Title:	A Day In The Life
Credits:	Lennon / McCartney
Recorded:	EMI Studios, London, 19 January 10, 22 February; 21 April 1967
Producer:	George Martin
Engineer:	Geoff Emerick
Location:	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - track 13

A momentous recording in every way, melding riveting Lennon lyrics and a contrasting yet perfectly applicable verse penned by Paul McCartney to two superb and effective orchestra  build-ups and seemingly everlasting coda - the long, long crashing piano and harmonium chord which slowly evaporates into silence and the end of the album. The recording began as 'In The Life Of ...' on 19 January, just two days after the appearance of an item in the Daily Mail newspaper which inspired part of John's lyric. The massive orchestra crescendos were recorded by 40 musicians on 10 February, conducted by Paul McCartney, and they were recorded four times over, thus sounding like 160 musicians.

NOTE: The short burst of unintelligible noise after the end of A Day In The Life - nonsense chatter, recorded, chopped up and re-assembled at random - was taped by the Beatles on 21 April, and it originally appeared in the concentric run-out groove on the 1960s pressings of the vinyl album. Before this, there appears a few seconds of a 15 kilocycle whistle added, at John Lennon's suggestion, especially for any dogs that might be listening.

The Beatles began recording 'A Day In The Life' on January 19, 1967 for release on the LP "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." At this point the song was titled 'In The Life Of...'. For the middle eight The Beatles had Mal Evans count out 24 bars, increasing the echo with each beat, since they did not yet know what would fill this space. To mark the end of the middle eight an alarm clock was sounded. There were no McCartney vocals at this point, only instruments. John Lennon's vocals returned followed again by Mal Evans counting 24 beats, a piano building and then silence. John then added vocal overdubs onto take four. A reduction mix was made on January 20 of take 4 into takes 5 - 7. Take 6 was "best" and another Lennon vocal was added, along with Ringo's drums and Paul's bass. Paul added his lead vocal on this day also.

By coincidence the alarm clock used to signal the end of the first 24-bar gap sounded just as Paul's vocals began. The first line of these vocals is "Woke up, got out of bed," so the clock was left in. This first vocal, however, was only intended as a rough guide. Paul ends his vocals and then says; "Oh shit." This recording has been bootlegged. A rough mono mix (mix 1 from take 6) was prepared for demo purposes on January 30. After hearing the demo on February 3, The Beatles decided to re-record both the drums and bass, and Paul's vocals. On February 10, the orchestral crescendo was recorded along with an experimental ending - eight bars of humming - of which four takes were attempted (takes 8 - 11). A reduction mix was also prepared this day (take 6 into take 7).

The final piano chord was recorded February 22 in nine takes, take nine being used for release. Three overdubs were added to this take. The mono mixes (6 - 9 from takes 6 and 7) and stereo mixes (1 - 9 from takes 6 and 7) were prepared this day. The stereo mix was not completed until February 23 with three more mixes (10 - 12) being prepared. Mono mix 9 of take 6 and 7 with edit piece 9 was used for the mono release. Stereo mix 12 of takes 6 and 7 with edit piece 9 was used for the stereo release. Both mixes were first released in the UK on June 1, 1967. On April 21, The Beatles recorded random noises and sounds, the tape of which was cut up, put back together and played backwards, for the run out groove of the LP. A 15 kilocycle tone, the same pitch as a police dog whistle, was also added this day.

A composite of takes 1, 2 and Paul's unused vocal from the January 20, 1967 recording sessions was released in both the US and the UK on March 19, 1996 on "The Beatles Anthology Volume 2." A new mix of the orchestral ending was also made for this release.

A version of this song was released as a single in the US on August 14, 1978. This release used a fake clean intro manufactured by cutting the 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise' cross fade lead-in heard on the album.

The Australian pressing of this single is missing the first four beats of this song. The Japanese release begins when the piano enters, eight beats in. Both the Australian and Japanese singles were released in September 1978.

This song was released again on the album "Imagine: John Lennon" in the US on October 4, 1988 and in the UK on October 10, 1988. On this release this song contains a clean intro rather than the cross-fade from the "Sgt. Pepper" album and the manufactured intro found on previous singles.

A portion of take one from the January 19, 1967 recording sessions has been bootlegged. A version of this song listed as an edit of takes 6 and 7 has been bootlegged, as has a 19-second false start (RS5). A different stereo version, which ends just as Paul's vocal begins, has also been bootlegged.