In My Life

As with Eleanor Rigby, Lennon and McCartney both lay claim to being the major contributor for this composition.  While both agree that Lennon wrote the original lyrics, their stories diverge from that point forward, with Lennon saying that McCartney wrote the middle eight, and McCartney saying that he went off and wrote the entire melody on a Mellotron in John's house, then they finished writing the verses together.  Many have accepted McCartney's version concerning the tune, pointing out that it sounds more like his style, but recently, some musicologists created a program which examined the Beatles catalog and concluded that it trends more towards Lennon musically.

Whoever is responsible for it, it is a superb piece of work, displaying the new maturity of many of the songs on the album Rubber Soul.  Lennon's first draft mentions a few specific locations in Liverpool, including Penny Lane.  Once McCartney became involved, the song became more generic, immediately rendering it more universal in its appeal.

On October 18th, 1965, the Beatles only required three takes of a simple, yet beautiful arrangement before they had the master take.  John then recorded and double-tracked his lead vocal, as Paul and George supplied backing vocals and Ringo added a tambourine.  The middle of the track was left open for producer George Martin to provide a solo on keyboard.  The group was not even present when he overdubbed his contribution on October 22nd.

Martin's intention was to play something sounding like a Bach invention on harpsichord.  He first attempted the part on a Hammond organ, but it wasn't to his liking.  He then applied a trick that he knew to help him get the sound he wanted using a piano.  Since he was not able to play the line he had written at the proper speed, he recorded it an octave down at half speed, then sped up the tape to plug it into the Beatles' arrangement.  The end result was the classic track that we know today.

Aside from Rubber Soul, In My Life appeared on The Red Album in 1973 and the collection Love Songs in 1977.