A Day in the Life - wikipedia A Day in the Life For other uses, see A Day in the Life ( disambiguation ). `` A Day in the Life '' Cover of the US sheet music Song by the Beatles from the album Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band Released 26 May 1967 Recorded 19 -- 20 January 1967 ; 3, 10 and 22 February 1967 Studio EMI Studios, London Genre Art rock psychedelic rock Length 5 : 35 Label Parlophone, Capitol Songwriter ( s ) Lennon -- McCartney Producer ( s ) George Martin The Beatles singles chronology `` Back in the U.S.S.R. / Ob - La - Di, Ob - La - Da '' ( 1976 ) `` Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band / With a Little Help from My Friends '' / `` A Day in the Life '' ( 1978 ) `` Beatles Movie Medley '' ( 1982 ) Music video `` A Day in the Life '' on YouTube Audio sample file help `` A Day in the Life '' is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as the final track of their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to Lennon -- McCartney, the verses were written mainly by John Lennon, with Paul McCartney primarily contributing the song 's middle section. Lennon 's lyrics were inspired by contemporary newspaper articles, including a report on the death of Guinness heir Tara Browne. The recording includes two passages of orchestral glissandos that were partly improvised in the avant - garde style. As with the sustained piano chord that closes the song, the orchestral passages were added after the Beatles had recorded the main rhythm track. A reputed drug reference in the line `` I 'd love to turn you on '' resulted in the song initially being banned from broadcast by the BBC. Since its release on Sgt. Pepper, `` A Day in the Life '' has been issued as a B - side and also on various compilation albums. Jeff Beck, Barry Gibb, The Fall and Phish are among the artists who have covered the song. Since 2008, McCartney has included the song in his live performances. It was ranked the 28th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone. In another list, the magazine ranked it as the greatest Beatles song. Contents 1 Background 2 Lyrics 2.1 Tara Browne 2.2 `` 4,000 holes '' 2.3 Drug culture 2.4 Other reference points 3 Musical structure and development 3.1 Basic track 3.2 Orchestra 3.3 Final chord 4 Variations 5 BBC radio ban 6 Recognition and reception 7 Legacy 8 Covers 9 Personnel 10 Notes 11 References 12 Sources 13 External links Background John Lennon wrote the melody and most of the lyrics to the verses of `` A Day in the Life '' in mid January 1967. Soon afterwards, he presented the song to Paul McCartney, who contributed a middle - eight section. In a 1970 interview, Lennon discussed their collaboration on the song : Paul and I were definitely working together, especially on `` A Day in the Life '' that was a real... 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 ? '' `` Yeah, let 's do that. '' According to author Ian MacDonald, `` A Day in the Life '' was strongly informed by Lennon 's LSD - inspired revelations, in that the song `` concerned ' reality ' only to the extent that this had been revealed by LSD to be largely in the eye of the beholder ''. Beatles biographer Jonathon Gould writes that `` of the many ambitious pop singles released during the fall of 1966, none had a stronger influence on the Beatles than the Beach Boys ' ' Good Vibrations ' ''. In a 1968 editorial for Jazz & Pop, writer Gene Sculatti called the single the `` ultimate in - studio production trip '', adding that its influence was apparent in songs such as `` A Day in the Life ''. Lyrics Tara Browne According to Lennon, the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21 - year - old heir to the Guinness fortune who had crashed his Lotus Elan on 18 December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, Earl 's Court. Browne had been a friend of Lennon and McCartney, and had, earlier in 1966, instigated McCartney 's first experience with LSD. Lennon adapted the song 's verse lyrics from a story in the 17 January 1967 edition of the Daily Mail, which reported the ruling on a custody action over Browne 's two young children. During a writing session at McCartney 's house in north London, Lennon and McCartney fine - tuned the lyrics, using an approach that author Howard Sounes likens to the cut - up technique popularised by William Burroughs. `` I did n't copy the accident, '' Lennon said. `` Tara did n't blow his mind out, but it was in my mind when I was writing that verse. The details of the accident in the song -- not noticing traffic lights and a crowd forming at the scene -- were similarly part of the fiction. '' McCartney expounded on the subject : `` The verse about the politician blowing his mind out in a car we wrote together. It has been attributed to Tara Browne, the Guinness heir, which I do n't believe is the case, certainly as we were writing it, I was not attributing it to Tara in my head. In John 's head it might have been. In my head I was imagining a politician bombed out on drugs who 'd stopped at some traffic lights and did n't notice that the lights had changed. The ' blew his mind ' was purely a drugs reference, nothing to do with a car crash. '' `` 4,000 holes '' Lennon wrote the song 's final verse inspired by a Far & Near news brief, in the same 17 January edition of the Daily Mail that had inspired the first two verses. Under the headline `` The holes in our roads '', the brief stated : `` There are 4,000 holes in the road in Blackburn, Lancashire, or one twenty - sixth of a hole per person, according to a council survey. If Blackburn is typical, there are two million holes in Britain 's roads and 300,000 in London. '' In his lyrics, Lennon mentions the Royal Albert Hall, a symbol of Victorian - era London and a concert venue usually associated with classical music performances. The story had been sold to the Daily Mail in Manchester by Ron Kennedy of the Star News agency in Blackburn. Kennedy had noticed a Lancashire Evening Telegraph story about road excavations and in a telephone call to the Borough Engineer 's department had checked the annual number of holes in the road. Lennon had a problem with the words of the final verse, however, not being able to think of how to connect `` Now they know how many holes it takes to '' and `` the Albert Hall ''. His friend Terry Doran suggested that the holes would `` fill '' the Albert Hall, and the lyric was eventually used. Drug culture McCartney said about the line `` I 'd love to turn you on '', which concludes both verse sections : `` This was the time of Tim Leary 's ' Turn on, tune in, drop out ' and we wrote, ' I 'd love to turn you on. ' John and I gave each other a knowing look : ' Uh - huh, it 's a drug song. You know that, do n't you ? ' '' George Martin commented that he had always suspected that the line `` found my way upstairs and had a smoke '' was a drug reference, recalling how the Beatles would `` disappear and have a little puff '', presumably of marijuana, but not in front of him. `` When ( Martin ) was doing his TV programme on Pepper '', McCartney recalled later, `` he asked me, ' Do you know what caused Pepper ? ' I said, ' In one word, George, drugs. Pot. ' And George said, ' No, no. But you were n't on it all the time. ' ' Yes, we were. ' Sgt. Pepper was a drug album. '' Other reference points Author Neil Sinyard attributed the third - verse line `` The English Army had just won the war '' to Lennon 's role in the film How I Won the War, which he had filmed during September and October 1966. Sinyard said : `` It 's hard to think of ( the verse )... without automatically associating it with Richard Lester 's film. '' The middle - eight that McCartney provided for `` A Day in the Life '' was a short piano piece he had been working on independently, with lyrics about a commuter whose uneventful morning routine leads him to drift off into a dream. McCartney had written the piece as a wistful recollection of his younger years, which included riding the 82 bus to school, smoking, and going to class. This theme -- the Beatles ' youth in the north of England -- matched that of `` Penny Lane '' ( a street in Liverpool ) and `` Strawberry Fields Forever '' ( an orphanage behind Lennon 's house ), two songs written for the album but were released instead as a double A-side single. Musical Structure and development Basic track The Beatles began recording the song, with a working title of `` In the Life of... '', at EMI 's Studio Two on 19 January 1967. The line - up as they rehearsed the track was Lennon on piano, McCartney on Hammond organ, George Harrison on acoustic guitar, and Ringo Starr on congas. The band then taped four takes of the rhythm track, by which point Lennon had switched to acoustic guitar and McCartney to piano, with Harrison now playing maracas. As a link between the end of the second verse, where Lennon sings `` I 'd love to turn you on '', and the start of McCartney 's middle - eight, the band included a 24 - bar bridge. At first, the Beatles were not sure how to fill this link section. At the conclusion of the session on 19 January, the transition consisted of a simple repeated piano chord and the voice of assistant Mal Evans counting out the bars. Evans ' voice was treated with gradually increasing amounts of echo. The 24 - bar bridge ended with the sound of an alarm clock triggered by Evans. Although the original intent was to edit out the ringing alarm clock when the section was filled in, it complemented McCartney 's piece -- which begins with the line `` Woke up, fell out of bed '' -- so the decision was made to keep the sound. The track was refined with remixing and additional parts added on 20 January and 3 February. During the latter session, McCartney and Starr re-recorded their contributions on bass guitar and drums, respectively. Starr later highlighted his fills on the song as typical of an approach whereby `` I try to become an instrument ; play the mood of the song. For example, ' Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, ' -- boom ba bom. I try to show that ; the disenchanting mood. '' As on the 1966 track `` Rain '', music journalist Ben Edmonds recognises Starr 's playing as reflective of his empathy with Lennon 's songwriting. In Edmonds ' description, the drumming on `` A Day in the Life '' `` transcends timekeeping to embody psychedelic drift -- mysterious, surprising, without losing sight of its rhythmic role ''. Orchestra The song 's orchestral segments reflect the influence of avant - garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen ( left, at an awards ceremony in Amsterdam in October 1969 ). The orchestral portions of `` A Day in the Life '' reflect Lennon and McCartney 's interest in the work of avant - garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio and John Cage. To fill the empty 24 - bar middle section, Lennon 's request to George Martin, the band 's producer, was that the orchestra should provide `` a tremendous build - up, from nothing up to something absolutely like the end of the world ''. McCartney suggested having the musicians improvise over the segment. To allay concerns that classically trained musicians would be unable to do this, Martin wrote a loose score for the section. Using the rhythm implied by Lennon 's staggered intonation on the words `` turn you on '', the score was an extended, atonal crescendo that encouraged the musicians to improvise within the defined framework. The orchestral part was recorded on 10 February 1967 in Studio One at EMI Studios, with Martin and McCartney conducting a 40 - piece orchestra. The recording session was completed at a total cost of £ 367 ( equivalent to £ 6,113 in 2016 ) for the players, an extravagance at the time. Martin later described explaining his score to the puzzled orchestra : 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. McCartney had originally wanted a 90 - piece orchestra, but this proved impossible. Instead, the semi-improvised segment was recorded multiple times, filling a separate four - track tape machine, and the four different recordings were overdubbed into a single massive crescendo. The results were successful ; in the final edit of the song, the orchestral bridge is reprised after the final verse. The orchestral link from the song 's middle section to the final verse Womack describes the `` sarcastic brass retort '' that ends the sequence as the `` most decisive moment '' on Sgt. Pepper. Problems playing this file ? See media help. The Beatles hosted the orchestral session as a 1960s - style happening, with guests including Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Donovan, Pattie Boyd, Michael Nesmith, and members of the psychedelic design collective The Fool. Overseen by Tony Bramwell of NEMS Enterprises, the event was filmed for use in a projected television special that never materialised. Reflecting the Beatles ' taste for experimentation and the avant garde, the orchestra players were asked to wear formal dress and then given a costume piece as a contrast with this attire. This resulted in different players wearing anything from fake noses to fake stick - on nipples. Martin recalled that the lead violinist performed wearing a gorilla paw, while a bassoon player placed a balloon on the end of his instrument. At the end of the night, the four Beatles and some of their guests overdubbed an extended humming sound to close the song -- an idea that they later discarded. According to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, the tapes from this 10 February orchestral session reveal the guests breaking into loud applause following the second orchestral passage. Among the EMI staff attending the event, one recalled how Ron Richards, the Hollies ' producer, was stunned by the music he had heard ; in Lewisohn 's description, Richards `` ( sat ) with his head in his hands, saying ' I just ca n't believe it... I give up. ' '' Martin later offered his own opinion of the orchestral session : `` part of me said ' We 're being a bit self - indulgent here. ' The other part of me said ' It 's bloody marvellous ! ' '' Final chord A grand piano in EMI 's Studio Two, where the closing piano chord was recorded on 22 February 1967 Following the final orchestral crescendo, the song ends with one of the most famous final chords in music history. Overdubbed in place of the vocal experiment from 10 February, this chord was added during a session at EMI 's Studio Two on 22 February. Lennon, McCartney, Starr and Evans shared three different pianos, with Martin on a harmonium, and all played an E-major chord simultaneously. The chord was made to ring out for over forty seconds by increasing the recording sound level as the vibration faded out. Towards the end of the chord the recording level was so high that listeners can hear the sounds of the studio, including rustling papers and a squeaking chair. Also present at the session was David Crosby of the Byrds. He recalled his reaction to hearing the completed song : `` man, I was a dish - rag. I was floored. It took me several minutes to be able to talk after that. '' Due to the multiple takes required to perfect the orchestral cacophony and the final chord, the total time spent recording `` A Day in the Life '' was 34 hours. In contrast, the Beatles ' debut album, Please Please Me, had been recorded in its entirety in only 10 hours, 45 minutes. The chord inspired Apple sound designer Jim Reekes in creating the startup chime of the Apple Macintosh featured on Macintosh Quadra computers on a Korg Wavestation EX. `` It 's a C Major chord, played with both hands stretched out as wide as possible ( with 3rd at the top, if I recall ) '', according to Reekes. Variations On the Sgt. Pepper album, the start of `` A Day in the Life '' is cross-faded with the applause at the end of the previous track, `` Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band ( Reprise ) ''. On the Beatles ' 1967 -- 1970 compilation LP, the crossfade is cut off, and the track begins abruptly after the start of the original recording, but on the soundtrack album Imagine : John Lennon and the CD versions of 1967 -- 1970, the song starts cleanly, with no applause effects. Following `` A Day in the Life '' on the Sgt. Pepper album ( as first released on LP in the UK and years later worldwide on CD ) is a high - frequency 15 - kilohertz tone and some randomly spliced Beatles studio babble. The tone is the same pitch as a dog whistle, at the upper limit of human hearing, but within the range that dogs and cats can hear. This penultimate touch was part of the Beatles ' humour. McCartney would recall how the Beatles thought : `` Imagine there are people sitting around and they think the album 's finished and then suddenly the dog starts barking and no one will know what the heck 's happened. '' The studio babble, titled in the session notes `` Edit for LP End '', and recorded two months after the mono and stereo masters for `` A Day in the Life '' had been finalised, was added to the run - out groove of the initial British pressing. The two or three seconds of gibberish would loop back into itself endlessly on any record player not equipped with an automatic phonograph arm return. There are even a few variations of the inner groove on different LP pressings. Some listeners have discerned words among the vocal gibberish, Lennon 's saying `` been so high '', followed by McCartney 's response : `` never could be any other way. '' The Anthology 2 album, released in 1996, featured a composite remix of `` A Day in the Life '', including elements from the first two takes, representing the song at its early, pre-orchestral stage, while Anthology 3 included a version of `` The End '' that concludes by having the last note fade into the final chord of `` A Day in the Life '' ( reversed, then played forwards ). The version on the 2006 soundtrack remix album Love has the song starting with Lennon 's intro of `` sugar plum fairy '', with the strings being more prominent during the crescendos. In 2017, a handful of outtakes from the recording sessions, including the first take, were included on the two - disc and six - disc versions of the 50th - anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper. The six - disc version of that edition also included, on a disc of mono mixes, a previously unreleased early demo mix of the song in its pre-orchestral stage, as of 30 January. BBC Radio ban The song became controversial for its supposed references to drugs. The BBC announced that it would not broadcast `` A Day in the Life '' due to the line `` I 'd love to turn you on '', which, according to the corporation, advocated drug use. Other lyrics allegedly referring to drugs include `` found my way upstairs and had a smoke / somebody spoke and I went into a dream ''. A spokesman for the BBC stated : `` We have listened to this song over and over again. And we have decided that it appears to go just a little too far, and could encourage a permissive attitude to drug - taking. '' The ban was eventually lifted on 13 March 1972. Recognition and reception Recalling the release of Sgt. Pepper in his 1977 book The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner wrote that `` Nothing quite like ' A Day In The Life ' had been attempted before in so - called popular music '' in terms of the song 's `` use of dynamics and tricks of rhythm, and of space and stereo effect, and its deft intermingling of scenes from dream, reality, and shades in between ''. Schaffner said that in the context of 1967, the track `` was so visually evocative it seemed more like a film than a mere song ''. Richard Goldstein of The New York Times called the song `` a deadly earnest excursion in emotive music with a chilling lyric... ( that ) stands as one of the most important Lennon - McCartney compositions... ( and ) an historic Pop event ''. In a contemporary music critics ' poll published by Jazz & Pop magazine, `` A Day in the Life '' won in the categories of Best Pop Song and Best Pop Arrangement. In his appraisal of the song, musicologist Walter Everett states that, as on the band 's Revolver album, `` the most monumental piece on Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band was Lennon 's ''. He identifies the track 's most striking feature as `` its mysterious and poetic approach to serious topics that come together in a larger, direct message to its listeners, an embodiment of the central ideal for which the Beatles stood : that a truly meaningful life can be had only when one is aware of one 's self and one 's surroundings and overcomes the status quo. '' Author Philip Norman describes `` A Day in the Life '' as a `` masterpiece '' and cites it as an example of how Sgt. Pepper `` certainly was John 's Freak Out ! '', referring to the 1966 album by the Mothers of Invention. `` A Day in the Life '' became one of the Beatles ' most influential songs, and is now considered by many to be the band 's greatest work. Paul Grushkin, in his book Rockin ' Down the Highway : The Cars and People That Made Rock Roll, called the track `` one of the most ambitious, influential, and groundbreaking works in pop music history ''. According to musicologist John Covach, `` ' A Day in the Life ' is perhaps one of the most important single tracks in the history of rock music ; clocking in at only four minutes and forty - five seconds, it must surely be among the shortest epic pieces in rock. '' In his review of the 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper for Rolling Stone, Mikal Gilmore says that `` A Day in the Life '' and Harrison 's `` Within You Without You '' are the only songs on the album that transcend its legacy as `` a gestalt : a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts ''. James A. Moorer has said that both `` A Day in the Life '' and a fugue in B minor by Bach were his sources of inspiration for Deep Note, the audio trademark he created for the THK film company. `` A Day in the Life '' appears on many top songs lists. It placed twelfth on CBC 's 50 Tracks, the second highest Beatles song on the list after `` In My Life ''. It placed first in Q magazine 's list of the 50 greatest British songs of all time, and was at the top of Mojo 's 101 Greatest Beatles ' Songs, as decided by a panel of musicians and journalists. `` A Day in the Life '' was also nominated for a Grammy in 1967 for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist or Instrumentalist. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 28 on the magazine 's list of `` The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time '', and in 2010, deemed it to be the Beatles ' greatest song. It is listed at number 5 in Pitchfork Media 's `` The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s ''. Legacy `` A Day in the Life '' Single by Barry Gibb from the album Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band B - side `` Nowhere Man '' Released July 1978 Format 7 '' Recorded September 1977 Genre Psychedelic rock Length 5 : 11 Label RSO Songwriter ( s ) Lennon -- McCartney Producer ( s ) George Martin Barry Gibb singles chronology `` I 'll Kiss Your Memory '' ( 1970 ) `` A Day in the Life '' ( 1978 ) `` Guilty '' ( 1980 ) On 27 August 1992 Lennon 's handwritten lyrics were sold by the estate of Mal Evans in an auction at Sotheby 's London for $100,000 ( £ 56,600 ). The lyrics were put up for sale again in March 2006 by Bonhams in New York. Sealed bids were opened on 7 March 2006 and offers started at about $2 million. The lyric sheet was auctioned again by Sotheby 's in June 2010. It was purchased by an anonymous American buyer who paid $1,200,000 ( £ 810,000 ). McCartney has been performing this song in a majority of his live shows since his 2008 tour. It is played in a medley with `` Give Peace a Chance ''. The Beatles ' friend and contemporary Bob Dylan references the song 's opening lyrics in his 2012 tribute to John Lennon, `` Roll on John ''. Covers The song has been recorded by many other artists, notably by Jeff Beck on the 1998 George Martin album In My Life, which version was used in the film Across the Universe, and on Beck 's 2008 album Performing This Week : Live at Ronnie Scott 's Jazz Club, which version won Beck the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The London Symphony Orchestra released an orchestral cover of the song in 1978 on Classic Rock : The Second Movement. It was also covered by Barry Gibb in 1978 for the film Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band and was included on the soundtrack of the same name, recorded in September 1977 and produced by George Martin. Gibb 's version was released as a single, with `` Nowhere Man '' as the B - side ( also recorded by him and intended for the film ). Also in 1978, his version was used as the B - side of Robin Gibb 's version of `` Oh ! Darling '' released only in Italy. David Bowie used the lyric `` I heard the news today oh boy ! '' in his 1975 song `` Young Americans ''. Lennon appeared twice on Bowie 's Young Americans album, providing guitar and backing vocals. In 2012, Bob Dylan included the same line in his tribute song to Lennon, `` Roll on John ''. Phish has covered the song more than 65 times since debuting it on 10 June 1995, often as an encore selection. Page McConnell and Trey Anastasio have split vocal duties for the Lennon / McCartney sections respectively. Willy Porter occasionally performed the song while opening for Jethro Tull in 2002. A live version by Sting can be found on the EP Demolition Man. Personnel The Beatles John Lennon -- lead vocal ( verses ), acoustic guitar, piano ( final chord ) Paul McCartney -- lead vocal ( middle - eight ), piano ( throughout and final chord ), bass guitar George Harrison -- maracas Ringo Starr -- drums, congas, piano ( final chord ) Production George Martin -- producer and harmonium ( final chord ) Geoff Emerick -- engineering and mixing Arrangements Orchestrated by George Martin Conducted by George Martin ( with Paul McCartney ) Additional musicians Mal Evans -- alarm clock, counting, piano ( final chord ) John Marson -- harp Erich Gruenberg, Granville Jones, Bill Monro, Jurgen Hess, Hans Geiger, D. Bradley, Lionel Bentley, David McCallum, Donald Weekes, Henry Datyner, Sidney Sax, Ernest Scott, Carlos Villa -- violin John Underwood, Gwynne Edwards, Bernard Davis, John Meek -- viola Francisco Gabarro, Dennis Vigay, Alan Delziel, Alex Nifosi -- cello Cyril Mac Arther, Gordon Pearce -- double bass Roger Lord -- oboe Basil Tschaikov, Jack Brymer -- clarinet N. Fawcett, Alfred Waters -- bassoon Clifford Seville, David Sandeman -- flute Alan Civil, Neil Sanders -- french horn David Mason, Monty Montgomery, Harold Jackson -- trumpet Raymond Brown, Raymond Premru, T. Moore -- trombone Michael Barnes -- tuba Tristan Fry -- timpani Marijke Koger -- tambourine Notes Jump up ^ When asked about `` Good Vibrations '' in 1990, McCartney responded : `` I thought it was a great record. It did n't quite have the emotional thing that Pet Sounds had for me. I 've often played Pet Sounds and cried. It 's that kind of an album for me. '' Jump up ^ While McCartney remembered writing the lyric `` I 'd love to turn you on '' with Lennon, Lennon, in his 1980 Playboy interview with David Sheff, credited it as being McCartney 's alone, stating, `` Paul 's contribution was the beautiful little lick in the song, ' I 'd love to turn you on ' that he 'd had floating around in his head and he could n't use for anything. I thought it was a damn good piece of work. '' This is confirmed by Lennon 's April 1972 Hit Parader interview, in which he had stated : `` I think Paul wrote ' I 'd love to turn you on. ' '' Jump up ^ When the song was banned by the BBC, Lennon and McCartney denied that there were drug references and publicly complained about the ban at a dinner party at the home of their manager, Brian Epstein, celebrating their album. Lennon said that the song was simply about `` a crash and its victim '', and called the line in question `` the most innocent of phrases ''. McCartney later said, `` This was the only one in the album written as a deliberate provocation. A stick - that - in - your - pipe... But what we want is to turn you on to the truth rather than pot. '' Jump up ^ George Martin, the Beatles ' producer, later said that editing it out would have been unfeasible in any case. Jump up ^ Although the special did not take place, portions of the film appear on the Beatles Anthology DVD and in the `` A Day in the Life '' clip included in the three - disc versions of the Beatles ' 2015 video compilation 1. Jump up ^ According to Tony Bramwell, the BBC ban also led to the film from the orchestral session never being completed. The party aspect of that session was soon reprised by the Beatles when they filmed their performance of `` All You Need Is Love '' for the Our World satellite broadcast. Jump up ^ When Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in South Asia, Malaysia and Hong Kong, `` A Day in the Life '' `` With a Little Help from My Friends '' and `` Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds '' were excluded because of supposed drug references. References Jump up ^ Everett 1999, p. 123. `` In the United Kingdom Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band... was rush - released six days ahead of its official date, June 1. '' Jump up ^ Popular Music in America : The Beat Goes On, Michael Campbell, page 213 Jump up ^ J. DeRogatis, Turn on Your Mind : Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock ( Milwaukee, Michigan : Hal Leonard, 2003 ), ISBN 0 - 634 - 05548 - 8, p. 48. Jump up ^ Hertsgaard 1996, p. 2. Jump up ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 229 -- 30. Jump up ^ `` The Rolling Stone Interview : John Lennon ''. 21 January 1971. Retrieved 26 February 2013. Jump up ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 228. Jump up ^ Gould 2007, p. 35. Jump up ^ Sculatti, Gene ( September 1968 ). `` Villains and Heroes : In Defense of the Beach Boys ''. Jazz & Pop. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014. Jump up ^ Leaf, David ( 1997 ). `` The Observers : Paul McCartney ''. The Pet Sounds Sessions ( Booklet ). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records. ^ Jump up to : `` Sold on Song -- TOP 100 -- Day in the Life ''. BBC Radio 2. Archived from the original on 22 December 2006. Retrieved 31 December 2006. Jump up ^ Miles 1997, p. 380. Jump up ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 229. Jump up ^ Sounes 2010, p. 164. Jump up ^ Davies, Hunter ( 1968 ). The Beatles. Columbus : McGraw - Hill. p. 357. ISBN 978 - 0 - 07 - 015457 - 5. Jump up ^ Miles 1997, p. 324. Jump up ^ `` Far & Near : The holes in our roads ''. The Daily Mail ( 21994 ). 17 January 1967. p. 7. Jump up ^ Frame, Pete ( 1989 ). The Harp Beat Rock Gazetteer of Great Britain. London : Banyan Books. p. 55. ISBN 0 - 9506402 - 6 - 3. Jump up ^ `` A Day in the Life -- An Indepth Analysis -- The Origins of the Song ''. web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2010. Jump up ^ Miles 1997, p. 325. Jump up ^ Sheff, David ( 2000 ) ( 1981 ). All We Are Saying : The Last Major Interview With John Lennon and Yoko Ono. St. Martin 's Press. pp. 183 -- 184. ISBN 0 - 312 - 25464 - 4. Jump up ^ `` Lennon & McCartney -- Who Wrote What ''. Jump up ^ Chan, Dale. `` A Day in the Life ''. Retrieved 14 April 2008. ^ Jump up to : `` 100 Greatest Beatles Songs -- 1 : A Day in the Life ''. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 May 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` Beatles ' Song Nasty ''. Associated Press. 8 June 1967. Archived from the original on 31 March 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008. Jump up ^ `` Paul McCartney 's Guide to the Beatles ' Songbook '' Los Angeles Times 14 January 1968 : B19 Jump up ^ Thomson, Elizabeth ; Gutman, David, eds. ( 2004 ). The Lennon Companion : Twenty - five Years of Comment. 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ISBN 978 - 0 - 8264 - 1746 - 6. Womack, Kenneth ( 2014 ). The Beatles Encyclopedia : Everything Fab Four. Santa Barbara, CA : ABC - CLIO. ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 39171 - 2. External links Alan W. Pollack 's Notes on `` A Day in the Life '' Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics The Beatles singles discography UK and US ( all labels ) 1963 `` Please Please Me '' / `` Ask Me Why '' `` From Me to You '' / `` Thank You Girl '' `` She Loves You '' / `` I 'll Get You '' 1964 `` Ca n't Buy Me Love '' / `` You Ca n't Do That '' `` I Feel Fine '' / `` She 's a Woman '' 1965 `` Ticket to Ride '' / `` Yes It Is '' `` Help ! '' / `` I 'm Down '' `` We Can Work It Out '' / `` Day Tripper '' 1966 `` Paperback Writer '' / `` Rain '' `` Yellow Submarine '' / `` Eleanor Rigby '' 1967 `` Penny Lane '' / `` Strawberry Fields Forever '' `` All You Need Is Love '' / `` Baby, You 're a Rich Man '' `` Hello, Goodbye '' / `` I Am the Walrus '' 1968 `` Lady Madonna '' / `` The Inner Light '' `` Hey Jude '' / `` Revolution '' 1969 `` Get Back '' / `` Do n't Let Me Down '' `` The Ballad of John and Yoko '' / `` Old Brown Shoe '' `` Something '' / `` Come Together '' 1970 `` Let It Be '' / `` You Know My Name ( Look Up the Number ) '' 1978 `` Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band / With a Little Help from My Friends '' / `` A Day in the Life '' 1982 `` The Beatles Movie Medley '' / `` I 'm Happy Just to Dance with You '' 1995 `` Free as a Bird '' / `` Christmas Time ( Is Here Again ) '' `` Real Love '' / `` Baby 's in Black '' UK only ( Parlophone, Apple ) 1962 `` My Bonnie '' / `` The Saints '' `` Love Me Do '' / `` P.S. I Love You '' 1963 `` I Want to Hold Your Hand '' / `` This Boy '' 1964 `` Ai n't She Sweet '' / `` If You Love Me, Baby '' `` A Hard Day 's Night '' / `` Things We Said Today '' 1976 `` Yesterday '' / `` I Should Have Known Better '' `` Back in the U.S.S.R. '' / `` Twist and Shout '' US only ( Vee - Jay, Swan, Tollie, Capitol, Apple ) 1963 `` I Want to Hold Your Hand '' / `` I Saw Her Standing There '' 1964 `` Twist and Shout '' / `` There 's a Place '' `` Do You Want to Know a Secret '' / `` Thank You Girl '' `` Love Me Do '' / `` P.S. I Love You '' `` Sie liebt dich '' / `` I 'll Get You '' `` I 'll Cry Instead '' / `` I 'm Happy Just to Dance with You '' `` And I Love Her '' / `` If I Fell '' `` A Hard Day 's Night '' / `` I Should Have Known Better '' `` Matchbox '' / `` Slow Down '' 1965 `` Eight Days a Week '' / `` I Do n't Want to Spoil the Party '' `` Yesterday '' / `` Act Naturally '' 1966 `` Nowhere Man '' / `` What Goes On '' 1970 `` The Long and Winding Road '' / `` For You Blue '' 1976 `` Got to Get You into My Life '' / `` Helter Skelter '' `` Ob - La - Di, Ob - La - Da '' / `` Julia '' Other countries ( Odeon, Parlophone, Apple ) 1963 `` All My Loving '' / `` This Boy '' ( Canada ) 1964 `` Komm, gib mir deine Hand / Sie liebt dich '' ( Germany ) 1965 `` Rock and Roll Music '' / `` I 'm a Loser '' ( Europe, Australia ) 1966 `` Norwegian Wood ( This Bird Has Flown ) '' / `` Nowhere Man '' ( Australia ) `` Michelle '' / `` Girl '' ( Europe ) 1968 `` Ob - La - Di, Ob - La - Da '' / `` While My Guitar Gently Weeps '' ( Europe, Japan, Australia ) `` Ob - La - Di, Ob - La - Da '' / `` I Will '' ( Philippines ) `` Back in the U.S.S.R. '' / `` Do n't Pass Me By '' ( Sweden ) 1969 `` You 're Going to Lose That Girl '' / `` Tell Me What You See '' ( Japan ) 1970 `` Oh ! Darling '' / `` Here Comes the Sun '' ( Japan ) 1972 `` All Together Now '' / `` Hey Bulldog '' ( Europe ) 1978 `` Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band / With a Little Help from My Friends '' / `` Within You Without You '' ( Germany ) Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band Songs Side one `` Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band '' `` With a Little Help from My Friends '' `` Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds '' `` Getting Better '' `` Fixing a Hole '' `` She 's Leaving Home '' `` Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite ! '' Side two `` Within You Without You '' `` When I 'm Sixty - Four '' `` Lovely Rita '' `` Good Morning Good Morning '' `` Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band ( Reprise ) '' `` A Day in the Life '' Non-album single `` Strawberry Fields Forever '' `` Penny Lane '' Outtakes `` Only a Northern Song '' `` Carnival of Light '' Tribute albums Easy Star 's Lonely Hearts Dub Band Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father Sgt. Pepper Live Sgt. Petsound 's Lonely Hearts Club Band With a Little Help from My Fwends Related articles The Beatles discography Sgt. Pepper 's cover Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band ( film ) Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band ( soundtrack ) It Was Twenty Years Ago Today Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road Yellow Submarine ( film ) `` Tina in the Sky with Diamonds '' Please Please Me With the Beatles A Hard Day 's Night Beatles for Sale Help ! Rubber Soul Revolver Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band Magical Mystery Tour The Beatles ( White Album ) Yellow Submarine Abbey Road Let It Be Past Masters Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Day_in_the_Life&oldid=853981095 '' Categories : 1967 songs 1978 singles Art rock songs Barry Gibb songs Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance Parlophone singles British psychedelic rock songs RSO Records singles Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs inspired by deaths Songs published by Northern Songs Songs written by Lennon -- McCartney The Beatles songs Songs banned by the BBC Hidden categories : Pages containing links to subscription - only content Good articles Use British English from March 2014 Use dmy dates from March 2014 Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles with hAudio microformats All articles with failed verification Articles with failed verification from March 2017 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Español فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ქართული Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Tiếng Việt 中文 14 more Edit links This page was last edited on 8 August 2018, at 04 : 52 ( UTC ). 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Question: who played piano on day in the life
Answer: John Lennon