'Magical' Beatles song meant they 'dominated' but John Lennon hoped would be their 'downfall'

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison at the home of manager Brian Epstein, in London 1967
-Credit:Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images


Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s songwriting drove The Beatles to monumental heights, reinventing popular music in the process. The two wrote the vast majority of the band’s songs with their work given the joint credit of Lennon-McCartney.

Having made a pact before they were famous, every song that John and Sir Paul wrote during this time was credited to the two of them - even if one had written it independently. They were at their best when they worked together, as the contrasting approaches and styles that Sir Paul and John boasted complimented one another, coming together to compile an unrivalled collection of songs.

About their partnership, Music and Musicians magazine's Wilfred Mellors wrote in 1972: "Opposite poles generate electricity: between John and Paul the sparks flew. John's fiery iconoclasm was tempered by Paul's lyrical grace, while Paul's wide-eyed charm was toughened by John's resilience."

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Few Beatles releases illustrate this in such a stark manner than the February 1967 double A-side single 'Penny Lane'/'Strawberry Fields Forever'. The former was written by Sir Paul and the latter was written by John, both reflecting on their Liverpool upbringings - and both tracks have a psychedelic and kaleidoscopic feel to them.

The ECHO recently looked at how John wrote 'Strawberry Fields Forever' - a song he considered his finest work with The Beatles. The other A-side was Paul’s track and he mentioned he wanted to write about the street in 1965, after it had featured in John’s first draft of the lyrics for 'In My Life'.

Sir Paul then began writing 'Penny Lane' during the sessions for the album 'Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band', intending for it to be part of the album but it did not end up on it. The track, written at Paul's London home, captures day-to-day life on the Mossley Hill street and its surrounding area, celebrating the mundane.

A mural of Paul McCartney and John Lennon on Penny Lane
A mural of Paul McCartney and John Lennon on Penny Lane -Credit:Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo

Sir Paul said of it: "'A lot of our formative years were spent walking around those places. Penny Lane was the depot I had to change buses at to get from my house to John’s and to a lot of my friends. It was a big bus terminal which we all knew very well. I sang in the choir at St Barnabas Church opposite."

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In The Beatles Anthology, Paul added: "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 a 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."

It was recorded between December 1966 and January 1967 at EMI’s London studios. Sir Paul took the lead on the song and asked for a number of attempts to get parts of it right, having been unhappy with early versions.

The track was released alongside 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in February 1967 - three months before 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' hit shelves. The initial critical response to the single was mixed, with many reviewers confused by the tracks and the advancement in The Beatles’ sound they represented.

By The Beatles' standards, it was also a commercial flop - becoming their first since 1963’s 'Please Please Me' not to reach number one in the UK singles charts. This led to media speculation about the band’s musical dominance and whether it was coming to an end.

Ringo Starr and John didn’t mind that at all. The drummer said it "took the pressure off" The Beatles and John had said "We sort of half hope for the downfall. A nice downfall. Then we would just be a pleasant old memory."

Penny Lane in Mossley Hill, Liverpool
Penny Lane in Mossley Hill, Liverpool -Credit:Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo

Across the Atlantic, 'Penny Lane' reached the top of the charts for a week, before being knocked off by 'Happy Together' by the Turtles. It was certified gold in America.

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However, understanding of the tracks has developed over time. Music critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler described 'Penny Lane' as "essentially Liverpool-on-a-sunny-hallucinogenic-afternoon" and Liverpool poet Roger McGough said the two tracks created a "mythology" for the city

Music historian David Simonelli believed the single confirmed The Beatles as "the most avant-garde composers of the postwar era". He said: "With this double-sided single, The Beatles planted the flag of Romanticism squarely at the centre of psychedelic rock.

"They emphasized innocence, childhood as purity, improvisation, and the spirits of individuality and community united as one. For the next three to five years, these ideals would dominate rock music on both sides of the Atlantic. The Beatles' vision dominated the entire rock music world."

Rolling Stone's 2011 500 Greatest Songs of All Time had 'Penny Lane' at number 456 and it rose to number 280 in its 2021 list. Mojo's list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs", published in 2006, had the track at number 9.

In his book 'The Rough Guide to The Beatles', Chris Ingham wrote of 'Penny Lane': "Elusively ear-catching, it's perhaps the most vivid and magical of McCartney's story songs". It turned a suburban South Liverpool street into one of the most famous places on earth.