Penny Lane

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Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Produced by: George Martin
Released: Feb. '67 on Capitol
Charts: 10 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

After Lennon composed his surreal "Strawberry Fields Forever," a song about his Liverpool childhood, McCartney wrote his own, snappy memoir. (Both songs were pulled from Sgt. Pepper and released as a single, with no indication as to which was supposed to be the A side; "Penny Lane" appeared later that year on the soundtrack album to Magical Mystery Tour.) The places named in the lyrics are all real: Penny Lane was a Liverpool bus stop where Lennon and McCartney would often meet. "John came over and helped me with the third verse, as was often the case," McCartney said. "We were writing childhood memories: recently faded memories from eight or ten years before."

Appears on: 1 (Capitol/Apple)

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