Penny Lane - Background

Background

The song's title is derived from the name of a street near Lennon's childhood home for his first 5 years (Newcastle Road, just off Church Road), in the band's hometown, Liverpool. McCartney and Lennon would meet at Penny Lane junction in the Wavertree area to catch a bus into the centre of the city. The area that surrounds its junction with Smithdown Road, Smithdown Place and Allerton Road is also commonly called Penny Lane. At the time, in the 1960s, this was a significant bus terminus for several routes, and buses with "Penny Lane" displayed were common throughout Liverpool.

Locally the term "Penny Lane" was the name given to the area which includes Smithdown Place (where the terminus was located) and where Allerton Road becomes Smithdown Road and its busy shopping area. Penny Lane is named after James Penny, an 18th century slave trader. The street is an important landmark, sought out by most Beatles fans touring Liverpool. In the past, street signs saying "Penny Lane" were constant targets of tourist theft and had to be continually replaced. Eventually, city officials gave up and simply began painting the street name on the sides of buildings. This practice was stopped in 2007 and more theft-resistant "Penny Lane" street signs have since been installed though some are still stolen.

Beatles producer George Martin has stated he believes the pairing of "Penny Lane" with "Strawberry Fields Forever" resulted in probably the greatest single ever released by the group. Both songs were later included on the US Magical Mystery Tour album in November 1967. In the UK, the pairing famously failed to reach No. 1 in the singles charts, stalling one place below Engelbert Humperdinck's "Release Me". In the US the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week before being knocked off by The Turtles song "Happy Together". The song features contrasting verse-chorus form.

The single was released following the success of the double A-side "Yellow Submarine"/"Eleanor Rigby", when Brian Epstein enquired if the band had any new material available. Since the Beatles usually did not include songs released as singles on their British albums, both songs were left off the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, a decision Martin later regretted..

This was also the first single by The Beatles to be sold with a picture sleeve in the UK, a practice rarely used there at that time, but common in the US and various other countries (such as Japan).