First Time Reaction The Beatles A Day In The Life | Dereck Reacts

[@Starbeamers]

Imagine they only had 4 tape tracks to record this monument with their studio’s 1967 technology! Talk about an achievement!

[@mark4262]

Gold..well said My Friend 🧡

[@bobsylvester88]

Your comment made me realize how everyone laughs at the 8 track tape today, but that was amazing technology for its time.

[@kallsop2]

Imagine recording 4 tracks, then recording 4 tracks, then doing it again and possibly again, then mixing it down multiple times.

[@Starbeamers]

@@kallsop2 yes, I think this method is called « bouncing down ». Record 4 tracks, transform them into a lone track to be added to 3 new tracks, all new 4 being bounced down into a lone track again etc… But you were losing sound quality with this method the more you bounced down so it could not continue forever!

[@clintonsmith5163]

@@Starbeamers Queen did a lot of bouncing down with Bohemian Rhapsody, and they were even using 24-track technology!

[@lclark6854]

Ringo's drumming on this is fantastic.

[@ichbinich3166]

Ringo is always fantastic :-)

[@tonybennett4159]

Yes his beats are syncopated underlining the uneasy feel of the whole song.

[@toddmills2651]

Ringo is the most underrated drummer of all time

[@RegnaSaturna]

Or Bernard Purdey's. Take your pick.

[@timishere1925]

​@modusvivendi1442 If you know, you know. Sadly, most don't. All an illusion.

[@newms69]

David Crosby was the first person to hear this as the Beatles played it for him in Abbey Road. David said he couldn't speak afterwards for a long time.

[@romlemmon]

Is this from an interview or a book?

[@octurn]

So that is why Roger, Chris and Michael treasured that album.

[@edwardthorne9875]

That final crashing chord marks a before/after section of the whole of popular music. Before Pepper and after Pepper. Things were never the same after this moment. Rock was no longer for silly love songs, but was now a true art form.

[@andrewkathe3471]

Pretty sure it was already an art form on Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Pet Sounds.

[@mumbles215]

They were all crafty songs in excellent albums. Great albums. Pepper is a work of art and this track is the pinnacle.

[@tanjabredehoeft2857]

John's voice is even more haunting on this song than it anyway is

[@BVB-lk9yb]

Finally someone says this. I really believe Mccartney had the better voice of them but one thing Johns voice had that Mccartney misses is that it is so haunting and memorable. I think songs like strawberry fields or dear prudence have a very similar effect

[@mikefeast5743]

Arguably the greatest recorded song in history, between this and Tomorrow Never Knows, music was never the same again. Great reaction!

[@ohfour-seven6228]

Tomorrow Never Knows jump started music by 100 years. so so great!

[@lipby]

There's no greatest recorded song in history.

[@groundscoresteve4964]

Got to add 'I Am the Walrus' to that list!

[@letsgomets002]

Don't get carried away greatest recorded song in history....that's just silly

[@carl_anderson9315]

As debatable as that statement is, I agree 100%. Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is widely considered the most important and influential album of all time, and A Day In The Life was the cherry on top. Not a single rock band in history recorded something remotely close to this level. Those song catapulted Rock’n Roll as a superior art form.

[@samuelparent1908]

Just another pure Lennon/McCartney masterpiece. So artistic, so inventive, so original and wonderfully produced.

[@groundscoresteve4964]

The Beatles are OUR Bach, Beethoven, Shakespeare... They are BIGGER than 'Rock & Roll... Fab-4 / 4-Ever!

[@josephmango4628]

230 songs and 12 original UK albums were completed in an eight-year span before any of the Beatles were 30 years old. They were the Mozarts of their era.

[@debramulcahy9979]

They were masters! So grateful to have been young when they in their prime. This is one of my favorites. Thank you!

[@michaelminch5490]

Sgt Pepper is a concept album that needs to be listened to in its entirety. It's an experience. I do love watching youngsters like you getting your minds blown by what you're hearing.

[@johng.8517]

Beatles are the GOAT!

[@davidfeltz8697]

Even if you don't like their music, nobody is close with influence, production, creative output, experimentation, or transformation!

[@peterkoulouris8900]

I remember distinctly hearing this song for the first time. I was 14. June 1967. Yes, it blew my little teenage mind.

[@espmind68]

There will never be a band like the Beatles. To this day they old so many records, no one as sold more albums than they have and by a long shot. They also have the most number 1 hits...and so on, Long live the Beatles!

[@gman7495]

This is what true genius talent and top-notch musicianship sound like.

[@davidwestphal3469]

I’ve said it many times: there were the Beatles and there was everyone else. Still holds up today.

[@ikshields]

“Holds up”? Nay. It is exactly the same power now as ever. No time may as well have passed. 🔥

[@davidwestphal3469]

“Nay”?

[@yvonnesurette]

I always say there are many genres of music: hip hop, country, blues, Rock and Roll, and then....Beatles. They are a genre all by themselves.

[@vendelayindustries]

Such a masterpiece, that began as two separate songs that they just put together in a clever way. If someone does this it will always be compared with A day in the life. This was the closing track on Sgt. Peppers Lonely hearts club band and the boys' being first with a lot of stuff put a high pitch sound after the track that only dogs can hear. If you own the album what will happen is that dogs will sure react with a "-WHAT?" after the song has ended.

[@samkarlsonmusic]

One of the greatest music master piece of all time , pure genius

[@billmonetti2500]

I'm a 75 yo Beatle fan.It was nuts back then and still really nuts today.

[@BobKovacs]

Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote the whole song. Lennon did the beginning and end ("I read the news today..."), while McCartney did the middle ("Woke up, got out of bed..."). They were two separate things, until the two of them decided to put them both into this one song. The other two Beatles (George Harrison and Ringo Starr) had nothing to do with writing this song, although their instrumentation was always important to the song's sound.

[@PeterOConnell-pq6io]

As innovative as music came back then, and perhaps to the present. And Ringo's drumming is fantastic, as always.

[@Stacy55ish]

Creativity at its finest.

[@SequentialCircuitProphet5]

A masterpiece ❤❤❤❤

[@mrmitchell78]

Goes without saying that The Beatles as a band were incredible but a lot of credit needs to go to George Martin who was (no pun intended) instrumental in not only giving The Beatles the space to express but to also contribute his own immense talent to the recordings.

[@stephentoto6564]

Good point!,if it wasn't for George Martin,they might have never had a record contract!

[@bwana-ma-coo-bah425]

@@stephentoto6564 if it wasn't for Epstein moulding them and changing their look and music, you might not know who they were.

[@yvonnesurette]

@@stephentoto6564 Or these fabulous productions.

[@RegnaSaturna]

Never gets old.

[@suewalksthebluffs]

The impact of the Sgt. Pepper’s album can’t be overstated. I heard the full album, no breaks, on the radio the day it was released, riding around in a Triumph 3 with two friends. We were blown away. It was beyond anything we had heard before, a paradigm shift in music and perhaps even consciousness.

[@yvonnesurette]

I remember.

[@OptLab]

This song and album witnesses the atmosphere of the 60's, a symphony of hope and confusion in times of a vietnam war, free love, drugs, cold war, reconsideration of the hierarchy, and technologies. That is why music and art are vectors of communication.

[@autistickakarot]

This is a really good example of a Lennon-McCartney, John did most of the first section, with some suggestion from Paul, and Paul made the middle section, it was his idea to have the chaotic orchestra, which really ties this whole song together in my opinion.

[@AnnoyinglyGood]

I bought this the day it was released. Blew me away then and I love that all these years later people are still discovering it. The only guitar on this is Lennons acoustic, Harrison only played maracas! Probably the best thing the Beatles ever did ❤️

[@CBGB_1977]

The direction Paul gave the orchestra essentially was play any note on their instruments and play the scale as high as possible all at once. The end note was Paul. He said in an interview that they would hit keys on a piano and let it fade out at a parties. They felt the note could go on almost infinitely if everyone listened hard enough.

[@johnnhoj6749]

Not quite. George Martin elaborated on Paul's suggestion: "What I did there was to write, at the beginning of the twenty-four bars, the lowest possible note for each of the instruments in the orchestra. At the end of the twenty-four bars, I wrote the highest note each instrument could reach that was near a chord of E major. Then I put a squiggly line right through the twenty-four bars, with reference points to tell them roughly what note they should have reached during each bar. The musicians also had instructions to slide as gracefully as possible between one note and the next. In the case of the stringed instruments, that was a matter of sliding their fingers up the strings. With keyed instruments, like clarinet and oboe, they obviously had to move their fingers from key to key as they went up, but they were asked to ‘lip’ the changes as much as possible too. I marked the music ‘pianissimo’ at the beginning and ‘fortissimo’ at the end. Everyone was to start as quietly as possible, almost inaudibly, and end in a (metaphorically) lung-bursting tumult. And in addition to this extraordinary [feat] of musical gymnastics, I told them that they were to disobey the most fundamental rule of the orchestra. They were not to listen to their neighbours. A well-schooled orchestra plays, ideally, like one man, following the leader. I emphasised that this was exactly what they must not do. I told them ‘I want everyone to be individual. It’s every man for himself. Don’t listen to the fellow next to you. If he’s a third away from you, and you think he’s going too fast, let him go. Just do your own slide up, your own way.’ Needless to say, they were amazed. They had certainly never been told that before." For the end chord: "John, Paul, Ringo, and the Beatles' assistant Mal Evans sat at three different pianos, and George Martin sat at a harmonium, and they all played an E major chord simultaneously." The recording level was increased gradually as the sound from the instruments decayed until at the end you can just here the studio air conditioning fans.

[@bwana-ma-coo-bah425]

have you wiped the egg off your face yet?

[@CBGB_1977]

@@johnnhoj6749 That’s right. It’s been lots of years since that interview. I’m going to ignore the self inflicting jerk below your comment. 😄

[@slavaukraini404]

In 7 years of recording The Beatles produced more brilliance than others could in a lifetime. They were a major pivot point in music only equaled by the likes of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. The Beatles sit alone in the rock era looking down from the mountain at everybody else. As far as bands go, they are at the ludicrous level.

[@MrsColumbo823]

A masterpiece. When I first heard it, it changed everything and I knew it. What a gift to grow up with these unmatched artists. Thank you for appreciating it.

[@garse70]

The difference in the musicianship between John and Paul is amazing. It’s a dark and a light. Genius.

[@Stereoheadx]

Maybe the best song of all time

[@charlesflett2818]

Maybe

[@letsgomets002]

Don't get carried away...every hear Mozart????

[@Stereoheadx]

@@letsgomets002 all the time

[@futurereflections4097]

@@letsgomets002 Chopin and Beethoven have more bangers.

[@danacasey8543]

This is my daughter's favorite Beatles song. I raised my kids on the Beatles and rock music from the 60s, 70s & 80s, and my kids are raising their kids on it too! So, a family of Beatles fans with 68 year old mom/gramma as the matriarch!

[@yvonnesurette]

We are going into fourth generation fans.

[@seanamcgee3427]

Just pure art.

[@DavidPaslay-ed9po]

In August 2023 I flew over to the UK and took a week long class at Oxford University on the Beatles. There was only 12 of us in the class, it was great. The instructor was a musician and producer. I do not play an instrument but what I got out of it was they literally blew up the music world with things like chord progressions among other things etc...that were never done before and they made it work beautifully. I think this is their greatest work and it is one of my top five songs of all time...

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

THEY HAD THEIR OWN STUDIO, APPLE RECORDS. THEY EXPERIMENTED WITH EVERYTHING!!! THIS IS A CLASSIC!!! LONGEST LASTING LAST NOTE EVER!!!!!✌✌✌✌❤❤❤❤🎵🎶🎹🎵🎶

[@maihindess1]

The idea was to listen to this "stoned", then you get it...😆

[@charlesflett2818]

Exactly. They should have replaced the military paraphernalia with a joint.

[@eternalme6077]

You said it........that is a JD! When I heard it for the first time back in the day when the Album just came out, this John song BLEW MY MIND...........BOOM!!! Love your channel, I'll be back. 🎸♥️

[@SuperKevin57]

This is the song that tipped Brian Wilson over the edge.

[@andrewkathe3471]

Could have sworn it was Strawberry Fields Forever

[@elementrypenguin3116]

It was Strawberry Fields Forever. I’m sure Pepper solidified his dementia

[@futurereflections4097]

Anything regarding the Beatles was just a side note. Brian’s problem was lsd addiction and nobody around him being supportive.

[@elementrypenguin3116]

@@futurereflections4097 he definitely had issues

[@karaamundson3964]

"Woke up Fell outta bed Dragged a comb across my head..." is Paul, whereas the 1st & 3rd sections are John. It was Paul's idea to use the orchestra, playing ever more loudly & ascending the scale at differing speeds until they all topped out--then, SCREECH to a halt. Great drumming as usual from Ringo.

[@davidmckenzie420]

One of the 3 greatest songs in the "rock" era. (Okay...the others are, IMHO, Stairway to heaven and Bohemian Rhapsody.)

[@clintonsmith5163]

And if we add Kashmir and Shine on You Crazy Diamond, we have the Top 5.

[@davidmckenzie420]

@@clintonsmith5163 Yep; I could have gone there too.

[@coachtomas]

George Martin was the producer of the Beatles. I regard him as the fifth Beatle. He is responsible for that audio mix you mentioned. He also pioneered experimentation in music. Playing sounds backwards. Speeding up/slowing down etc; The innate talent of The Beatles is without question, but George Martin amplified it x100.

[@emilen2]

Geoff Emerick was the sound engineer on the album; he received a Grammy for that.

[@DaveMcIroy]

You mean the 7th Beatle.

[@coachtomas]

@@DaveMcIroy no the 5th.

[@DaveMcIroy]

@@coachtomas, there were 6 Beatles.

[@coachtomas]

@@DaveMcIroy okay Dave 👍

[@brewstergallery]

The other thing was when Brian Wilson heard it after spending months and months on " Pet Sounds" and feeling he'd made a masterpiece. When he heard Sgt Pepper it kinda knocked the wind out his sails, even though he loved the Beatles. Same thing happened with their other contemporaries like the Byrds and the Stones. Hendrix's reaction was the coolest, the LP was released on a Friday and by Sunday he was rockin it live in a London club, the Saville Theater, in front of Paul McCartney !

[@mattplus09]

I remember how cool it was to clearly hear Lennon get up from the chair and walk away from the piano when I first heard it on CD back in the mid 80s or so...Good journey :) Peace!

[@mlong1958]

They had several people on a few pianos who all hit the E chord at the same time with full sustain. They kept increasing the gain on the mics to the point you could actually hear studio noises at the end. Paul had the middle section laying around for years until the perfect moment came to put it in. John's voice on this track is just haunting.

[@AntonyFleck]

I had the original vinyl back in the day, this was the last track on the LP, the music finished and the arm of the record deck moved into a never ending groove, you had to lift the record deck arm off the LP manually!! And the groove said 'Acid helps your Mind ' , over and over!!...

[@DaveGava]

The greatest abstract piece of music the 20th century . Pops zenith of creativity!

[@peterg219]

When we first heard this stuff in the mid sixties, it was a transformational experience. Mix that with a couple of micro-dots and it became transcendent. Oh, well those were the days... I just wish I could invite everybody back there. Cheers from Sydney, AU.

[@jonathanlandau-litewski7405]

This was my late dads favourite ever song by his favourite ever band. To think I'm now only 3 years than he was when he died. Glad I never had kids, would hate for them to look back and their dads favourite song by his favourite band was Too Much by the Spice Girls 😂😂😂

[@jacquelineoconnor7234]

I remember hearing this as a kid in the early 70's and feeling it sounded so haunting - I cannot put into words how it made me feel, but I knew it was very special even at that age

[@ohfour-seven6228]

So glad you enjoyed it. You should hear Jeff Beck's version, it's an instrumental of him on guitar playing it and it's amazing!

[@willswomble7274]

Don't be daft.

[@robertjohnson5796]

It also sounds so much better than back then, what with re-mastering and the audio fidelity of the internet. Hearing it just now, to me, it has never sounded better.

[@jimcomvideos]

As mentioned below, they only had 4 track tape machines. They had to bounce 3 tracks down to one track so they could continue to add vocals and other sounds. Amazing!

[@iqbalhussain9526]

More Beatles please❤❤❤

[@moonrich3492]

Elvis' and The Beatles' first TV appearances were electric, but this song remains the one composition that truly shook the general public. There have been thousands of great songs produced in the rock era, but this one stands apart. Not even Tomorrow Never Knows and Strawberry Fields had that impact.

[@RoeLuv1]

John’s voice, Paul’s bass & Ringo’s drums 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@carlitosbrown1970]

This song is a MASTERPIECE !! The Beatles are THE BEST BAND OF ALL TIME !!

[@markoliver630]

Beatles Forever

[@mark4262]

Thank you Derek..fire 🎉❤

[@macharper8214]

So way beyond what a rock band would have ever been expected to do. The Beatles elevated popular music.

[@mumbles215]

The “ 4000 holes in blackbird Lancashire” Was an article in the newspaper about 4000 potholes in Lancashire. So Lennon being silly said somebody had to count them all lol classic

[@andrewweatherhead4127]

Blackburn😊

[@davidstoeckl6439]

It's great that you read up on some of the creative details. What they did not say - that last 40 Second piano chord was made by cutting and removing all the piano strings that did not make an E chord. They retuned the remaining strings, removed the legs of the piano and literally dropped it, resulting in that long, long piano chord made from more strings than our fingers could reach at the same time. Thanks. I enjoyed your review.

[@dizzypilots2639]

The sound of those drums 😎

[@robertodell3056]

One word can describe this song: Masterpiece

[@eric1966tomson]

Derek, remember The Beatles invented *everything* in a studio during their 8-9 years activity (in the 60s) 🤗

[@JohnCee754]

I still remember listening to "A Day in the Life" for the first time, back in 1970 when I was 16 (and could finally afford to buy albums!). I had heard so much about SGT PEPPER so listened to the album all the way through and thought "well, it's pretty good, but I like ABBEY ROAD and RUBBER SOUL a lot better" -- and then "A Day in the Life" began playing and five minutes later I was practically gasping for air. My reaction then was much like yours on this video. I had never heard anything like it and I immediately had to play the entire album over again just to take that ride at the end one more time. It still blows my mind over half a century later! A pure masterpiece!

[@gailfg2211]

They’re are the greatest! Apparently Tara was a rich kid and a friend of Paul’s. Thank you, a great video and analysis.

[@DavidF-y4t]

Now try their I Am The Walrus....less of a song, more of a multidimensional sonic assault.

[@lindazee]

With the passing years, I Am The Walrus has become one of my own top 5 Beatles songs, and that's saying a lot, considering all the amazingly incredible songs that The Beatles created. I think it epitomizes the Beatles as one of their more avant-garde pieces.

[@HeliotropeCA]

I was living in the Haight in 1967. We waited in line to buy Sgt Pepper on the first day of release in San Francisco. We went back to our house , took lsd and listened to the entire album ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@bobmcdougall8981]

I read a great comment and believe it to be true…..”before the Beatles life was in black and white but by the time they finished it was in colour”. I agree 100%.

[@ianliverpool6623]

Great upload .. lived not far from me in Liverpool

[@brewstergallery]

Original pressings had an infinite loop cut into the last note so that if you had a non automatic or were able to keep it from lifting the needle it would keep going.

[@kjellcarlsson5639]

Great reaction. Here’s some more Beatles goodie’s for you. Come together, Helter skelter, Happiness is a warm gun, Year blues, I want you (she’s so heavy). Dear Prudence, While my guitar gently weeps, I’m the walrus. (That was difficult but I managed to get down to eight songs. I could easily add ten more. And more).

[@TangoEliott]

You got a good patreon. Paul is responsible for the middle section. John is the beginning and end.

[@Polyphemus47]

Obviously not the first time you've listened to this, since you 'direct' the orchestra, and mouth some of the lyrics. Still - loved your take on it. You really owe it to yourself to get to "LOVE" in Las Vegas. I've seen it 4 times, and will go again every time I get the chance. I remember so well the first time I heard this track, back in 1967. It is THE one that revived my Beatlemania, which has endured to this day.

[@roxannchambers312]

Except heartbreakingly there is no more Love. Best CdS show and it's no more since the closure of the Mirage.

[@Polyphemus47]

@@roxannchambers312 I didn't know it was closed! Shows you how well I stay aware of the world around me. But thanks - now I know. I'm heartbroken, too.

[@jeanmyers1787]

If you go to The One Show BBC in November when Now & Then released Giles Martin, George Martin’s son explained how much Beatles expected of him.

[@brianalmeida1964]

If you want another mind-blowing experience but from 1966 this time, then listen to The Beatles' song Tomorrow Never Knows. It still sounds strangely modern!! Stay safe 🤘 ✌️

[@jellyrollnorton]

"Mi madre" on Mother’s Day! ❤

[@bjam27]

Just here to see how long this video will stand 😂

[@ikshields]

And this is just the finale of the real work of genius - the entire album, “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. In its proper place at the end of the album, “A Day in the Life” is as inevitable as what would happen if you’d carefully stuffed the entire 20th Century into a broom closet for an hour, and then a child opened the door. Everything, everything, everything, the whole blessed, mixed-up, cacophonous, hyped-up, tragic, mystifying, beautiful mess comes tumbling out on the floor. Boom. 🤯

[@cha0tr0pic]

This tickled me-beautifully put.

[@SuperKevin57]

I would have loved to be the one who played that last piano chord.😂

[@Flowerbranche]

E major!

[@zapotc]

Probably one of my favorite reactions to this song :) But actually, the Beatles mixes this in mono as in Audio in center, not in stereo (the video is a remix either way so its not the og stereo thank God). But the mono mix was awesome too.

[@betsyab121]

This is a true Lennon/ McCartney collaboration! Lennon with his meloncholy story about his friend dying in a car. Then, they both came up with "I'd Love to turn you on..."Then, the classic McCartney bridge. And, don't forget Ringo's orchestral drum part. It is a sonically brilliant song! In the video, you can see Mick Jagger from The Rolling Stones and Michael Nesmith from The Monkees hanging out in the background, too!❤

[@dougsusie2319]

57 years later, still regarded as the greatest Lp track ever.

[@louisbronzino]

The end was 4 pianos hitting the same note.

[@michaelhoward900]

The lyrics were based on stories in the newspaper that John had read.

[@mikesaunders4775]

And the death of his friend Tara Browne.

[@daraysmchors.busnek]

THE BEATLES КАК БУДТО ПРОШЛОЕ И БУДУЩЕЕ ВСЁ ВМЕСТЕ

[@bh9225]

Love the faint and brief creaking sound of the rocking chair during the outo.i

[@plebny]

Great job on that one!

[@francoismorin8567]

A must

[@mikefetterman6782]

John, being on a deadline to come up with a new song, found his lyrics in the paper (almost word for word, straight from the news). Famous for using news, circus posters, and such for inspiration, he came up with several songs in minutes before they pressed "record". George Martin, Ringo and George Harrison have all stated how after Brian Epstein died, John became quite the slacker.

[@HaleksMTL]

I didn't think younger ppl could pick up on just how powerful and difficult it would have been to create such a soundscape with only analog instruments and 4 tracks, the subtle arrangements etc. Music is so kinda so "perfect" and often sterile in sound quality and anyone can make big noise with just a computer and a couple instruments, have fake orchestras accompany them etc. Point is, it's very hard to understand how complex and masterful this is for its time, unless you have notions on what it was like to record back then, what genres of music existed and how risky doing something like that was, and somehow making something completely off the wall sound so fantastic. (Most experimental music doesn't give you goosebumps lol)

[@viviennerose6858]

Psychedelia at its finest

[@sourisvoleur4854]

And a look ahead at prog rock

[@peterzimmer9549]

Paul wrote the middle 8. It was actually a different song that Paul had been working on. John and Paul just merged their two different songs.

[@bobski7032]

Lucky man who made the grade …Tara Browne 1945-1966 …a friend of the lads

[@emmanuelsantos4414]

Meu garoto! Todo este disco é maravilhoso!!! Feliz por vê que jovens como você podem continuar dando um avante ao Rock! Sugestões: Suzi Quatro, The Runaways, Maggie Bell & Stone The Crows, Nina Simone, Sex Pistols... Abraço da cidade de Natal RN, no Nordeste do Brasil.

[@denis_catroun6167]

Their producer George Martin was also instrumental (no pun intended) in the arranging of this song. The man was a genius. Basically, they all were.

[@MVRemastered]

"A jaw dropper" and thats what it is.