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A video of the Beat 64 doing a cover of The Beatles song In My Life
Composition
According to Lennon, the song's origins can be found when the English journalist Kenneth Allsop made a remark that Lennon should write songs about his childhood.[3] Afterwards, Lennon wrote a song in the form of a long poem reminiscing on his childhood years. The original version of the lyrics was based on a bus route he used to take in Liverpool, naming various sites seen along the way, including Penny Lane and Strawberry Field.[4]
However, Lennon found it to be "ridiculous", calling it "the most boring sort of 'What I Did On My Holidays Bus Trip' song"; he reworked the words, replacing the specific memories with a generalised meditation on his past.[5] "Very few lines" of the original version remained in the finished song.[4] According to Lennon's friend and biographer Peter Shotton, the lines "Some [friends] are dead and some are living/In my life I've loved them all" referred to Stuart Sutcliffe (who died in 1962) and to Shotton.[3]
Regarding authorship of the melody, Lennon's and McCartney's recollections differ. Referring to McCartney, Lennon said "his contribution melodically was the harmony and the middle-eight itself."[6][7] McCartney claimed he set Lennon's lyrics to music from beginning to end, taking inspiration for the melody from songs by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.[8] "I liked 'In My Life'. Those were words that John wrote and I wrote the tune to it. That was a great one."[9]
[edit] Recording
The song was recorded on 18 October 1965, and was complete except for the instrumental bridge.[10] At that time, Lennon had not decided what instrument to use, but he subsequently asked George Martin to play a piano solo, suggesting "something Baroque-sounding".[1] Martin wrote a Bach-influenced piece that he found he could not play at the song's tempo. On 22 October, the solo was recorded at half-tempo (one octave lower) and tape speed was doubled for the final recording, solving the performance challenge and giving the piano solo a unique, harpsichord-like timbre.[11][12]
[edit] Cover versions
"In My Life" is one of the Beatles' most frequently-recorded songs.[citation needed] One of the more noteworthy cover versions was one by Bette Midler in 1992, released from the soundtrack of her 1991 movie For the Boys. It peaked at #20 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in the US.[citation needed]
Crosby, Stills & Nash, the folk rock supergroup, also covered "In My Life" on their seventh studio album, After the Storm, in 1994.
Ozzy Osbourne covered this song for his tribute album Under Cover in 2005.
Johnny Cash also released a cover version which appears on American IV: The Man Comes Around.
Tags: In My Life The Beatles music Beatles Lennon Mccartney John Cover
