Intertextuality in Recorded Popular Music

Running head: PENNY LANE: SONG ANALYSIS
Penny Lane: Song Analysis
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1PENNY LANE: SONG ANALYSIS
Songs such as “Hey Jude”, “Day Tripper”, “Let it be”, “Come Together”, “Yesterday”
and various others have gained popularity over the years. These are songs that have been
successful in positioning themselves as iconic “The Beatles” songs which instantly brings up the
image of the Iconic foursome in front of our eyes (Ticháková, 2019). From the vast list of
Beatles songs, all songs have not received the same amount of love and hence, one song is more
popular than other. “Penny Lane” is such a song that is a masterpiece on its own. However, the
song has been overlooked among the cluster of highly iconic Beatles songs (Church, 2019). The
songs is considered one of the most colourful creations that came from The Beatles. The songs is
based on a collection of sights that Paul McCartney saw as a child growing up in the Liverpool.
The motive of the paper is to critically evaluate the song “Penny Lane” on the basis of the style
of the song, the genre and the historical context of the song.
The Beatles along with the Rolling Stones followed by bands such as Led Zeppelin and
various others have brought classic rock to prominence and relevance (Koger, 2019). “Penny
Lane” is a song that has been composed and written by Paul McCartney on the basis of the vivid
memories that McCartney experienced while he grew up as a child in Liverpool. The name
Penny Lane, has been derived from the name of a bus terminus from where one could travel to
any part of Liverpool. The song portrays a live setting that has been based on the amalgamation
of the childhood memories of Paul McCartney along with the sights that he saw while he was
waiting for John Lennon in the Terminus called Penny Lane. The visuals that came with the
release of the song showed an array of vast colours that helped in communicating the vibrant
setting of the song. Liberal people might state that the visuals associated to a song are the last
aspects that the listeners of the song need to know about. Thus, it can be opined that the music

2PENNY LANE: SONG ANALYSIS
and the tone of the song should be the critical aspects that should portray the nature of the music
and the story that is being portrayed in a song.
The Style of the instant classic song was set up in a style that helps in portraying a
cheerful setting. The cheerful setting that has been portrayed in the song are reflections made by
McCartney as it can be opined that the setting has been interpreted in the song in accordance
with the bright memories that McCartney has had while living in the city. Apart from the setting
of the song, or the style that was used or conveyed in the song, it holds historical importance.
The songs can be deemed to be one of the most important songs in the history of The Beatles.
Just as Lennon wrote the song, “Strawberry Fields Forever” with reflections from experiences
from his personal life and past experiences, Penny Lane finds itself in a same place (Lopes
2017). Similarly, Penny Lane has been written in accordance with the memories that McCartney
experienced. Thus, both the songs have been successful in portraying happy vibes that have been
amalgamated into the songs. The song aims to communicate the visuals that McCartney
encountered while waiting or taking a stroll through Penny Lane. In the song, McCartney
describes a scenario in which the visuals that he sees have been portrayed. He sees a barber shop
that is in the middle of the town. It helps in communicating that at that point of time the barbers
had contact with numerous people’s heads as a result of the profession that the latter were
employed in. The connection that the barber had with his customers has been emphasised with
the help of the depiction of the pictures of the clients that the barber had handled. The beginning
of the song also describes a banker and a bank and children’s reaction to the same. Furthermore,
the song describes a nurse selling poppies for the day of Remembrance. The description of the
songs is enough to put up a vivid description of the scenes that McCartney saw.

3PENNY LANE: SONG ANALYSIS
Apart from the vivid description that has been made in the song, the chords progression
that his presented in the song is the reason behind the granger associated to the song. The main
key that has been presented in the song is B# or B major with a slow tempo of 112 bpm. If the
latter information is provided to a lay person having basic knowledge in Music they are most
likely to interpret that the song would be either tricky or too simple to be differentiated from
other songs (Spicer, 2018). However, it can be said that the chord progression that has been
presented in the song are similar to classic rock Bass chord progression, where the chords do not
change abruptly. Although the main melodic component of the song is a piano, an example is
being made with the help of a guitar as a melodic instrument for reference. With minor shift in
the low notes or the scale of E, it has been also noticed that there are chords progression that are
simple in nature, for example shift from a B major to a B flat. There is an assimilation of
different chords such as B#, C#, D#, F#, G# and others, it is not as tricky to implements the
same. McCartney, with the assistance from Lennon found out simple chord progression similar
to Bass chord progression would help in making the song the way it is today.
On a concluding note, it can be said that Penny Lane is a Masterpiece on its own apart
from the several award worthy Beatles songs. The songs stands for everything Beatles, from the
tone, to the communication of visuals through music and critical yet simple chord progressions.

4PENNY LANE: SONG ANALYSIS
REFERENCES
Church, S. H. (2019). Adorno in the Digital Age: Consumerism, Ideology, and Participation in
The Beatles: Rock Band. Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD, 5(1), 2.
Koger, G. (2019). Book Review: Encyclopedia of Classic Rock. Reference & User Services
Quarterly, 58(2), 127-127.
Lopes, A. (2017). Poética do movimento & tradução: o caso de Strawberry Fields Forever de
Richard Zimler. Cadernos de Tradução, 37(1), 18-45.
Spicer, M. (2018). The Electric Light Orchestra and the Anxiety of the Beatles' Influence. The
Pop Palimpsest: Intertextuality in Recorded Popular Music, 106-136.
Ticháková, E. (2019). Language of The Beatles in their Early and Later Period.