“Three bars of ‘A Day In The Life’ will sustain me, rejuvenate me, inflame
my senses and sensibilities. They (Lennon/Mcartney) are the best
songwriters since Gershwin”-Leonard Bernstein (Mackenzie, 187)
A Day in the Life
(Lennon/McCartney)
I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph.
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.
I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look
Having read the book.
I'd love to turn you on
Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream
I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
I'd love to turn you on
In my personal opinion the lyrics of this song talk about a lot of topics.
For one the song is most definitely talking about media exploitation. In
this one song they talk about the news, a movie, and a book. One of the
most extraordinary things about this song to me is the fact that it based
on actual events in the news.
The man who “blew his mind out in a car” was actually a friend
of the Beatles named Tara Browne. He didn’t actually blow his mind out; in
fact in real life Browne was in a car accident involving a Volkswagen and a
stationary van.
The part in the song where they talk about the English army
just winning the war is to said to be referring to the movie How I Won The
War, a movie in which John acted in.
Now my all time favorite lyric in this song goes: “I read the news today oh
boy, Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, And though the holes
were rather small, They had to count them all, Now they know how many holes
it takes to fill the Albert Hall” When I was younger, I used to really
wonder what those lyrics meant, but I loved them. Finally after reading the
book A Hard Days Write I learned what the meant: The reference to 4000
holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, came from the Far and Near column in the
Daily Mail dated January 17, 1967” (Turner, 132). The article talked about
a survey taken by the Blackburn City Council that revealed that there was
one twenty-sixth of a whole in the road for each resident of Blackburn.
In the middle of “A Day in The Life” the whole song seems to
morph into a completely different song. Well that’s because it is a
different song. The middle part that talks about “woke up, got out of bed…”
is actually part of an unfinished song of Paul’s. Paul has admitted to this
part of the song being a reference to Marijuana.
(Turner)
As you can see, this song has many layers, and deals with many
subjects. Some subjects so controversial that the song was banned from radio.
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