The Beatles Broken Down: 'A Day in the Life'

In today's episode, we break down The Beatles' song "A Day in the Life".

📘— The Beato Book Interactive - $99.00 value
🎸 — Beato Beginner Guitar - $159.00 value
👂— The Beato Ear Training Program - $99.00 value
🎸— The Quick Lessons Pro Guitar Course - $79.00 value

… all for just $99.00

Upcoming Dates!
Berlin, Germany - October 28 at Passionskirche.

My Beato Club supporters:
Justin Scott
Terence Mark
Farren Mahjoor
Jason Murray
Lucienne Kilpatrick
Alexander Young
Jason Wagner
Todd Ladner
Rob Kline
Nicholas Long
Tim Benson
Leonardo Martins da Costa Rodrigues
Eddie Perez
David Solomon
MICHAEL JOYCE
Stephen Stubbs
colin stead
Jonathan Wentworth-Linton
Patrick Payne
MATTHEW KARIS
Matthew Barouch
Shaun Samuels
Danny Kurywchak
Gregory Reedy
Sean Coleman
Alexander Verbitskiy
CL Turner
Jason Pappafotis
John Fulford
Margaret Carno
Robert C
David M Combs
Eric Flatt
Reto Spoerli
Herr Moritz Adam
Monte St. Johns
Jon Beezley
Peter DeVault
Eric Nabstedt
Eric Beggs
Rich Germano
Brian Bloom
Peter Pillitteri

[ChristopherHolmgren]

Someone here HAS to be able to get Rick in a room with Paul. I can see Paul enjoying it - a win for everyone!

[TSSuppository]

What staggers me is that McCartney did some good songs after the Beatles; Lennon did some good songs after the Beatles - but when they were together, always competing, always trying to outdo one another, they were absolutely insurmountable, inexplicable, just sublime perfection. Their competition created auditory beauty that has yet to be (and may never be) surpassed. xx

[koshersalaami]

January 1967. They recorded this in January 1967. This is less than four years after they released Please Please Me. I don’t know of musical evolution that fast, and not revolution but evolution, it’s demonstrably linear, anywhere in music. I don’t mean just rock. I’ve got experience in a lot of non-rock genres, I have a decent classical background that includes early music, but I’ve never seen evolution that far that fast anywhere. I don’t know if another example exists in human history.

[ColorfieldMedia]

I worked with Shelly Yakus (John's engineer on "Imagine") and while working with him, I would pick his brain about Beatles stories. He told me, that John told him, this song was assembled over the phone with Paul. It was always two separate and different songs merged together. That's the story I was told.

[DaveGava]

A Day in the life changed popular music culture and inspired many . A true masterpiece!

[gdwinn]

Saw Paul McCartney in Melbourne Australia last Saturday night. His introductions to Beatles songs were priceless. He played for THREE hours, at 81 years old. The voice is still great, and he was very happy and funny, too. Love him.

[Hodenkat]

I love Ringo's drumming on this song as well. As always, it's exactly what's needed. No more, no less.

[singlesideman]

Ringo's drumming on this song (and on all of his recordings with The Beatles) is not just essential and elegant, not playing more than what was required, and serving the music perfectly, which is already the most anyone could hope for, but it's the most melodic and composed I've ever heard in popular music. Ringo's parts sound like orchestral percussion parts, but especially primal, direct and propulsive. He's a brilliant drummer.

[renatocpjr]

John's voice there is enough to bring a stoic to tears.

[cafinario]

John’s voice here is out of this world.

[anthony]

Most influential, ground breaking band ever. I never tire of listening to their music

[Kooky_Duzzfutz]

So many of John's chord progressions are just mind-bending and so beautiful. The dude was unique in so many ways: Unique conceptually, unique lyrically, unique musically - and, man, that voice. What a voice!

[jimdukeproject]

I think the runs of passing notes by McCartney makes the song emphasize accents and gives a bit of dissidence that gives energy to the riff. Genius. And with Ringo's fills, intense. And then how the bass holds down the transition note through the orchestra to the second part.

[kennethmalecki]

A day in the life still sounds original even In 2023

[rickosound]

This is the first song that blew my mind. I was 9/10 years old in '75/'76 at a friends house playing with lego or something, and Pepper on in the background. I was mesmerized and speechless until the end. I clearly recall after the last chord faded, asking "what was that?". "That's The Beatles, man, I told you they were cool". I was aware of some Beatles songs by then and Elton, Simon and Garfunkel, America, Sweet, etc. and had taken piano lessons since age six, but this transcended everything that came before in my consciousness related to music. I knew that music could be fun, or sad, or silly, but this song is like traveling through a dream that may or may not even be yours, but it's a fantastic journey none the less.
Within a few months I was spending all my Xmas money on Beatle records and didn't stop until I had them all. Almost 50 years later and I still need to hear it just one more time before bed.

[jamesnunn]

John’s vocal- in performance and recording technique- is completely sublime. In isolation on a good system, it genuinely gives chills

[NYRloverXD]

Probably the greatest song ever written.

[hw]

Lennon’s Chord Progressions are surreal. “A Day in the Life”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “I am the Walrus”, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”… nobody was as original a composer in rock/pop in 1967

[snmiller]

Love the way Rick breaks down the "what they're doing" "how they're doing it" & even "why they're doing it"...far better than most who instruct and/or breakdown the parts of a song

[DreamsongsProductions]

Rick talking about The Beatles, my favorite group of all time. Doesn't get better than this....