The Beatles song that caused George Martin “one of the biggest hurts” of his life
Thinking of four names more impactful in the world of music than John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr is a fool’s errand. Though probably possible, it certainly isn’t worth your time. The truth is, The Beatles have been a shorthand for musical innovation and artistic creation for the last six decades.
The Fab Four, as they quickly became known, are one of the most adored bands in history, and it has meant they are also a legacy that has been endlessly riffed on. Ask anyone in Liverpool, and they will claim to have some connection to the band. The same can be said for a host of musicians who can be seen as the fifth wheel to their hit-making vehicle.
There have been a number of musicians throughout rock history that have been known as the ‘Fifth Beatle’ at one point or another. From the ousting of original drummer Pete Best to Billy Preston giving the Fab Four a lift during the Get Back sessions, some of the group’s best albums have benefited from having an outsider come in to make the right suggestion at the right time. If there’s one person who could have that title trademarked, however, it would have to be George Martin.
Coming from a more classically trained background than the rest of the band, Martin was able to translate some of their best ideas into music theory. When talking about their partnership, John Lennon was adamant about how essential Martin’s work was to the group, telling Rolling Stone: “He had a very great musical knowledge and background. He taught us a lot, and I’m sure we taught him a lot through our sort of primitive musical ability.”
Despite his ability to work magic on their early recordings, Martin started to move further away from the group during the making of Sgt Pepper. Although he may have been responsible for some of the technical advancements that went into masterpieces like ‘Strawberry Fields Forever‘, The Beatles were becoming far more independent by the time they were making their conceptual album.
While Martin had a hands-on approach when sculpting previous ballads like ‘Eleanor Rigby’, Paul McCartney decided he didn’t need Martin’s services on the song ‘She’s Leaving Home’. Featuring no Beatles playing instruments, McCartney and Lennon sing most of the song about a teenage runaway as the gentle sounds of strings and a harp play in the background.
According to Martin’s recollection, McCartney didn’t bother waiting for him to get out of one of his sessions to make the final string arrangement. Since Martin was preoccupied with singer Cilla Black, McCartney worked with arranger Mike Leander to get the final parts, which Martin called “one of the biggest hurts of my life”.
In his memoir All You Need is Ears, Martin goes into detail about how everything transpired, saying, “I couldn’t do it at that short notice. In the end, he found Mike Leander, who could. The following day Paul presented me with it and said, ‘Here we are. I’ve got a score. We can record it now.’ I recorded it, with a few alterations to make it work better, but I was hurt.”
What is ‘She’s Leaving Home’ about?
Regardless of who worked on it, the results spoke for themselves when the album was released. Staying on droning chords for what seems like ages, McCartney was able to capture the sound of what many of the group’s fans were going through as they started to walk out of their normal lives and go against their parent’s wishes for what they were supposed to be.
“This one is based somewhat on a newspaper report of a missing girl,” explained McCartney of he song’s inception. “The headline was something like ‘A-Level Girl Dumps Car and Vanishes’. So, I set out to imagine what might have happened, the sequence of events. The detail of leaving a note that she ‘hoped would say more’ is one of the strongest moments in the song.”
Even without working on the final arrangement, Martin did admit to liking the way that the song came out, recalling, “It’s almost like a little opera, and it’s one of the best-constructed songs they ever did…I am amazed that they could do this at their age because they could see the conflict between the young and the old.”
The band’s impatience for Martin would soon get the better of them on The White Album, becoming some tense that Martin would go on holiday midway through the sessions so he wouldn’t have to deal with satisfying everyone’s egos. While Sgt Pepper might be seen as The Beatles’ masterwork, this tense moment was the first sign that not all was well in The Beatles’ camp.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.