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When I'm Sixty-Four

"When I'm 64" redirects here. For the 2004 television film, see When I'm 64 (film).
"When I'm Sixty-Four"
When I'm sixty four.jpg
Cover of the US sheet music for the song
Song by the Beatles
from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released26 May 1967[1]
Recorded6–21 December 1966
StudioEMI, London
Genre
Length2:37
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin

"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney[4][5] (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released on their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was one of the first songs written by McCartney, who wrote it when he was 14. The song was recorded in a different key than the final recording; it was sped up at the request of McCartney to make his voice sound younger. It prominently features a trio of clarinets (two regular clarinets and one bass clarinet) throughout.

Composition

Paul McCartney wrote the melody to "When I'm Sixty-Four" around the age of 14,[6] probably at 20 Forthlin Road in April or May 1956.[7] In 1987, McCartney recalled, "Rock and roll was about to happen that year, it was about to break, [so] I was still a little bit cabaret minded,"[7] and in 1974, "I wrote a lot of stuff thinking I was going to end up in the cabaret, not realizing that rock and roll was particularly going to happen. When I was fourteen there wasn't much of a clue that it was going to happen."[7]

The song is sung by a young man to his lover, and is about his plans of their growing old together. Although the theme is ageing, it was one of the first songs McCartney wrote.[4] Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn suggests it was McCartney's second composition, coming after "Call It Suicide" but before "I Lost My Little Girl".[8] It was in the Beatles' setlist in their early days as a song to perform when their amplifiers broke down or the electricity went off.[9][10] Both George Martin and Lewisohn speculated that McCartney may have thought of the song when recording began for Sgt. Pepper in December 1966 because his father turned 64 earlier that year.[9][10]

In 1967, John Lennon said of the song, "Paul wrote it in the Cavern days. We just stuck a few more words on it like 'grandchildren on your knee' and 'Vera, Chuck and Dave' … this was just one that was quite a hit with us."[11]

Instrumentation

A clarinet trio (two B♭ clarinets and a bass clarinet) is featured prominently in the song. Scored by Martin, he said they were added at McCartney's request to "get around the lurking schmaltz factor" by using the clarinets "in a classical way."[10] In the song's final verse, the clarinet is played in descant with McCartney's vocal. Supporting instruments include the piano, bass, drum set, tubular bells, and electric guitar.

Recording

The Beatles recorded two takes of the song on 6 December 1966, during one of the first sessions for the as-yet-unnamed album that became Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. George Martin produced, supported by engineers Geoff Emerick and Phil McDonald. McCartney overdubbed his lead vocal onto take two without the other Beatles present on 8 December.[9] On 20 December, McCartney, Lennon, and George Harrison overdubbed backing vocals and Ringo Starr added the sound of bells.[12]

Martin made two reduction mixes (takes three and four) with the latter best. On 21 December, session musicians Robert Burns, Henry MacKenzie and Frank Reidy overdubbed two clarinets and a bass clarinet onto take four. On the same day, Martin remixed the song for mono three different times, though this was only a demo version. He made four new mono mixes on 29 December.[12] The next day,[12] unsatisfied with all of these attempts, McCartney suggested speeding up the track to raise it by around a semitone from its original key of C major to D♭ major.[12][13][14] Martin remembers that McCartney suggested this change to make his voice sound younger.[15] McCartney says, "I wanted to appear younger, but that was just to make it more rooty-tooty; just lift the key because it was starting to sound turgid."[4] Martin, Emerick and Richard Lush made the sped-up remix from take four on 17 April, 1967.[16]

Release and reception

The song was nearly released on a single as the B-side of either "Strawberry Fields Forever" or "Penny Lane". It was instead held over to be included as an album track for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[17] In The Beatles Anthology, George Martin recalled,

The only reason that 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' didn't go onto the new album was a feeling that if we issued a single, it shouldn't go onto an album. That was a crazy idea, and I'm afraid I was partly responsible. It's nonsense these days, but in those days it was an aspect that we'd try to give the public value for money.

The idea of a double A side came from me and Brian [Epstein], really. Brian was desperate to recover popularity, and so we wanted to make sure that we had a marvellous seller. He came to me and said, 'I must have a really great single. What have you got?' I said, 'Well, I've got three tracks—and two of them are the best tracks they've ever made. We could put the two together and make a smashing single.' We did, and it was a smashing single—but it was also a dreadful mistake. We would have sold far more and got higher up in the charts if we had issued one of those with, say, 'When I'm Sixty-Four' on the back."[18]

It was also included in the film Yellow Submarine.

Critical reception

Contemporary

According to author George Case, all of the songs on Sgt. Pepper were perceived by contemporary listeners as being drug-inspired, with 1967 marking the pinnacle of LSD's influence on pop music.[19] Fans noted the lyric "digging the weeds" from "When I'm Sixty-Four" as a possible drug allusion.[20] In the UK, according to historian David Simonelli, the album's obvious drug allusions inspired a hierarchy within the youth movement for the first time, based on listeners' ability to "get" psychedelia and align with the elite notion of Romantic artistry.[21] In August 1967, The Beatles Book published an article discussing whether the album was "too advanced for the average pop fan". One reader complained that all the songs except "Sgt. Pepper" and "When I'm Sixty-Four" were "over our heads", adding, "The Beatles ought to stop being so clever and give us tunes we can enjoy."[22]

In a review for The New Yorker, Lillian Ross wrote, "Another number, 'When I'm Sixty-four,' has so much charm and taste. It's a parody, but, like the best parody, it is written with affection, and it has an excellence in its own right, independent of its value as parody."[23]

Retrospective appraisal

Ian MacDonald describes the song as being "aimed chiefly at parents, and as a result got a cool reception from the group's own generation."[24] He adds that the song borrows heavily from the English music hall style of George Formby, while invoking images of the illustrator Donald McGill's seaside postcards.[25] Allan Moore views the song as a synthesis of ragtime and pop, adding that its position following "Within You Without You" – a blend of Indian classical music and pop – demonstrates the diversity of the album's material.[26] He says the music hall atmosphere is reinforced by McCartney's vocal delivery and the recording's use of chromaticism, a harmonic pattern that can be traced to Scott Joplin's "The Ragtime Dance" and The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss.[27] Walter Everett comments that the lyric's protagonist is sometimes associated with the Lonely Hearts Club Band, but in his opinion the song is thematically unconnected to the others on the album.[28]

Personnel

Personnel per MacDonald,[25] except where noted:

Cover versions

  • In 1967, Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen released a cover of "When I'm Sixty-Four" as a single. Their version peaked at number 43 on the UK chart.
  • In June 1967, George Martin produced a recording of the song by English comedian Bernard Cribbins, which was also released as a single on the Parlophone label.
  • In 1969, John Denver covered the song on his first commercial album Rhymes & Reasons.
  • In 1970, Cliff Richard released a cover of "When I'm Sixty-Four" as an album Cliff Live At The Talk Of The Town.
  • In 2007, comedian and actor Russell Brand covered the song as part of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band's 40th anniversary.
  • Barry Gibb recorded the song for the 2014 Paul McCartney tribute album The Art of McCartney.

Cultural references

  • McCartney's children recorded a special version of "When I'm Sixty-Four" at Abbey Road Studios as a surprise present for McCartney's 64th birthday in June 2006, and played it for him at his birthday party. They changed the lyrics to fit the occasion with the help of Giles Martin. At the time, by unfortunate coincidence, McCartney was recently separated from his second wife, Heather Mills; they later divorced.[29][30]
  • In the 2007 comedy film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, McCartney (played by Jack Black) and Lennon (played by Paul Rudd) are arguing, and Lennon quips, "I wonder if your songs will still be shit when I'm sixty-four."

Notes

  1. ^ Everett 1999, p. 123. "In the United Kingdom Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band … was rush-released six days ahead of its official date, June 1."
  2. ^ Prigozy & Raubicheck 2007, p. 71.
  3. ^ Haugen 2004, p. 169.
  4. ^ a b c Miles 1997, p. 319.
  5. ^ Sheff 2000, p. 183.
  6. ^ Lewisohn 2013, p. 92.
  7. ^ a b c Lewisohn 2013, p. 811n16.
  8. ^ Lewisohn 2013, p. 818n49.
  9. ^ a b c Lewisohn 1988, p. 89.
  10. ^ a b c Martin & Pearson 1994, p. 34.
  11. ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 247.
  12. ^ a b c d e Lewisohn 1988, p. 90.
  13. ^ Emerick & Massey 2006, p. 137.
  14. ^ Badman 2002, p. 257, quoted in Zolten 2009, p. 50
  15. ^ Martin & Pearson 1994, p. 35.
  16. ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 108.
  17. ^ Martin & Pearson 1994, p. 26.
  18. ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 239.
  19. ^ Case 2010, pp. 47–48.
  20. ^ Moore 1997, p. 60.
  21. ^ Simonelli 2013, p. 114.
  22. ^ Harris 2007, p. 87.
  23. ^ Ross 1967, quoted in Ross 2017, p. 345
  24. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 221.
  25. ^ a b MacDonald 2005, p. 220.
  26. ^ Moore 1997, p. 47.
  27. ^ Moore 1997, p. 46.
  28. ^ Everett 1999, p. 113.
  29. ^ Lampert 2006.
  30. ^ Todd 2006.

References

  • Badman, Keith (2002). The Beatles: Off the Record: The Dream Is Over. New York: Omnibus. ISBN 978-0-7119919-9-6.
  • The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-2684-6.
  • Case, George (2010). Out of Our Heads: Rock 'n' Roll Before the Drugs Wore Off. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-967-1.
  • Emerick, Geoff; Massey, Howard (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles. Gotham. ISBN 978-1-59240-269-4.
  • Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512941-0.
  • Harris, John (March 2007). "Sgt. Pepper: The Day the World Turned Day-Glo!". Mojo. pp. 72–77, 80–89.
  • Haugen, David (2004). The Beatles. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Greenhaven Press. ISBN 978-0-7377-2595-7.
  • Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York City: Harmony Books. ISBN 978-0-517-57066-1.
  • Lewisohn, Mark (2013). The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In. Crown Archetype. ISBN 978-1-4000-8305-3.
  • MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London, England: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 978-1-84413-828-9.
  • Martin, George; Pearson, William (1994). With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-54783-3.
  • Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York City: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-5249-7.
  • Moore, Allan F. (1997). The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57484-6.
  • Prigozy, Ruth; Raubicheck, Walter (2007). Going my way: Bing Crosby and American culture. Rochester, New York: University Rochester Press. ISBN 978-1-58046-261-7.
  • Ross, Lillian (24 June 1967). "Sgt. Pepper". The New Yorker. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  • Ross, Lillian (2017). "Sgt. Pepper". In Finder, Henry (ed.). The 60s: The Story of a Decade by The New Yorker (Paperback ed.). New York: Modern Library. pp. 342–345. ISBN 978-0-8129833-1-9.
  • Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York City: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-25464-3.
  • Simonelli, David (2013). Working Class Heroes: Rock Music and British Society in the 1960s and 1970s. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-7051-9.
  • Todd, Ben (18 June 2006). "EXCLUSIVE: ABBEY BIRTHDAY MACCA". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 9 March 2007.
  • Zolten, Jerry (2009). ""The Beatles as recording artists". In Womack, Kenneth (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 33–61. ISBN 978-0-521-68976-2.

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