“Penny Lane” from Magical Mystery Tour

The iconic character in the movie Almost Famous notwithstanding, Penny Lane is a place, not a person.  Paul wrote this loving tribute to a street in his hometown of Liverpool. In the Barry Miles biography Many Years from Now, McCartney talked about the song and Penny Lane itself:

Childhood Reminiscences

“It was childhood reminiscences: there is a bus stop called Penny Lane. There was a barber shop called Bioletti’s with head shots of the haircuts you can have in the window and I just took it all and arted it up a little bit to make it sound like he was having a picture exhibition in his window. It was all based on real things; there was a bank on the corner so I imagined the banker, it was not a real person, and his slightly dubious habits and the little children laughing at him, and the pouring rain.

“The fire station was a bit of poetic license; there’s a fire station about half a mile down the road, not actually in Penny Lane, but we needed a third verse so we took that and I was very pleased with the line “It’s a clean machine.” I still like that phrase, you occasionally hit a lucky little phrase and it becomes more than a phrase. So the banker helped me with the third verse, as often was the case. We were writing childhood memories: recently faded memories from eight or ten years before, so it was a recent nostalgia, pleasant memories for both of us. All the places were still there, and because we remembered it so clearly we could have gone on.“

Lennon and McCartney

This song and the flip side of the double-A-sided single – “Strawberry Fields Forever” – are an object lesson of Lennon and McCartney at the peak of their creative collaborative powers. And if you would like a true visual and auditory treat to go with today’s Beatles song, scroll 31 minutes into this special show in the East Room of the Barack Obama White House:

https://www.pbs.org/video/in-performance-at-the-white-house-celebrating-the-music-of-paul-mccartney

Elvis Costello

Play Elvis Costello’s rendition of “Penny Lane.”  And I’ll defy you not to get goosebumps when Master Sergeant Matthew Harding of the Marine Corps Band absolutely nails the piccolo trumpet solo.  The entire hour and a half show is all-star performances of some of Paul McCartney’ songs, capped by McCartney himself and his band. 

Think of Penny Lane

I’d invite all of you to think of “Penny Lane” as an invitation to pay attention to what is going on in your community.  Notice what is happening, what is not happening, who is in need, what you’re willing to do to be involved. These would be important goals for any community, and especially during any challenging time.

Find out more about the songs the Beatles wrote in Tim Hatfield’s great book:

Paul is the rare musical talent, which only comes by once so often. Of course, all Beatles had great musical talents: John’s contribution to contemporary music cannot be overestimated, George wrote beautiful songs, and Ringo was an excellent drummer and even he wrote some nice songs. But even among those musical talents Paul did stand out.

The Day John Met Paul

Already on July 6, 1957, the day when Paul met John, Paul’s musical talent became obvious. That day, the Quarry Men played at a church party at St. Peter’s church in Woolton Liverpool. Paul McCartney was invited by a mutual friend, Ivan Vaughan, to see and meet them. Paul was impressed with John, the singer, who had great presence and clearly was the leader of the band. After some time, he noticed that John was playing banjo chords on his guitar, using only four of the six strings.

Twenty Flight Rock

After the show John and Paul met and started talking music. After a while Paul, being only fifteen years of age, asked whether he could have a go on John’s guitar. He corrected the banjo tuning, turned the guitar upside down, being left-handed, and played Twenty Flight Rock by Eddie Cochran, from the beginning to the end, knowing all the words. None of the Quarry Men could do anything like this.

Throughout The Beatles Years and after that, there are many illustrations of Paul’s special talent. You can find them in …