Recording: Penny Lane

Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick

On 4 January 1967, John Lennon and George Harrison had added piano and guitar parts to track two of the ‘Penny Lane’ four-track tape. During this session those overdubs were wiped, and replaced with electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and congas, the latter played by Lennon.

The recordings were made with the tape machine running slow at 47.5 cycles per second, so the music was faster upon playback.

With all four tracks of the tape now full, a reduction mix was made, numbered take eight, in which all the recordings so far were mixed down to just two tracks. Instruments were moved to track one and vocals to track four, leaving a further two tracks for the remaining overdubs.

Onto this Lennon and George Martin added piano. Lennon, Harrison and Paul McCartney also sang backing vocals, and handclaps were added.

These latter overdubs were never used, however, and another reduction mix, take nine, was made to replace the previous one. The session finished at 1am on the morning of 7 January, and work continued on Penny Lane two days later.