A Day in the Life (1967)
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IntroductionA Day in the Life is the last song in the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" released in 1967; it is ranked number 1 in the Rolling Stones Magazine list of the top 10 Beatles songs of all time. In fact, it is ranked number 1 in almost any list, formal and informal.
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A Day in the Life Music Analysis
In an interview, John Lennon declared A Day in the Life “a peak.” In short, the song sounds like “the whole world falling apart.” This song is different form I Want to Hold Your Hand in the sense that the lyrics are not repetitive at all, this song is a ballad. Lennon and McCartney found much of the inspiration for the lyrics from newspapers.
What makes this song special is its musical jaw-dropping musical choices. The following three main points are what makes this song the best Beatles song of all time:
What makes this song special is its musical jaw-dropping musical choices. The following three main points are what makes this song the best Beatles song of all time:
- Combination of a fast tempo and slow harmonic rhythm
- “Orchestral orgasm"
- Final E Major chord
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Combination of a Fast Tempo and Slow
Harmonic Rhythm
The tempo of the song is pretty fast, and yet, the harmonic rhythm appears to be moving at its own slow and steady pace. The harmonic chord generally only changes every two measures. The bass line is also rather slow, only tricking the listener by filling out the chord instead of playing the chord all at once. These separate tones makes it seem like separate, but not clashing, minds are meshing this song together, creating unique facets to this song. Orchestral Orgasm Once the whole song was mostly written, McCartney felt that they needed one last thing to spice up the music just a little more. He decided to recruit classical musicians to create what producer, George Martin, would eventually call an “orchestral orgasm.” To add to the ridiculousness of the occasion and the drug theme of the album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, they filled the studio with “balloons and the formally attired orchestra members were given party hats, rubber noses, and gorilla paws to wear.” The musicians were simply asked to play from the lowest E on their instruments to the highest E in a glissando-like fashion. The simplicity of the task resulted in something remarkable. This completely minor section sounds like the world is coming to the end. There is a stark contrast from the almost peppy tone of the verses and yet, the songs still holds together. This combination is what makes this song the ultimate high-low drug song. Final E Major Chord As seen with I Want to Hold Your Hand, the Beatles like to leave the listeners in awe. The outro consists of an E-major chord that lasts for 53 seconds. Five people played the same E Major chord on five different pianists while the music engineer used faders to catch every facet of the enveloping sound. But what makes this ending even more special, is the stark difference from the rest of the section immediately preceding this outro. The Beatles put in another “orchestral orgasm” right before this chord begins. By adding more than one orchestral section, it prevents the first one from seeming too isolated. Because the musicians could decide how they felt like going from the lowest E to the highest E, the orchestral orgasm ended up being a very minor, and almost creepy sounding escapade. But this orchestral section has a very different destination: All of a sudden, the Beatles pull out this very resolved, calming chord for 53 seconds to bring the listeners home, to calm them down from the past five minutes of tension and musical convolution. As if that were not enough, the Beatles left a few brief seconds of silence between the orchestra section and the piano chord. The song sounds like it is over. This E Major chord comes out as a final twist. This chord gives the song a final sense of desolation, not active, conflicting desolation, but calm desolation. *** This song reaches a whole other level of musical genius. I Want to Hold Your Hand is indeed remarkable, but only to the point that it was still made for the public ear. This song was not popular for many years because it took so many risks, that the average person listening to the radio could not comprehend the sounds coming out of their speakers. Even now, after listening to it maybe 50 times, I do not fully understand the complexity of this song. |
A Day In The Life
I read the news today oh boy About a lucky man who made the grade And though the news was rather sad Well I just had to laugh I saw the photograph He blew his mind out in a car He didn't notice that the lights had changed A crowd of people stood and stared They'd seen his face before Nobody was really sure If he was from the House of Lords I saw a film today oh boy The English Army had just won the war A crowd of people turned away But I just had to look Having read the book I'd love to turn you on Woke up, fell out of bed Dragged a comb across my head Found my way downstairs and drank a cup And looking up I noticed I was late Found my coat and grabbed my hat Made the bus in seconds flat Found my way upstairs and had a smoke And somebody spoke and I went into a dream 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 Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall I'd love to turn you on |
