Fixing a Hole
| "Fixing a Hole" | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles | ||||||
| from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | ||||||
| Released | 1 June 1967 | |||||
| Recorded | 9 and 21 February 1967, EMI and Regent Sound studios, London | |||||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, baroque pop | |||||
| Length | 2:36 | |||||
| Label | Parlophone | |||||
| Songwriter(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |||||
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |||||
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing | ||||||
| ||||||
"Fixing a Hole" is a song mainly written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Recording
[change | change source]The first of two recording sessions for the song was at Regent Sound Studio in London on 9 February 1967 in three takes.[1]
The lead vocal was recorded at the same time as the rhythm track, a change from their post-1963 approach of overdubbing the vocal.[1]
According to McCartney, on the night of the session an unusual man appeared at the gate of McCartney's home and said he was Jesus Christ. After a cup of tea, and after getting him to promise to be quiet and sit in a corner, McCartney brought the man to the recording session.[2][3] After the session the man left and was never heard from again.[3]
In another version of the story, John Lennon arrived at the studio, found the man hanging around the front door, and it was Lennon who invited him in.
The song is referenced to by Lennon in the last stanza of the song "Glass Onion" ("Fixing a Hole in the ocean"), from The Beatles, released a year later.
In the live-action scene at the end of the 1968 movie Yellow Submarine, Ringo mentions that he gave the other half of the "hole in me pocket" to Jeremy, so that he could "stop his mind from wandering", a direct reference to "Fixing a Hole".
Personnel
[change | change source]- Paul McCartney – double-tracked vocal, bass
- John Lennon – backing vocal, guitar
- George Harrison – backing vocal, double-tracked lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums, maracas
- George Martin – harpsichord
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[4]
Notes
[change | change source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lewisohn 1988, pp. 93, 95.
- ↑ Miles 1997, pp. 314–315.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Beatles Interview Database 2007.
- ↑ MacDonald 2005, p. 235.
Other websites
[change | change source]- "Sergeant Pepper's 40th Anniversary". 60s Season. BBC Radio 2. 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2009.
- "Sgt Pepper". Beatles Interview Database. The Beatles Interview Database. 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2007.
- Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.