A Day in the Life (5:03)

“A Day in the Life” is a song by the British rock band The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, credited to Lennon/McCartney. The song appears as the final track on their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song includes portions originally authored independently by Lennon and McCartney, and two cacophonous, part-improvised, orchestral crescendos. Lennon was inspired by newspaper articles on the death of Tara Browne, and a civic plan to fill four thousand potholes in Blackburn. While recording the song, the Beatles were not certain how to fill the gap between Lennon’s and McCartney’s portions of the song. It was later decided that a partly-improvised crescendo by an orchestra would serve as the bridge. The final chord was produced by all 4 Beatles and George Martin banging on 3 pianos simultaneously. As the sound diminished, the engineer boosted to faders. The resulting note lasts 42 seconds, and the studio air conditioners can be heard toward the end as the faders were pushed to the limit to record it.