Penny Lane

Lore & Background

Penny Lane is a road in the south Liverpool suburb of Mossley Hill, and the name also applies to the area surrounding its junction with Smithdown Road and Allerton Road, and to the roundabout at Smithdown Place that was a major bus terminus. This roundabout was a frequent stopping place for John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison during their school and student years. McCartney reflected: "'Penny Lane' was kind of nostalgic, but it was really [about] a place that John and I knew [...] I'd get a bus to his house and I'd have to change at Penny Lane, or the same with him to me, so we often hung out at that terminus, like a roundabout." Lennon's original lyrics for "In My Life" had included a reference to Penny Lane, and McCartney was spurred to write the song once presented with Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever". McCartney also cited Dylan Thomas's nostalgic poem "Fern Hill" as an inspiration. Lennon co-wrote the lyrics with McCartney, recalling: "The bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was reliving childhood."

In Their Own Story

The fireman and fire engine referred to in the lyrics were based on memories of the fire station at Mather Avenue, while the barber shop was Bioletti's, where McCartney, Harrison and Lennon each had their hair cut as children. The line "A four of fish and finger pie" is British slang: a "four of fish" is a serving of fish and chips costing fourpence, while "finger pie" is sexual slang for fingering. Lyrically, the song is seemingly narrated on a fine summer day ("beneath the blue suburban skies"), yet at the same time it is raining ("the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain") and approaching winter ("selling poppies from a tray" implies Remembrance Day, 11 November). Music critic Ian MacDonald stated: "Seemingly naturalistic, the lyric scene is actually kaleidoscopic. As well as raining and shining at the same time, it is simultaneously summer and winter."

Reader's Guide

The song begins in the key of B major and is in common time throughout, comprising three rounds of two verses and a chorus. Its melody has a double tonic structure of B major verse and A major chorus connected by formal pivoting dominant chords. Musicologist Dominic Pedler describes the opening bars as a profound and surprising innovation involving abandoning mid-cycle what initially appears to be a standard I–vi–ii–V doo-wop pop chord cycle. To get from the verse to the chorus, McCartney uses an E chord as a pivot (a IV chord in the preceding B key and a V in the looming A key), and to return, he uses an F♯7 pivot chord (a VI in the old A key and a V in the new B key). The lyrics "very strange" and "meanwhile back" reflect these tonal shifts. Production began on 29 December 1966 in Studio 2 at EMI Studios, with McCartney intending a "clean" sound akin to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Engineer Geoff Emerick recalled McCartney playing Pet Sounds repeatedly during breaks. The piccolo trumpet solo was played by David Mason, who had performed on the BBC1 series Masterworks Bach on 11 January 1967.

Did You Know?

• "Penny Lane" was the first Beatles single since "Please Please Me" in 1963 to fail to reach number 1 on the Record Retailer chart in Britain.
• The piccolo trumpet solo was played by session musician David Mason, who had performed on the BBC1 series Masterworks Bach on 11 January 1967.
• The line "A four of fish and finger pie" contains British slang: "four of fish" means fish and chips costing fourpence, and "finger pie" is sexual slang for fingering.
• McCartney cited Dylan Thomas's nostalgic poem "Fern Hill" as an inspiration for the song.
• The barber shop mentioned in the lyrics was Bioletti's, where McCartney, Harrison and Lennon each had their hair cut as children.