE musical geniuses.
John's voice sounds very emotive in many songs and this is one of those. Imagine all those astonishing effects back in 1967, when everything was done using the skills and imagination of those involved, without the technology we have today, these lads were pioneers on so many aspects of music and culture.
Yeah, they had a total of 8 tracks on 1 tape. Syncing machines together was near impossible. Bouncing tracks can only take you so far. Had to be able to record multiple parts at the same time. All being mixed to stereo during recording. Sir George Martin advanced recording science with every Beatles album. None of the old head audio engineers of the day wanted to work with them. Sir George embraced it, becoming a legend, and the 5th Beatle, in the process. He also arranged almost all of the orchestral parts. Many Mic'ing, FX, EQ, Dynamics, and mixing& editing techniques, in various forms, date back to his intellectual experimenting with the Boys from Liverpool's recordings.
@@davidstephens6462 That's true, George Martin was an important influence to the boys, I think he never told them 'this cannot be done', just the opposite, they all experimented together to see how far they could go, as he himself or John once said, I don't remember, we all learned in the process, and boy, they did it in a big way. Also his musical contributions in some songs, my favorite 'In My Life', it's stunning.
@@juanita6479 - "In my life" is beautiful. His solo song "Mother" is heartbreaking. John was a genius as was George Martin. Martin encouraged them and let them experiment. Martin played the Baroque sounding piano on "In my life".
@@susieq9801 Yes 'Mother' is heartbreaking, and how about 'Julia', even more, also 'Free as a Bird' and 'Real Love' with that sad touch, both unfinished but embellished by his mates and his voice sounds longing, as Luke rightly described it. About 'In My Life' I like everything in the song, and that piano contribution from GM is what I refer as my favorite of his, simply perfect 👌
I heard he recorded his vocal in a special room for this song. And Martin applied some effects on his voice as well giving it an ethereal haunting quality that worked perfectly!
You absolutely get it. As an old man now, I am so glad that I lived in that time. We had hints in Rubber Soul and Revolver but when Pepper burst on the scene we were all gobsmacked. When you reached the end of Day In The Life you said what we all said on first listen: WOW. There are no other words.
"Gobsmacked" must be a contender for the coarsest and ugliest word in common English usage. There are ALWAYS better alternatives!
Those albums still stand up and stood out to anyone curious about music when eighties metal was my joi de vive
@@finlybenyunes8385 Really? I quite like the word. It hints at an earlier more elegant era. I suppose i could have said "blown away" but that strikes me as more coarse. Horses for courses, i guess.
@@finlybenyunes8385
How about Flabbergasted? Is that any better?
I prefer Mind Blown myself because that’s what it does.
A stunning peak in a Masterpiece Album.
The way Pepper flows like a river of ideas, I always listen to it complete.
Thank you Beatles!
@@billclarke6203 NO refined or elegant person would EVER use the G-word!
He blew his mind out in a car. He didn’t notice that the lights had changed….what a great writer.
How refreshing to hear an intelligent analysis/first reaction to a classic of 60s psychedelia and one of the most sublime delights of the Beatles sublime (and delightful) catalogue. Subscribed!
Loved your comment at the end wishing you could have experienced this without hearing what came out from them later. A huge part of growing up during that period is that each album was revolutionary and changed music going forward. Going from "Love me Do" to this in a few short years is mind boggling.
Kurt Cobain said the same thing. - "The Beatles going from I wanna hold your hand, to Sgt. Pepper was a massive progression."
Yes, reactors are missing a huge element of feeling and understanding the group by not going on the chronological order. The growth is mesmerizing.
The beginning of this song was based on two stories John Lennon read in the Daily Mail newspaper: Guinness heir Tara Browne dying when he smashed his lotus into a parked van, and an article in the UK Daily Express in early 1967 which told of how the Blackburn Roads Surveyor had counted 4000 holes in the roads of Blackburn and commented that the volume of material needed to fill them in was enough to fill the Albert Hall. Lennon took some liberties with the Tara Browne story - he changed it so he "Blew his mind out in the car." Peace out.
My absolute favorite Beatles song. I grew up listening to The Beatles with my mother and now I’m passing it down to my daughter. She loves them almost as much as I do! It just goes to show great music is forever. It’s been 55 years, and in another 55 years their music will still be relevant.
The Beatles will be listened to for much longer than 55 years from now. Just as we still listen to Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, etc today.
My absolute favorite also. Sort of proto-prog.
3:10 George Martin instructed the orchestra that he wanted them to time their own pace up the glissando, he didn't want a 'pure' transition with them all playing the same note at the same time. They all had to make their own way up whilst Mal Evans counted out the 24 bars so they knew how much time they had to reach the top target. They thought it was crazy but such was their trust in George that they nailed it.
Saw an interview with George Martin at Abbey Road Studio. He said he could remember the day John sang this like it was yesterday. And a tear rolled down his cheek.
George Martin certainly had a role to play. I just wish he credited the Beatles more so. These were their songs and if the disagreed... and they did a number of times... it didnt fly. Martin is more of a technical guy...high .. but still technical.
@@shanna9650 George Martin was more than just a technician. He was an innovative artist, just like all four of the Beatles. He experimented with lots of instruments, tones and effects, giving the Beatles that "Beatley" style from the get-go.
@@shanna9650 George Martin had great instincts himself and created the orchestral backings on many of the songs we love so much. think 'Yesterday', 'I am the Walrus' quickly come to mind. Story is told of john giving I am the Walrus to G Martin and saying 'lets see what you can do with that one' or some such, I can't imagine that song without the String Parts.
That first drum break is simply art. It's storytelling. It's brings you into the groove. People who don't appreciate Ringo don't appreciate music. He repeats the motif as the song continues, to give it a through-line. It adds to the awe-inspiring brilliance of the track perfectly.
Ringo really does prove he is one of the greatest innovators regarding Drumbs.
Love the review. The great thing about living through the Beatles period was how something that was so massively popular could feel so personal, like you're alone in how you're affected, or even changed by it. I kept it to myself. Most people did. Wonderfully creative period of music history.
Wow is right. 55 years on and the same impact. The Beatles. Astonishing. Personal. Timeless.
I'm 69 now. This song came out in my freshman year of High School.
I was 6 when I heard this the first time and I was shocked. Still thrills me at 55. The Beatles changed the world with songs like this.
There's a rumour the final piano note is still ringing on!
I was 13 yrs old when I bought this album A Day In The Life is one of my fav Beatles songs I grew up with each new album. It was a magical time. This was summer of 1967
John was working on a song he didn't know what to do with. Paul was working on a song of his own he was having trouble finishing . The producer George Marting suggested to them 'fuse the 2 songs together'...the rest is history.
If we can raise enough money … we might be able to buy this bloke buttons!
Man i simply loved this reaction it's one of the best and most complet reactions of this beautiful peace of music that I ever heard. Thank you.
I have heard this song So many times and still get chills when Jonn finishes the first line!!!
I was 16 when the album came out. It just so happens my aunt left town for a week and my best friend's grandma left for a week so we were on our own. We decided at 10pm to go to Greenwich Village. At about 11:30pm we saw a crowd in front of a record store listening to a song. The song was "Fixin A Hole" all jazzy. We knew immediately this was something new by the Beatles. We stood there listening as the album played. Standing in that crowd was so cool! Will never forget it. In my opinion Rubber Soul, where the Beatles started experimenting and Revolver are just as Pepper. But that moment, that record captured the time like no other for me.
Very cool to have heard it first, in the Village, in NYC. 😎👍
Back in the day, local DJs would play the entire track, with the fading reverb, all the way to the end, even though most kids would listen on tiny radios that couldn't reproduce it, and even though almost all other songs would have the DJ chiming in with an ad or something before it finished. That's how much power the Beatles had. People knew this album was something special.
I remember our Orlando radio station played the entire album when it came out, which was unprecedented. This was before home taping, so the record company didn't mind.
Paul sings that middle part, woke up, fell outta bed.....
Even hearing it on an AM radio with a 3" speaker ... it was phenomenal.
The last strike on the pianos at the end of the song is the longest held single note ever recorded.
Very cool! do you have a source for it? I can't find one, sadly.
@@lauraallen55 I'm trying to remember where I heard this, too. There are dvds called Deconstructing the Beatles that you can still find on ebay. A guy by the name of Fineman (?) did programs many years ago ono each of their albums and he talked about the tracks of the songs and how they accomplished some of the things they did. I think that's where I may have heard about this.
@@monica11760 Awesome, thank you Monica!
Paul had a little "bit" lying around, not knowing what to do with it, and one day John came in after scribbling some lyrics down while reading through the morning paper. The lines from the song are almost word for word from the newspaper. He and Paul came up with the "love to turn you on"(John) and the orchestral crescendo (Paul). Written very quickly and one of their true masterpieces.
The piano note at the end was also extended with tape by looping a section of layered E major chord.
@@mikefetterman6782 Geoff Emerick said he had placed 2 microphones inside the grand piano. He added the execs would have been furious if they knew.
Actually, John said Paul came up with the lick 'Love to turn you on.'
Crescendo idea was John. Executed by Martin and Paul.
The day Sgt. Pepper came out in May 1967 a group of my friends from college and I got together for a first listen. This was happening across the country. This was just before the start of the "Summer of Love." We played it over and over and were blown away. The entire album is of a piece and there was more musical depth than anything that came before it. Over the years, I've listened to this album perhaps 100 times. I set the Beatles aside some years ago - I knew every word, every beat. My sense of wonder was dulled. Now, with reaction videos like yours, it takes me back to that day in 1967 and I can hear it through fresh ears. Thank you so much!
I had the good fortune to grow up with The Beatles. I was in the 4th or 5th grade when they first hit the radio in America and I was able to follow their evolution from a great pop band who ruled the radio to their demise, going out on the top of their game. Next song to check out: Tomorrow Never Knows. It was from the album before Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, and is the most evolved song (and trippiest song) until A Day in the Life. Great reaction!
Ringo's drum fills are sublime....The final note is the longest recorded note in music history....this song, along with the Sgt Pepper album which this was the final song, changed everything.It blew past boundaries and crossed lines never crossed in popular music before....
You're so right !!! Amazing Song !!! Thank you so much for your analyse
And this was done in 1967, almost 55 years ago.
One of the greatest albums ever, along with Abbey Road.
Now if only George Martin had insisted on including Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever in the album [as was the original intention] and not submitted to EMI's imbecilic demand that they be released as a single [arguably the most brilliant single ever, yet it failed inexplicably to make #1!] SPLHCB would remain incontestably the outstanding example of creative genius in the entire field of pop music, IMHO.
Difficult, maybe impossible, to pick up everything on a first listen ... but Ringo's drums on this are just as transcendent as all the other layers xxx
Sgt Pepper's was the soundtrack of the "Summer of Love" -- what a mind-blowing masterpiece to wrap-up the album. George Martin's contribution should be acknowledged because these recordings sounded amazing. Paul was listening to Stockhausen around this time, the influence can be heard. The Beatles were all around 25 years old and broke up before they were 30. Creativity drops off rapidly after 28, so maybe breaking up at this time made them untouchable.
The Doors first album is better than Pepper and was a hit during the Summer of Love.
The Beatles tried to copy Freak Out by Zappa.
ua-cam.com/video/vbHMgqHtAy0/v-deo.html
Nothing gets close to Beatles music …take the next 5 best bands in the world combine them they would still be a distant 2nd to the beatles
@@dalegallacher7074 that's your opinion, you are entitled to it, even if you are wrong. (jeez I hope you found that funny)
This is the song that really turned me on to the Beatles back in the day (😉) this one and then "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and I was hooked .
This is literally news that happened one day that they put into the lyrics of this amazing song about rather ordinary events ,( save for the poor guy who ran a light and got killed). Who else could come up with something like this.....????
Yes simply a true Masterpiece of an album. In John Lennon's famous Rolling Stone magazine interview he said that album was definitely the high point ofboth him & McCartney working together as a team. Each bouncing ideas off each other. This album shows a
Off Both their musical genius. This album kept people talking & still does.
That piano chord also effectively putting an exclamation point on one hell of an album.
When people first heard the Album they were use to hearing good songs here and there and by the end of the album when the piano fades on one note they were thinking what the hell did I just experience. The visions and feelings that the album gave them was a trip like none other.
I love your reaction & your obvious appreciation for great music.
The vocal style changed because it's Paul singing in the middle. :)
The song is two songs spliced together, and also "Strawberry Fields Forever" is two different songs made into one.
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" has also interesting sounds, not to mention "Only a Northern Song".
I think Strawberry Fields is two different takes spliced together, not two different songs. That’s why there’s a noticeable shift and John’s voice sounds so eerie; the two takes were recorded in different keys and different speeds, and the second take had to be slowed down to match the first.
@@michelepaccione8806 Correct. George Martin was able to transcend John's vision of the song, by splicing the two speeds together. Brilliant.
Loved your reaction to one of my favorite Beatles masterpieces. You HEARD it… yeah, how about that alarm clock in the middle, setting up the transition, with the shaking image of what looks like Big Ben as the visual alarm going off. So much brilliance.
This song is simply about various articles they read in a newspaper
for an example....from the last verse.
*************************************************
I read the news today, oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all...........
************************************************
This is amply from an article about the many pot holes there on the roads
So lucky to have been alive in their era. Saw them in concert. The Best ever.
One of the most atmospheric songs ever recorded. For the orchestral rush they asked the classical players to start at their lowest note and go to their highest. They didn;t care if they were all in synch as long as they all ended at the same time. Magical for sure. Oh and by the way there are 7 pianos striking the last chord. Took a few tries I imagine.
And that was a brilliant decision by George Martin! Magical
On a clear day, I can still hear that final chord!
I thought it was 4 but it definitely sounds more like 7
@@tristramcoffin926 was 3 plus George Martin on harmonium, so 4 total yeah!
Much respect man for being able to appreciate this music. One of my favorite lines in the song is John talking about the man in the car blowing his mind out before noticing the light turned green.
It's a reference to suicide and how if he took a moment to consider his surroundings, he'd have noticed things were already starting to change.
In reality, it was an article in the newspaper that John read about Tara Browne, the heir to the Guinness fortune, who was killed in a car crash. Tara was 21 years old and was a friend of Paul's.
@@patticrichton1135 I know that's what he based it on, but the reason why he worded it the way he did was to make that point.
@@patticrichton1135 John often had a couple of meanings in mind when he wrote something. That man was a force of nature.
I heard that the instructions for the crescendo was to do a chord progression, but each instrumentalist was to do it at whatever pace they wanted which produces that chaotic, discordant tension.
It's like a knife in the spine every time you hit pause
Never never underestimate the genius of The Beatles
What makes me laugh is as I listen I know what it sounds like already and I know the words, obviously because of my age I’ve listened to this a million times! To watch someone hear it for the first time is really cool !
I couldn’t find the word but to me this song is a sing along! Know the words, the music, the breaks and even when the last nite ends!
Someone new to it has no clue what’s coming!
That last note on the piano is exactly in the middle of the register and it is called "the heaven note" and they said they had no idea it was called that when they did it.
Great reaction. I keep coming back to this as my favourite beatles song because it's so mesmerising. Imagine how it sounded back in the day compared to all the other songs. It's really fun to research the lyrics.
It cannot be understated what this song meant in 1967. "Tomorrow Never Knows" changed everything in music on "Revolver" the year before and practically created psychedelic music - and "A Day in the Life", in '67 - the entire "Pepper" album, period - changed the world. Pink Floyd, the Stones, Hendrix, everyone at the time said they listened to the album with their jaws on the floor. What that record did just wasn't done in pop music. The amount of bands that would NOT exist today if "Pepper" hadn't been made would be staggering to consider. The fact that you're saying "it's like nothing I've ever heard before" - in 2023, almost SIXTY YEARS after it was made - just shows how absolutely insane the Beatles were.
This is for many, including me, their finest song. By far.
How great of you to dive into this piece. It takes time to find your way through it. It changed my world when it first came. For me, after a million listening, it means this whole world of intense information and the world is moving at such an unbelievable pace but we’re McCartney just waking up getting out of bed and not even close to understanding the world as it is while we’re not involved, or paying attention. But, we can’t because it’s all just too much. Best, most powerful piece written since maybe Mozart or Gershwin. It’s waaaaay beyond drugs. Thank you for your insights. This
None of the Beatles knows it, but I'm personal friends with all four of them independently.
In MY worrld, that is !
I'm born 1960, and I really felt the pleasure of growing up with the Beatles.
- Especilly as I have a 12 year older brother, that also LOVED the Beatles.
Sooo I guess You can truly say it was My cradle music
The original album mix for Sgt. Pepper's is in Mono, this is the mix intended for radio airplay. The stereo mix was the second mix intended for the Hi-Fi set. Stereo mixing using pan pots was not very widespread yet, and most stereo mixes were done with a basic three-way switch to assign the channel left, right, or center. That's what you're hearing on A Day in the Life.
If it's your first time hearing it then just listen to it all the way through. It's hard to get lost in a song any other way.
And yet, as perfect as this is, still, it's made even greater by the context of the songs around it. Before the Beatles, albums were just collections of songs, A sides and B sides. They perfected the sequencing of songs, as well as the songs they sequenced. A review of the entire LP is warranted.
Thanks.
So pleased you can appreciate this song. One of the best ever created. I remember reading that the Beatles had given the orchestra a starting and and ending note to all the instruments and told them to play it in a certain amount of time. Not sure if it's true but it sounds like that's exactly what happens. Great reaction!
The Aaaaahhss in the middle is John.
You get it! A work of Genius! A mind blowing song! Paul contributed the middle part and the Piano 🎹 Chord at the end that ends it so dramatically! But the main melody and verses are Lennon’s! It is mostly his song. And earlier Lennon wrote She Said She Said and Tomorrow Never Knows! Proof of Lennon’s Genius!
Stunning Songs that are eternal! Thanks, Beatles!
So is Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby and I Saw Her Standing There! Proof of Macca’s Genius!
Actually it is not mostly Lennon's song. Paul developed the middle part, the orchestra swirl, and he also had a hand in the ahhs at the end of the dry part. This is very much a team effort. I think Lennon and McCartney were very much equals. Each had different strengths that they brought to the table and to separate one from the other would be a gross misunderstanding on how they made the music.
@@Robertj64 The Verse is the main part of the song and that was Lennon’s! Yes, Macca contributed the Bridge. The 2 Swirls and the Closing Piano chord I’m not certain about.
You may be right but I’ll have to look into it further. Macca did give the Orchestra the instructions for those Swirls. Who played the Final piano 🎹 Chord? Macca or Lennon? Maybe both in unison? I’m not sure exactly but I’m going to find out!
Yes, it was a collaboration. But to me the Verses of a song are the songs main part!
We all live in a Yellow Submarine! It turns out Lennon wrote the melody and verse for Yellow Submarine. Then the words changed. That must be why they always shared the credits because they usually contributed something or dismissed something that didn’t work from the songs.
Macca wanted to change the lyrics to Hey Jude. Lennon said the line he wanted to change was the best line in the whole song! The movement you need is on your shoulder.
That’s a good line! So they definitely helped improve each other’s songs with constructive criticism! They were a team as well as rivals!
My favorite is when Macca wrote I have to admit it’s getting better and Lennon shot back with it can’t get much worse!
That is their partnership in a Nutshell! Macca the optimist and Lennon the Cynic! Good and bad, light and dark, day and night! They balanced each other out so well! They complimented each other perfectly!
Enjoy! 👏🏻😊
@@dynjarren8355 But the Crescendo idea was John's. Paul may have executed it, but the idea of raising it to a height was John.
I was ten years old when Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band album came out and I listened to it a few years later...with awe. The Beatles’ music was in 1967 light years away from what the other bands were putting out and they knew it. ‘A Day in the Life’ was the closing song of this iconic album. Its unorthodox arrangements and orchestrated parts were so that we didn’t know what to think other than we were witnessing genius at work.
The Beatles, + LSD and weed...created Rubber Soul,Revolver and Sargent Pepper. The Beatles experimentation opened their minds to endless possibilities as we all know. The Beatles, the band that launched a thousand trips. Im 70 and they opened my mind many years ago. Lover your reaction.
George Martin's expertise in recording orchestral players really comes to the front here. EMI was really a orchestral recording studio. The fifth Beatle (George Martin or Billy Preston) but obviously Martin had an ongoing input all the way along the Beatles discography to translate the artistic Beatles into the recording studio. Geoff Emerick also, of course.
Imagine growing up with this music. I feel so fortunate to have grown up listening to this music.
Last song in many albums then were usually a conclusion to a theme, always listen to the whole album to appreciate it even more than standalone.
This great song is simply about various news articles in a news paper
Example..... The holes in Blackburn Lancaster were just about the many pot holes in the road there which needed to be fixed.
Ah! What a great song that I forgot about. Thanks for reminding me. Putting it on my playlist right now 🙂
Back in 1967 absolutely revolutionary and there was nothing like it. The lyrics, the music, the cover of sgt.pepper, etc. Only that the lyrics of the music pieces were printed on the cover for reading has not existed before. Or all the people on the cover like Mohamed Ali, Karl Marx, Martin Luther, Edgar Ellen Poe .............. However, this album was also one of the most censored until then. Because of the many allusions in the lyrics to drugs and politics, this album was not played by many radio stations. That too was something completely new 😄
Love the reaction. Remember John Peel being the first to play the album and I had a tape-to-tape machine to record it! Magical days.
Reel to Reel tape player and recorder
Peel what a Legend
Haunting is the word I use to describe this song. John's voice is so dreamlike, it's hard to describe. Also, it's hard for me to listen to this song without emotion, because it happens to be the song the radio station i used to listen to, chose to play just after announcing John's death. So I will always associate this song with that announcement. It chokes me up every time.
The story lines in the song are all sub headings on the page of a newspaper one day. I've seen a copy of the page and it's all there, the man in the car crash, 4000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire etc. Brilliant songwriting and musical arrangement
You can imagine how unorthodox and innovative this was at the time.
I absolutely grew up with the Beatles. My family lived in London from 1958 to 1965. I was born there in 1960 and I have memories from when I was around 3 years old of Beatles songs that one of my older brothers would bring home on vinyl singles as the songs came out. I honestly cannot remember a time when they were not part of the soundtrack of my life.
And then I heard that the two swirling and building Crescendos were supposed to simulate a Head Rush! After getting High. It is incredible, isn’t it? The song is the Piece de Resistance on one of their greatest albums!
I heard it was to imitate a musical orgasm.
@@eileenegger1466 You mean a Sexual one? Stairway to Heaven does this musically by building and building until it climaxes at the end. You can interpret it anyway you like, of course but to me it simulates musically a head rush like from a drug. Songs mean different things to different people! That’s my take on it anyway! And when I heard that explanation it suddenly made sense to me. You can think something entirely different. That’s why music is so appealing! It’s an amazing song regardless! And that last Piano Chord is like a final stamp on it all!
Enjoy!
This was a day some 50 odd years ago. The meaning, for me, suggests "creatio ex nihilo", something from nothing. It's about the "background noise" from the "Big Bang" (which is represented by the lingering reverb of the final chord.) The line about counting holes to see how many would "fill" Albert Hall(a space designed for maximum accoustics) brilliantly asserts the Zen metaphysics of the Heart Sutra-"Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form. A Day in the Life is "Much Ado about Nothing".
The Royal Albert Hall ! What Memories from the early 1970s :)
Successive weeks seeing Deep Purple and Creedence Clearwater Revival with 5,000 others and the cost for both Concerts combined..?
50..............PENCE or 70 CENTS ...😀
You have to give credit to George Martin that produced the final compositions of all the Beatles songs in the studio!!
Martin was an arranger. He should be credited as such and no more.
If you had listened to this on an actual album that last note would have never ended.
It is a masterpiece
So wonderful to watch someone hear this for the first time -- your appreciation helps me remember how amazing Day in the Life is.
I’ve been listening to this song my whole life but never seen the video. So many famous people in it. Blond woman jumping around near the beginning is Patti Boyd, George Harrison’s wife at the time. She later left him for Eric Clapton who wrote Layla about her. Also saw Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones, Michael York from the Monkees, along with George Martin, John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Michael York from "The Monkees"? Donovan Leitch in there too.
@@susieq9801 You are an expert in everything that regards those bands, I am not so much.
@@juanita6479 - Michael York was a British actor. Michael Nesmith was the Monkees guitarist. Donovan Leitch was a lovely folk singer in the 60's, "Jennifer Juniper", "Catch the Wind", "Mellow Yellow", "Sunshine Superman", etc. 😊
I love your analysis and understanding of the complexity that is The Beatles. One of the best reaction videos I’ve seen. Thank you so much.
The section about "he blew his mind out in a car" was about a friend Tara Browne who died in a car crash...people just stood and stared .
One of the Beatles' best.
I like you and your videos .
Greatest song of all time.
60's and 70's stereo music recording was a brand new things and were getting popular with consumers. A lot fo the bands of that are played around quite a lot with stereo effects in recording.. Which is why it is almost always best to listen to that era's music with headphones or you really miss a lot.
The crescendo is amazing but nothing gets me like when Lennon sings ‘I’d love to turn you on’. The way he sings it like all your dreams and memories rolled together!
I read somewhere that the instructions that were given were as follows: In 24 bars, play a crescendo of every note on your instrument from lowest to highest, at your own pace, and make sure that you’re never playing the same note as the musician sitting beside you.
This song is a wonder.