"When I'm Sixty-Four"

For more than a year, I've been working (now and then) on figuring out enough parts for "When I'm Sixty-Four" to make it worth recording.  Last July, I figured out the bass part for the verses and the tubular bells.  In April, I learned two of the clarinet parts at the beginning (it wasn't until recording this to-day that I realized that the same parts are repeated at the end), and over the course of the last few days, I learned the rest of the bass part (the bridges) and a bit of piano.  While recording this, I thought the clarinet phrase after the line "Sunday mornings go for a ride" (~1:19) sounded easy, so I figured that out too.

I never wrote down the two clarinet parts I learned, so I just filmed those in order to have some record of them.  I don't think the piano part is entirely accurate; mostly I was just playing along for fun.  The tubular bell sound on my keyboard isn't that great, so for my recording I actually used vibes.

The Beatles recorded "When I'm Sixty-Four" in C major, but sped it up a semi-tone, so for all of the parts that I recorded on my keyboard, I used the transpose function so I could play in C major and have it come out as C# major.  I did play the bass part in C# major though.

Here's the notation for the tubular bell parts.  I put them in C# major, but it's easy enough to disregard the key signature and play them in C major:

At ~0:58:

At ~1:54:

"Penny Lane"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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Collection Audit:

Last year, I realized that because of the ping-ponging of influence and rivalry between the Beatles and the Beach Boys, the clarinet that doubles the vocals in part of the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" was probably inspired by the Beach Boys' "I'm Waiting for the Day," which has a similar effect, although different sources credit different instruments, ranging from viola to oboe to English horn.  I just started listening to the Beatles' 1967-1970, and I discovered that the Beatles did the same thing at the end of "Penny Lane" too, although there I think it's a flute or a piccolo. 

Because "Penny Lane" was released before "When I'm Sixty-Four," I'd assumed that it was recorded first, but according to Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, "When I'm Sixty-Four" was recorded first (on 6 December 1966) and "Penny Lane" later (on 29 December 1966).  Still, because they were recorded so close together, it would make sense that if McCartney took that idea from Brian Wilson for part of "When I'm Sixty-Four," he would have had the same thing in mind when he did it on "Penny Lane" too.

"When I'm Sixty-Four"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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I have an-other project like this based on Electric Light Orchestra, and I've (slowly) been going through their albums.  I just posted some notes about Face the Music, and I listened to a few songs from Sgt. Pepper to compare "Evil Woman" with "Fixing a Hole."  I also found a phrase in "Down Home Town" that's an astonishingly-well-crafted homage to "She Loves You" (it uses the same notes!).

In any case, since I was already listening to one Sgt. Pepper song, I added "When I'm Sixty-Four" to my now-playing list just for the sake of completing a bit more of my transcription.  I noticed a line in the second verse:  "Sunday mornings go for a ride."

It's not too spectacular by itself, but it has connections to two other Beatle songs - "Day Tripper" and "Two of Us" from Let It Be.  Back in February, I noticed that both contain the phrase "Sunday driver" (or "Sunday driving").  And now I've discovered that "When I'm Sixty-Four" has something similar.

Like I said back in February, it seems significant that the girl in "Day Tripper" goes on Sunday drives alone where the pair in "Two of Us" goes on them together.  The couple in "When I'm Sixty-Four" seems to fit into that paradigm too, aligning with the pair in "Two of Us."  It's unsurprising then that "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Two of Us" - with their similar views on Sunday driving - were both written by Paul McCartney.

"When I'm Sixty-Four"

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[link to original on tumblr]

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I listened to the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds yester-day, and I think I found an influence for "When I'm Sixty-Four."

A particular instrument (the identity eludes me) doubles the melody of the vocals during the first verse of "I'm Waiting for the Day":

I came along when he broke your heart
That’s when you needed someone
To help forget about him
I gave you love with a brand new start
That's what you needed the most
To set your broken heart free

I'd thought it was oboe, but according to The Pet Sounds Sessions box set, the only woodwind present is flute.  As far as the influence it (probably) had on the Beatles, the particular instrument isn't as important as the instrument's doubling the vocal melody.  The same thing is present (with clarinet, according to Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions [21 December 1966]) on (most of) the last verse of "When I'm Sixty-Four":

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
Stating point of view
Indicate precisely what you mean to say
Yours sincerely, wasting away
Give me your answer, fill in a form
Mine forevermore

I've read a few things about how much Paul McCartney liked Pet Sounds, but I haven't seen anything where he talks specifically about "I'm Waiting for the Day."  Still, I'm fairly certain that this connection is valid.  At the very least, it's possible, as Pet Sounds was released on 16 May 1966 (although I sort of remember something about how Lennon and McCartney heard it before it was officially released) and that section of "When I'm Sixty-Four" was recorded on 21 December 1966.

EDIT: I did some more research, and according to Peter Ames Carlin's Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall & Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, that instrument that doubles the vocal melody in "I'm Waiting for the Day" is a viola.