Day in the Life

Album

“Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”

1967 release

concept album about a fictional alter ego band who was playing a live show

composers

John lennon and Paul McCartney (composed seperately, McCartney’s fragment of unfinished song)

Release date

1967

Two other songs

hey Jude, come together

Genre

Psychedelic rock, prog rock

Characteristics of Psychedelic rock

trippy sound effects (reverb, phasing, distortion)

inventive instrument techniques (electric guitar feedback and wah)

use of untraditional instruments for contemporary music (sitar, tambura, mellotron, harpsichord)

improvised guitar solos

surreal and abstract lyrics that allude to drug use

Form

Ternary (ABA)? Intro - V1 (news) - V2 (mind out) - V3 (film) - Orchestral Climax (turn on) - Middle 8 (McCartney, double time) - Transition(circle of fifths) - V4 (news) - Orchestral Climax (turn on) - E major chord

Timbre

John Lennon - vocals, acoustic guitar, piano

Paul McCartney - vocals, piano, bass

George Harrison - Maracas

Ringo Starr - drums, bongos

George Martin- Harmonium

40 player orchestra

standard rock instruments and orchestra, use of orchestral percussion and strings

john lennon voice timbre very airy and surreal, conversational vs Paul’s direct bright energetic timbre

Beatles context (for album)

8th studio album,

released during “summer of love” the height of hippy counterculture

formed early 1960s

albums got progressively more psychedelic and experimental

went to U.S and started beatlemania and british invasion

eventually retired from touring cause they were too popular and unable to recreate studio effects

Rhythm

4/4 metre mainly, swung semiquavers, occasional 2/4 bars in middle 8, middle 8 section double time

vocal lines “push and pull” the beat, anticipatory and retarding syncopations

Texture

Homophonic - mainly melody and accompaniment broken up by orchestral sections and the middle 8

Melody

Descending walking bass line in verses,

John sings in relatively longer musical phrases with small steps and limited range of pitch, word painting with ”oh boy” as a sigh perfect 4th. uses G Major scale, melisma (“turn you on”) into orchestral chromaticism for 12 bars

Paul McCartney shorter musical phases with small steps, chromatic descending lines in the second half utilising E mixolydian scale (b7)

orchestra told to start on lowest not and go to highest so no functional harmony

Harmony

Intro - V3 (film) G major

Orchestral Climax (turn on) no established key E pedal in bass and piano

Middle 8 (McCartney, double time) E major with use of D major chord borrowed chord

Transition(circle of fifths) constantly modulating, unstable

V4 (news) G major

Orchestral Climax (turn on) no established key E pedal in bass and piano

E major chord

stepwise descending bassline in verses and middle 8

technological factors

varying speed and pitch, reversing and chopping up take, 4 track recorders, delays reverb and filtering, multitracking and overdubs

Lyrical content

inspired by and taken from newspaper - car accident, potholes, outline sad mundane and dreamlike nature of day to day life

what is missing from our score?

Acoustic guitar and Harmonium