Recording: Penny Lane

Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick

The Beatles' first recording session of 1967 saw work continue on Penny Lane.

The results of this session were never used, however. McCartney's vocals were replaced on the following day with another attempt, and Lennon and Harrison's parts were wiped on January 6th.

Tape to Tape copies of "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" had been made for dispatch to the USA.

The Beatles still recovering from New Year's Eve.

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

The mono mixes of "When I'm Sixty-Four" done on December 29th and marked "best" for the UK and US did not satisfy Paul. He suggested that they scrap all previous mixes and begin again, speeding up the new mix by as much as a semitone, a big difference. Such work began this 7:00 pm to 3:00 am session, and was followed by the making of simple tape-to-tape copies of the "best" mono mix of "Strawberry Fields Forever" from the previous afternoon. The remainder of the session was devoted to "Penny Lane", with a reduction of take six into take seven and an overdub of Paul's lead vocal, backed by John. It was well into the wee hours by the time these had been taped, so the other overdubs planned for the song had to wait until the next session and another year - 1967. All that was left to do in 1966 was mix into mono "Penny Lane", as it presently stood, so that an acetate disc could be cut.

Source: The Complete Beatles Chronicles

Recording, mixing, editing: When I’m Sixty-Four, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane

Studios Two and Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road

Work took place on three different songs on this day, during three different sessions. The songs were When I'm 64, Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane.

The first session took place in the control room of Studio Three from 2.30-4.45pm. Four mono mixes of When I'm Sixty-Four were made, numbered 4-7. Mix number six was intended for the US market, and seven for the UK, but neither was used. Instead a new mono mix was made on the following day, rendering all these redundant.

Also for the US market, a tape copy was made of the December 22nd mono mix of Strawberry Fields Forever. In the second scheduled session, which began immediately after the first at 4.45pm and ended at 5.40pm, stereo mixes of the song were made.

The new mixes again required matching the tempos and keys of the two recorded versions, as George Martin and Geoff Emerick had done in the previous session. The first mix was of take seven, followed by one of take 26, followed by an edit of the two which was labelled remix three.

The results were deemed unsatisfactory, so a fourth mix was made of take 26. This was combined with the beginning of mix one to create a final stereo mix, numbered five.

In Studio Two between 7pm and 2.15am the following morning,Paul McCartney worked without the other Beatles on the first takes of Penny Lane. At this stage the song was known as Untitled, although McCartney had been speaking about writing a song titled Penny Lane since at least November 1965.

The recording of Penny Lane was almost as complex as for Strawberry Fields Forever. To begin with, McCartney laid down six takes of the piano backing track, and onto track two of the final attempt he added a second piano to the latter half of each verse. Track three was filled with a third piano part as well as tambourine, both of which were recorded via microphone signals fed through a Vox guitar amplifier.

The final track of the tape was filled with effects, some vari-speeded, including percussion, high two-note chords from a harmonium, and cymbals.

Work on Penny Lane continued on December 30, 1966 and into the following year.

Source: The Beatles Bible

The Beatles taking a break in-between recording sessions at EMI Studios in London

The Beatles are in-between recording sessions at EMI Studios.

December 26, 1966 - "John Lennon" appears as a washroom attendant reading extracts from his book, in "Peter Cook" and "Dudley Moore" is BBC television programme, "Not Only … But Also", on BBC-2 broadcasts..