The Beatles' "Penny Lane"

Last year, I realized that because of the ping-ponging of influence and rivalry between the Beatles and the Beach Boys, the clarinet that doubles the vocals in part of the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" was probably inspired by the Beach Boys' "I'm Waiting for the Day," which has a similar effect, although different sources credit different instruments, ranging from viola to oboe to English horn.  I just started listening to the Beatles' 1967-1970, and I discovered that the Beatles did the same thing at the end of "Penny Lane" too, although there I think it's a flute or a piccolo.

Because "Penny Lane" was released before "When I'm Sixty-Four," I'd assumed that it was recorded first, but according to Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, "When I'm Sixty-Four" was recorded first (on 6 December 1966) and "Penny Lane" later (on 29 December 1966).  Still, because they were recorded so close together, it would make sense that if McCartney took that idea from Brian Wilson for part of "When I'm Sixty-Four," he would have had the same thing in mind when he did it on "Penny Lane" too.

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.