Penny Lane Lyrics

[Verse 1: Paul McCartney]
In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know

And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello


[Verse 2: Paul McCartney]
On the corner is a banker with a motorcar
The little children laugh at him behind his back
And the banker never wears a mac
In the pouring rain
Very strange

[Chorus: Paul McCartney with John Lennon & George Harrison]
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies

I sit and meanwhile back

[Verse 3: Paul McCartney]
In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen
He likes to keep his fire engine clean
It's a clean machine

[Piccolo Trumpet Solo]
[Chorus: Paul McCartney with John Lennon & George Harrison]
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
Four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back

[Verse 4: Paul McCartney]
Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray

And though she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway

[Verse 5: Paul McCartney]
In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer
We see the banker sitting, waiting for a trim
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain
Very strange

[Chorus: Paul McCartney with John Lennon & George Harrison]
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back

[Chorus: Paul McCartney with John Lennon & George Harrison]
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
Penny Lane

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About

Genius Annotation

“Penny Lane” was released in 1967 as a double A-side single, alongside “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney with John Lennon rumoured to have contributed the “four of fish and finger pies” line. Both songs were originally meant to be included on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but The Beatles and their management ultimately decided to release them early, since EMI Records was concerned with their “fading popularity” following the infamous “more popular than Jesus” controversy.

George Martin openly said that not including the songs on Sgt. Pepper’s was “the biggest mistake of [his] professional life.” He later explained this in The Beatles Anthology:

The only reason that ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’ didn’t go onto the new album was a feeling that if we issued a single, it shouldn’t go onto an album. That was a crazy idea, and I’m afraid I was partly responsible. It’s nonsense these days, but in those days it was an aspect that we’d try to give the public value for money.

The idea of a double A-side came from me and Brian [Epstein], really. Brian was desperate to recover popularity, and so we wanted to make sure that we had a marvelous seller. He came to me and said, ‘I must have a really great single. What have you got?’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got three tracks–and two of them are the best tracks they’ve ever made. We could put the two together and make a smashing single.’ We did, and it was a smashing single–but it was also a dreadful mistake.

Penny Lane is a street in Liverpool where McCartney and Lennon used to meet in their childhood. In the song, the narrator (Paul) sits, observes, listens and analyzes the people and their surroundings—everything beneath the surface of their daily lives.

In 2006, Penny Lane was a candidate for renaming because it was originally named after a slave owner. Due to its historical significance in pop culture, however, the name was preserved.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did The Beatles say about "Penny Lane"?
Genius Answer

Per Paul McCartney –

John came over and helped me with the third verse, as was often the case. We were writing recently faded memories from eight or 10 years before.
Here

George Martin in a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone:

The song itself was generated by a kind of “I can do just as well as you can, John,” because we’d just recorded “Strawberry Fields”…and they were both significant. And they were both about their childhood.

Where did the idea to use a piccolo trumpet during the bridge come from?
Genius Answer

In a November 1991 interview with FI Magazine, Paul said:

…I got the idea for the piccolo trumpet part in Penny Lane after hearing Bach’s Second Brandenburg Concerto on television one night.

What is Penny Lane?
Genius Answer

Penny Lane was a place in Liverpool that we were very nostalgic for. It was a terminal where John and I got the bus to go to each other’s houses. And all the things in the song are true. We never saw a banker in a plastic mac [raincoat] — we made him up — but there was a barber, there was a bank. There was a fire station. Once there was a nurse selling poppies — a lot of people thought the lyric was ‘selling puppies,’ but we’re saying ‘poppies,’ which is a Remembrance Day thing for the British Legion. It was all true, basically.

— Paul McCartney, Billboard, 2015

Credits
Produced By
Flugelhorn
Background Vocals
Tubular Bells
Tambourine
Piccolo Trumpet
Double Bass
Recorded At
EMI (Abbey Road) Studios, London, UK (December 29, 1966 - January 17, 1967)
Release Date
February 13, 1967
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