Penny Lane - Remastered 2009

Paul McCartney was sitting at a bus shelter waiting for John Lennon to meet him on Penny Lane, a street near their houses in Liverpool, England. While sitting there Paul jotted down the things he saw, including a barber's shop with pictures of its clients and a nurse selling poppies for Remembrance Day (November 11th, marking the day World War I officially ended). He later turned these images into the song we now know, which celebrates this time in his life. Penny Lane evolved to accommodate the many tourists who visit, offering Beatles-themed dining and memorabilia. The barber's shop mentioned in the song is still there, but most of the other places that show up in the lyric are long gone. The shelter in the middle of the roundabout where the nurse sells the poppies later become a restaurant named Sgt. Pepper's Bistro, which has since closed. The street sign at the corner of Mossley Hill is the most popular photo op.

The "Penny Lane" referenced in the song is really to the Penny Lane Bus Station (now gone) next to "the shelter in the middle of the roundabout." When the boys were young they used to meet at this bus station as it was a hub to get them anywhere they wanted to go and was centrally located to all of them. Most of the places mentioned in the song are actually on Smithdown Place, which overlooks the roundabout.

The piquant trumpet part was added after the rest of the song was finished. McCartney was watching the BBC when he saw a group called The New Philharmonia perform Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto #2." He got the idea to add trumpet, and asked the group's trumpet player, Dave Mason, to play on this track. Mason brought nine trumpets to the session, eventually deciding to use a B-flat piccolo trumpet. Mason, who is not the same Dave Mason from the group Traffic, played on a few other Beatles songs, including "A Day In The Life," "Magical Mystery Tour," and "All You Need Is Love." McCartney credits Beatles producer George Martin for translating the trumpet line to Mason, as Martin spoke musician. McCartney sang the part he wanted, and Martin transcribed it to a piece of paper that he gave to Mason. It's one of many examples of how Martin helped the group execute their boundary-breaking ideas.