A Day in the Life Blog

The Beatles enjoying a small break.

The Beatles spend time with Bob Dylan in his room at the Mayfair Hotel in London.

The Beatles were all fans of Bob Dylan, whom they had first met in August 1964. They met him again the following year, and once more on this day during his tour of the United Kingdom.

In 1965 Dylan divided audiences by moving from his folk roots and adopting electric instruments. On this tour he was backed by The Band, and on 26 and 27 May 1966 was scheduled to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The occasion was a fractious one, with audience members jeering and protesting at his new direction.

Dylan invited The Beatles to his shows, and John Lennon and George Harrison attended the second Royal Albert Hall show. Furthermore, all four Beatles spent time with Dylan in London nightclubs and at his hotel.

Following his 26 May concert, Dylan visited Kenwood, Lennon's home in Weybridge. The following day the pair were filmed being driven to the May Fair Hotel in Stratton Street, London, where Dylan was staying.

Present in the limousine was director DA Pennebaker, who had been hired to make a documentary on Dylan's UK tour, and sound operator Bobby Neuwirth. The footage, titled Eat The Document, was later shelved after the US TV network ABC, which had funded the shoot, rejected a rough cut.

Two 10-minute film reels were filled during the journey to London. Lennon and Dylan were evidently recovering from the after effects of drug taking, and both wore sunglasses and smoked cigarettes. In the first reel the pair discussed contemporary musical acts, including the Mamas and the Papas, Barry McGuire, The Silkie and Johnny Cash.

At the beginning of the second reel Dylan is seen complaining of illness, and is pictured leaning forward with his head in his hands. He tells the driver, Tom Keylock, to hurry to the hotel as he may be sick. Pennebaker later revealed that he and Lennon had to help Dylan to his hotel room upon their arrival.

In the final cut of Eat The Document, only a few minutes of the footage was included. The film was screened at the New York Academy of Music on 8 February 1971, and again in 1998, but has rarely been seen since.

An alternative edit, titled You Know Something Is Happening, was made by Pennebaker for private use. This contained more footage of the limousine encounter, but also remains unreleased. Footage from the journey has long circulated among bootleg collectors, however.

Following the evening concert, Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Aspinall and The Rolling Stones all visited Dolly's nightclub on Jermyn Street, London.

Source: Beatles Bible

Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road

The backing track for Paul McCartney's children's song Yellow Submarine was recorded on this day, along with lead and backing vocals.

The Beatles began the session, which started at 7am and finished at 1am the following morning, by filling two tape reels with rehearsals of the song. Most of these were later wiped, however.

Four takes of the rhythm track were then recorded onto two tracks of the tape. John Lennon used his Gibson Jumbo acoustic guitar, McCartney played bass guitar, George Harrison was on tambourine and Starr played drums.

The fourth track was judged to be the best, and onto this Starr overdubbed his lead vocals, joined by the others in the chorus. A fourth track was filled with additional vocals.

Source: Beatles Bible

The Beatles - enjoying a short break

Nothing much going on today

Paperback Writer was released.

Here is what Paul McCartney says about writing Paperback Writer:

“I arrived at [John Lennon’s house in] Weybridge and told John I had this idea of trying to write off to a publishers to become a paperback writer, and I said, ‘I think it should be written like a letter.’ I took a bit of paper out and I said it should be something like, ‘Dear Sir or Madam, as the case may be…’ and I proceeded to write it just like a letter in front of him, occasionally rhyming it … And then we went upstairs and put the melody to it. John and I sat down and finished it all up, but it was tilted towards me — the original idea was mine. I had no music, but it’s just a little bluesy song, not a lot of melody. Then I had the idea to do the harmonies, and we arranged that in the studio”.

Portobello Road

May 21, 1966 - After an all night party Chrissie Shrimpton and Mick Jagger joined John & Cynthia Lennon on an early morning stroll down London’s trendy Portobello Road.

Following the previous day's shoot inside EMI Studios, The Beatles went on location at Chiswick House in London, to film promotional clips for their forthcoming single Paperback Writer/Rain.

As on the previous day, the director was Michael Lindsay-Hogg, working with a crew supplied by InterTel (VTR Services). Unlike the previous day, which was shot on video tape, this day's footage was captured on 35mm colour film.

Chiswick House is an 18th century house and gardens in west London. For the clip for Rain, The Beatles were filmed outside the gates and around a cedar tree, with the group performing as children played among the branches.

For Paperback Writer the group were filmed inside the conservatory, and miming to the song in the statue garden. Some of the conservatory footage was also used in the Rain clip, and extra shots of The Beatles walking in the grounds were later edited into both films.

Meanwhile back at EMI, working between 11:00 am and 12:30 pm, George Martin prepared the first set of stereo mixes and edits since sessions for Revolver began. Following the production of three monaural mixes for Capitol on May 12th, for its "Yesterday....and Today collection, Martin now made two sets of stereos of the same three songs ("And Your Bird Can Sing", Doctor Robert", and "I'm Only Sleeping").

The color clips were first shown in black-and-white on BBC 1's Top Of The Pops. Paperback Writer had its first screening on June 2, 1966, while Rain had its début on the show on June 9th.

In the evening John and Cynthia Lennon attended a party in London with Mick Jagger and Chrissie Shrimpton.