Songs Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandA Day in the Life

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover

A Day in the Life

1967 · Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

“I'd love to turn you on”

Lennon-McCartney collaboration closing Sgt. Pepper's: Lennon's news-fragment verses and McCartney's bus-to-school middle eight, joined by two atonal orchestral crescendos and the famous sustained piano chord. The BBC refused to broadcast it, judging the line 'I'd love to turn you on' an encouragement to drug use.

Year1967

AlbumSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Track13 · Album closer · Side closer · Side 2

Duration5:35

Songwriter(s)Lennon, McCartney

Lead VocalJohn, Paul

RecordedJanuary 19 – February 22, 1967

ReleasedMay 26, 1967

Song familyPaul is dead'He blew his mind out in a car' read as Paul's crash

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Text322 tags

Word cloud

Lyric shape

[NOUN] had [NOUN] was [VERB] before [VERB] had [VERB] out [WORD] was [WORD] were and [NOUN]how [WORD]they'd [VERB]was [ADV]was [WORD]who [VERB][NOUN] [VERB] and [NOUN] [WORD] and [NOUN] of [NOUN][NOUN] of [WORD][NOUN] who [VERB][VERB] and i [VERB] had [VERB][VERB] how [WORD][VERB] i was [VERB] out in [VERB] out of [VERB] them [WORD][WORD] [NOUN] had [WORD] [WORD] in [WORD] [WORD] it [WORD] in [WORD][WORD] it [VERB][WORD] were [WORD]a [NOUN] [ADV]and [NOUN] [VERB]and [VERB] up and [WORD] the didn't [VERB] that had a [NOUN]how [WORD] [WORD]i [VERB] the in a [NOUN]into a [NOUN]it [VERB] to just [VERB] the of [NOUN] [VERB]out of [NOUN]that the [NOUN]the [NOUN] in the [NOUN] of the [WORD] [ADV]the [WORD] was to [VERB] the [VERB] a [NOUN] [ADV][VERB] and i [WORD][VERB] out of [NOUN][VERB] the [WORD] [NOUN][VERB] to [VERB] the [WORD] a [ADJ] [NOUN]and [VERB] a [NOUN]and [VERB] my [NOUN]i [VERB] a [NOUN]i [VERB] the [WORD]it [VERB] to [VERB]the [NOUN] of [WORD]the [WORD] [ADV] [WORD]to [VERB] the [WORD]who [VERB] the [NOUN]

Cover-shared shape

[ADJ] and [ADV] i [NOUN] and [NOUN] in [NOUN] of [VERB] a [VERB] and [VERB] his [VERB] how [VERB] i [VERB] my [VERB] that [VERB] the [VERB] them [VERB] to [VERB] up [VERB] you [WORD] a [WORD] and [WORD] in [WORD] it [WORD] the a [ADJ]a [NOUN]a [WORD]and [VERB]and [WORD]didn't [VERB]had [VERB]he [VERB]his [NOUN]i [VERB]i [WORD]i'd [VERB]in [WORD]it [VERB]just [VERB]my [NOUN]of [NOUN]of [WORD]the [NOUN]the [WORD]them [WORD]they [VERB]to [VERB]were [WORD][ADV] i just [ADV] they [VERB][NOUN] and [VERB][NOUN] in [WORD][VERB] a [NOUN][VERB] a [WORD][VERB] and [VERB][VERB] his [NOUN][VERB] my [NOUN][VERB] the [NOUN][VERB] the [WORD][VERB] to [VERB][VERB] up [VERB][VERB] you on [WORD] a [ADJ][WORD] and [VERB][WORD] the [WORD]a [ADJ] [NOUN]a [NOUN] of and [VERB] a from the [NOUN]had to [VERB]i [VERB] a i [VERB] i i'd [VERB] to in [WORD] [WORD]my [NOUN] [WORD]my [NOUN] and the [WORD] [NOUN]to [VERB] them to [VERB] you [VERB] my [NOUN] [WORD][VERB] my [NOUN] and [VERB] to [VERB] you a [NOUN] of [NOUN]he [VERB] his [NOUN]i'd [VERB] to [VERB][VERB] my [NOUN] and [VERB]i'd [VERB] to [VERB] you

Rhyme scheme

AABC Unique rhyme scheme

Line length

Unique line length

Distinctive word

albertarmyblackburnbuscoatcombdraggeddrankgrabbedgradehallhatholeslancashirelordsphotographsecondssmokespokestaredstoodupstairswar

You might also like:Revolution in the Head All the Songs

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Music207 tags

Music genre

Psychedelic Avant-garde Rock Art rock

Influence

Psychedelia influence Classical music influence Avant-garde influence

Vocal work

Aah vocals

Tempo

Slow Tempo change

Key

G major E major Key change

Time signature

4/4

Scale degree

I II ♭III iii IV IVmaj7 V ♭VI VI vi vi7 ♭VII V7sus4

You might also like:The Musician's Guide to Theory John Legend – Teaches Songwriting

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People61 tags

You might also like:Hans Zimmer – Teaches Film Scoring Singeo – Vocal Training

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Sources & references

Tags on this page are original analysis, transcribed and cross-checked against the fine work of others: Alan W. Pollack's “Notes on…” series, the Beatles Complete Scores (Hal Leonard), Mark Lewisohn's session histories, Ian MacDonald's Revolution in the Head, Dave Rybaczewski's Beatles Music History and Andy Babiuk's Beatles Gear for the instruments and studio equipment, and others besides - then verified by ear against the recordings. Full bibliography: Sources & thanks.

External entity links: Wikipedia · MusicBrainz recording · MusicBrainz work · Wikidata

Updated 2026-08-09

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A Day in the Life

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