| "She's Leaving Home" | ||||
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| Song by The Beatles
from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band |
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| Released | 1 June 1967 | |||
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios 17 March 1967 |
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| Genre | Ballad, baroque pop | |||
| Length | 3:35 (slow version) 3:23 (fast version) |
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| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing | ||||
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"She's Leaving Home" is a song, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released in 1967 on The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. McCartney wrote and sang the verse and Lennon the chorus. This was one of a handful of songs of the Beatles in which the members did not play any instruments. Others include "Eleanor Rigby," "Good Night" and "The Inner Light."
Contents |
Background
Paul McCartney:
John and I wrote 'She's Leaving Home' together. It was my inspiration. We'd seen a story in the newspaper about a young girl who'd left home and not been found, there were a lot of those at the time, and that was enough to give us a story line. So I started to get the lyrics: she slips out and leaves a note and then the parents wake up ... It was rather poignant. I like it as a song, and when I showed it to John, he added the long sustained notes, and one of the nice things about the structure of the song is that it stays on those chords endlessly. Before that period in our song-writing we would have changed chords but it stays on the C chord. It really holds you. It's a really nice little trick and I think it worked very well.While I was showing that to John, he was doing the Greek chorus, the parents' view: 'We gave her most of our lives, we gave her everything money could buy.' I think that may have been in the runaway story, it might have been a quote from the parents. Then there's the famous little line about a man from the motor trade; people have since said that was Terry Doran, who was a friend who worked in a car showroom, but it was just fiction, like the sea captain in "Yellow Submarine", they weren't real people.[1]
The newspaper story McCartney mentioned was from the front page of the Daily Mirror, about a girl named Melanie Coe. Although McCartney made up most of the content, Coe, who was 17 at the time claims that he got most of it right. Her parents wondered why she had left... "She has everything here." In real life, Melanie did not "meet a man from the motor trade", but instead a croupier, and left in the afternoon while her parents were at work. She was found ten days later because she had let slip where her boyfriend worked.[2]
Coincidentally, Coe had met McCartney three years earlier when she was a contestant and prize winner on ITV's Ready Steady Go!.[3] An update on Melanie appeared in the Daily Mail in May 2008.[4]
Recording
The day before McCartney wanted to work on the string arrangement, he learned that George Martin was not available to do the score. He contacted Mike Leander, who did it in Martin's place. It was the first time a Beatle song was not arranged by Martin (and the only time it was done with the Beatles' consent: Phil Spector's orchestration of Let It Be was done without The Beatles' knowledge). Martin was hurt by McCartney's actions, but he produced the song and conducted the string section. The harp was played by Sheila Bromberg, the first female musician to appear on a Beatles record.[5][6]
The stereo version of the song runs at a slower speed than the mono mix, and consequently is a semitone lower in pitch. This is mentioned in the booklet accompanying The Beatles in Mono CD box set, but no reason is given.
Critical reception
When discussing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, composer Ned Rorem described "She's Leaving Home" as "equal to any song that Schubert ever wrote."[7]
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – double-tracked lead vocals
- John Lennon – double-tracked background vocals
- Mike Leander – string arrangement
- George Martin – conductor, producer
- Erich Gruenberg – violin
- Derek Jacobs – violin
- Trevor Williams – violin
- Jose Luis García – violin
- John Underwood – viola
- Stephen Shingles – viola
- Dennis Vigay – cello
- Alan Dalziel – cello
- Gordon Pearce – double bass
- Sheila Bromberg – harp
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[8]
Cover versions
- In 1967, Harry Nilsson covered this song on Pandemonium Shadow Show.
- In 1972, Syreeta covered this song on Syreeta.
- In 1976, Bryan Ferry covered the song for the musical documentary All This and World War II.
- In 1978, Al Jarreau released a cover version of this song on his album All Fly Home.
- In 1983, Richie Havens covered this song on Richard P. Havens, 1983.
- In 1988, Billy Bragg's and Cara Tivey's version of the song, a double A-side with Wet Wet Wet's "With a Little Help from My Friends" which reached #1 in the UK.
- In 1994, Al Jarreau released a cover version of this song on his live album Tenderness.
- In 1995, McCoy Tyner covered this song on the CD (I Got No Kick Against) Modern Jazz.
- In 1999, Irish songwriter Jimmy MacCarthy performed a cover version of this song while playing with George Martin at the National Concert Hall, Dublin in October 1999.[9]
- In 2004, Larry Coryell included an acoustic solo guitar version on his Tricycles album.
- in 2005, Brad Mehldau and his trio performed a version on their album Day is Done.
- In 2007, the American Idol finale featured a tribute medley from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in which the song was performed by Carrie Underwood.
- In 2007, Les Fradkin released an instrumental version on his CD Pepper Front To Back.
- In 2007, The Magic Numbers recorded the song for It Was 40 Years Ago Today, a television film with contemporary acts recording the album's songs using the same studio, technicians and recording techniques as the original.
- In 2007, Brian Wilson covered the tune as a final encore during his That Lucky Old Sun: A Narrative, which premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
- In 2008, Australian Band Human Nature covered the song on its album A Symphony of Hits.
- In 2009, The Easy Star All-Stars released the song on their Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band cover album.
- In 2009, Cheap Trick released Sgt. Pepper Live, which includes the song.
Notes
- ^ Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. p. 316. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. New York: Harper Paperbacks. pp. 125-127. ISBN 0-06-084409-4.
- ^ "Paul McCartney Judges Miming Contest on (Ready Steady Go)". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgQ1qNPciic. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ Zoe Dare Hall. "She's leaving home (again) ... The woman who inspired a Beatles classic has had to quit the Spanish house she built illegally". Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-567024/Shes-leaving-home---The-woman-inspired-Beatles-classic-quit-Spanish-house-built-illegally.html. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
- ^ Martin, George; Hornsby, Jeremy (1994). All You Need Is Ears. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 207-208. ISBN 0-312-11482-6.
- ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. p. 103. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ "The Messengers". Time. 22 September 1967. http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/beatles_related.html. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised Edition ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). p. 245. ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- ^ Niamh Hooper (25/10/99). "A review from the Irish Independent, Monday 25th October". http://briankennedy.co.uk/html/news/latest/1999/oldnews99.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
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