The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

Yester-day I listened to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and I noticed an interesting thing about the bass part in "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."  During the "Newspaper taxis appear on the shore..." section, the bass part is almost entirely quarter notes (and a pair of eighth notes), so the single half note (second measure of the second line) sticks out:

(click the image for a larger view)
(A few comments on this notation.  First, I did it myself, so there's the standard disclaimer that I might have something wrong.  Second, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is partially in 3 / 4 and partially in 4 / 4, and at the end of this section, there's a transition from 3 / 4 time to 4 / 4 time, so it might be that the last measure should be in 4 / 4 instead of 3 / 4.)

That half note corresponds to "take" in the line "Waiting to take you away," so musically there's a pause to reflect the taxis' standing by.

The Beatles' "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"

An-other thing I noticed while listening to the Beatles' Anthology 2 is the time change in "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (it's in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band version too).  After the line "And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz," the song changes from 4/4 time to 3/4 time - the time signature that waltzes are in.

The Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four"

Yester-day, I listened to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  For the first time, I realized how much the instrumentation does for "When I'm Sixty-Four."  I had to look up exactly what instruments I was hearing though.  According to Mark Lewisohn's The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970, there are two clarinets and a bass clarinet.  I feel that those in particular help give the song it's old time-y feel.

In the time between that realization and looking up the specific instrumentation, I also realized that "When I'm Sixty-Four" has a connection to "P.S. I Love You" in that they both feature epistolary writing.  "P.S. I Love You" starts out with "As I write this letter" and continues that theme through the lines "I'll be coming home again to you, love" (indicating the separation) and - of course - "P.S. I love you."  "When I'm Sixty-Four" also uses that letter-writing language with the line "Yours sincerely, wasting away."

What I'm unsure of is whether that letter section of "When I'm Sixty-Four" pre-dates or post-dates "P.S. I Love You."  Obviously "When I'm Sixty-Four" was released after "P.S. I Love You," but as Lewisohn's book notes, "["When I'm Sixty-Four"] was not a new song, the Beatles having performed a variation of it back in their pre-fame Cavern Club days whenever the amplifiers broke down."  As Lewisohn mentions, that "pre-fame" version of "When I'm Sixty-Four" was probably different from the version that's on Sgt. Pepper, especially considering the Beatles' rapid evolution.  So I don't know whether the letter section of "When I'm Sixty-Four" was written for the Sgt. Pepper version and was a throw back to that in "P.S. I Love You" (similar to how "All You Need Is Love" would reference "She Loves You" later in the year) or whether "When I'm Sixty-Four" was always that way and the letter elements in "P.S. I Love You" were something like a later try and an expanded version.  And, of course, it could just be a coincidence that the two songs - both written mostly by Paul McCartney - use the same lyrical device.

In any case, I still think it's an interesting connection that ties the Beatles' more experimental period of recording to their earlier days.

The Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill"

I’m in the midst of listening to the Beatles’ 1967-1970.

I’d read that at the very end of “A Day in the Life,” along with the four or five pianos, there’s a harmonium.  I was finally able to find it in the mix.

Also, I don’t think I had ever really paid that much attention to the bass harmonica in “The Fool on the Hill.”  I’d heard the notes, but I never thought, “Oh, that’s a bass harmonica.”

I think the bass harmonica is indicative of Brian Wilson’s influence on the Beatles - the artistic rivalry in which the Beach Boys released Pet Sounds as a response to Rubber Soul and then the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper as a response to Pet Sounds.  Brian Wilson used bass harmonica on “I Know There’s an Answer” from Pet Sounds, and the Beatles used it on “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” (and possibly some other songs from Sgt. Pepper - I haven’t listened to it for awhile and don’t know off-hand).  The bass harmonica in “The Fool on the Hill” further demonstrates Brian Wilson’s influence.