John On Penny Lane

[bluemeanie]

Hello all I'm new here, well to posting anyway

I haven't seen this mentioned before so here goes;

I was listening to The Beatles Anthology the other day and during the Penny Lane demo I heard the unmistakable voice of John Lennon. It's the same on Sgt Peppers,.... too.
I played it again and again and am convinced it is him.
Anyway have a listen and read the lyrics and notice John's voice on the parts I've capitalized.

Penny Lane

In penny lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he’s had the pleasure to know.
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello.

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar,
The little children laugh at him behind his back.
And the banker never wears a mack
In the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I SIT, AND meanwhile back

In penny lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean,
It’s a clean machine.

Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
A four of fish and finger pies
IN SUMMER, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And tho’ she feels as if she’s in a play
She is anyway.

In penny lane the barber shaves another customer,
We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim.
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I SIT, AND meanwhile back.
Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies,
Penny lane.

You can hear John's distinctive rough nasal voice especially on the IN SUMMER part.

Maybe this isn't anything unusual but why would John sing so small a part on what was supposed to be a Paul song?
Maybe he was 'Fixing A Hole' in an old JPM demo?

[plastic paul]

It's been mulled over a lot, but with no definite result, I definitely reckon the chorus has John involved, but I think Bill does the verse.

[DarkHorse]

I think it's Paul on the original recording with Bill or another vocal imitator's voice over-dubbed over Paul's voice. And I agree that is John's voice on the line "In summer". You can hear Paul's voice alone on the line "very strange".

[JoJo]

Agreed that John is there in spots. Strawberry Fields was the B side to PL I believe, and they were supposedly recorded around the same time. It's funny, there are like 20 versions of SF out there, starting with John strumming an acoustic guitar and mumbling half the words because he hadn't even thought of them yet, all the way to the finished version. Penny Lane however...nothing like that, just a few remixes, no rehearsals to speak of, except that one boot that sounds like a tape recorder in a corner of the room that happened to pick up some far away voices.

Oh and WELCOME!

[-Wings-]

Penny Lane is one of those nagging songs that fall between Revolver and The White Album where it's hard to determine which voice we're hearing as Paul.

It's been determined that the song has been sped up, so it's entirely possible that it's a Paul demo that didn't get finished. Supposedly the album after Revolver was originally going to be full of songs about John Lennon and Paul McCartney's childhood, but things changed and we got Sgt. Pepper instead. Penny Lane is the only true remnant of that concept (Strawberry Fields is less about the place of the same name and more about the emotions Lennon was experiencing at the time), so I think it could be likely that it's a rough Paul song patched together by George Martin and a vocal imitator.

[lili]

Wings, that is very possible. I know that Paul sang Penny Lane. I can tell that it's him singing, at least most of it.

[mciiii]

Well, about Penny Lane

JOHN 1980: I helped with the lyrics. We really got into the groove of imagining Penny Lane. The bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was just reliving childhood. Penny Lane is not only a street but it's a district, a suburban district where, until age four, I lived with my mother and father. So I was the only Beatle that lived in Penny Lane.

Sir McHistory ReWriter circa-1994: "John and I would always meet at Penny Lane. That was where someone would stand and sell you poppies each year on British Legion poppy day... When I came to write it, John came over and 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 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."


Fast forward to 1980. After John Lennon's assassination, official culture vulture historians began to rewrite history... and Paul McCartney started rewriting John's official biography every chance he got.Francie Schwartz (the Lost Paul Girlfriend)

[DarkHorse]

lili said:

Wings, that is very possible. I know that Paul sang Penny Lane. I can tell that it's him singing, at least most of it.

lili,

Listen to the Anthology version of Penny Lane. That is all Paul imo.

[plastic paul]

I understand your point McIII but Faul didn't actually contradict anything John said there did he?

[bluemeanie]

Thanks for the welcome JoJo and thanks for putting the site together, 'tis great

[mciiii]

not in this PP, but sure he do it.

This lyrics is John (for me) note the obscene references in sexual slang.
finger pie Noun. The act of manually stimulating of the female genitals.
and how about "keeps his fire engine clean"?

That's why i think is a very John lyrics.

[JoJo]

Lennonisms could be worth an entire semester's study in a college level course, "Intro to Lennonisms". Or "Lennonistics"? I just aquired a book, "Skywriting By Word of Mouth", writings released after his death similar in style to "In His Own Write" and "Spaniard in the Works"

When I have a chance, I'll post some samples, it's instructive to get a feel for the way he plays with words, and there are patterns, yes.

[plastic paul]

Definitely McIII, I remember my dirty mind thinking that before I knew it was actually the case!

It's probably another one of those infamous incomplete JPM songs that John has added to later to make the song.

I think also perhaps the "Very Strange" is again saying "take another look, it's not all it seems."

[lili]

Well, about Penny Lane

JOHN 1980: I helped with the lyrics. We really got into the groove of imagining Penny Lane. The bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was just reliving childhood. Penny Lane is not only a street but it's a district, a suburban district where, until age four, I lived with my mother and father. So I was the only Beatle that lived in Penny Lane.

Sir McHistory ReWriter circa-1994: "John and I would always meet at Penny Lane. That was where someone would stand and sell you poppies each year on British Legion poppy day... When I came to write it, John came over and 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 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."


Fast forward to 1980. After John Lennon's assassination, official culture vulture historians began to rewrite history... and Paul McCartney started rewriting John's official biography every chance he got.Francie Schwartz (the Lost Paul Girlfriend)

Excellent post, McC III, thank you .

Darkhorse, I have to see if I can find that copy of the song.

I think that you're all right about John at least adding to the lyrics of it. I'm sure that Paul & John used to write lyrics together at times. It was most likely a game for them. One would provide a line, then the other would provide a line.
When you have to come up with so much material in a very short period of time, you might as well have fun with it

[DarkHorse]

lili said:

Darkhorse, I have to see if I can find that copy of the song.

The released version:

www.jojoplace.org/Shoebox/PennyLane/PennyLaneOrig.mp3

The Anthology version that is all James Paul imo:

www.jojoplace.org/Shoebox/PennyLane/PennyLaneAnth123.mp3

I think that you're all right about John at least adding to the lyrics of it.

To add to that I was listening to "Lovely Rita" the other day and the lyrics sound as if there are partially or fully written by Lennon. It has his quality about it. John was more clever lyrically than Paul was and you can hear it in lines like "Took her home, nearly made it, sitting on the sofa with a sister or two". So Lennon-like. Just my opinion though.

[lili]

I have to agree with you, Darkhorse. Lovely Rita is definitely a Lennon composition. It just drives home the fact that John wrote songs for Bill to sing. Bill is not, nor will he ever be, Paul.
BTW, thanks for posting those links. I look forward to listening to them

[mciiii]

This is the Penny Lane recording timeline, maybe help for something, maybe not.

29DEC66 [EMI] SESSION
_ Penny Lane "Takes 1-4, piano breakdowns"
_ Penny Lane "Take 5 piano"
% Penny Lane "Take 6 piano"
% Penny Lane "pianos + instl SIs on tk 6"

30DEC66 [EMI]
% Penny Lane "Take 7 = reduction of tk 6 + SIs"
% Penny Lane "lead + backup vocal SIs to tk 7"

04JAN67 [EMI]
% Penny Lane "SI to tk 7"

05JAN67 [EMI]
% Penny Lane "SI to tk 7"
_ Carnival Of Light "aka Freak Out"

06JAN67 [EMI]
% Penny Lane "Take 8 = reduction of tk 7 + SIs"
% Penny Lane "Take 9 = reduction of tk 8 + SIs"

09JAN67 [EMI] OUTSIDE MUSICIANS OVERDUB SESSION
% Penny Lane "OM SI flutes, trumpets to tk 9 -> OV"
o Penny Lane "SI session rough tape"

10JAN67 [EMI]
% Penny Lane "misc SI to tk 9 -> OV"

12JAN67 [EMI] OUTSIDE MUSICIANS OVERDUB SESSION
% Penny Lane "OM oboes, cor anglais, double-bass, trumpets SI to tk 9 -> OV"
o Penny Lane [mono] "RM8, w/oboes, cor anglais, double-bass, trumpets (12JAN67 mix)"

17JAN67 [EMI] WRAP UP SESSION FOR PENNY LANE
% Penny Lane "OM Piccolo trumpet SI onto tk 9"
o Penny Lane "ANTH2 unique remix from 24track assembly of all sessions"
o Penny Lane (fragment) "ANTH telecast"
o Penny Lane "RM9"
o Penny Lane "RM10 w/ending flourish"
o Penny Lane [stereo] "Abbey Road Show remix"

17FEB67 ==RELEASE== STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER c/w PENNY LANE [UK MONO 45],"PARLOPHONE R 5570"
o STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER c/w PENNY LANE [UK MONO 45]
o STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER [UK MONO 45] (RM12/22DEC66)
o PENNY LANE [UK MONO 45](RM14/25JAN67)

o Penny Lane "Alternate releases"
o Penny Lane [USA mono promo 45 remix] (RM11/17JAN67) "diff. thruout+trumpet flourish"
o Penny Lane [USA Mono LP mastering oddity?] "Cold start, slightly longer"
o Penny Lane [Post-Beatles Stereo LP remix] (RS/30SEP71) "Standard CD (1987 release)"
o Penny Lane [Post-Beatles "USA Rarities" stereo/mono edit]
o Penny Lane [Post-Beatles ANTH stereo remix]
X Penny Lane [USA DUOPHONIC LP remix]