“Nonsense”: The Beatles song George Martin thought was a waste of money
Not every band can make the best rock and roll ever made when they go into the studio. There are bound to be work jobs every now and again, and even if someone has an unbelievable track record in the studio, it’s hard to put that much into a song when the basis of the tune isn’t that great, to begin with. Although The Beatles usually were great about quality control, George Martin didn’t mince his words when he thought they were wasting their time at Abbey Road Studios.
Then again, Martin was one of the few people who could justifiably make such a claim. He was the one who served as a mentor of sorts for the Fab Four throughout their early years, and when any song either wasn’t working out or had a few problems, he was the one to either suggest changing things up a bit or adding in orchestration that made the entire track come alive.
But even if Martin didn’t agree with some tunes, The Beatles were always willing to defy convention. After all, the producer had warned Paul McCartney about not using certain intervals in the arrangement of ‘Yesterday’ when writing out the string section, and yet that piece of the song is among one of the most tasteful moments in the band’s career. That was on the cusp of their teenybopper era, though, and Sgt Peppers was when they really got to explore the studio.
Revolver had set everything in motion, but the minute that everyone heard ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, they realised they were dealing with a completely different band than the one who sang ‘She Loves You’. They were willing to take more chances now, and while most of their magnum opus featured different detours like ‘She’s Leaving Home’ and ‘Within You Without You’, ‘A Day in the Life’ was the leap off the diving board that the band needed.
For as much of a curmudgeon that John Lennon could be about his songs, even he admitted that this tune was a gamechanger for the group, taking both a song from him and one from McCartney and tying them together through a grand orchestral swell that simulated a sense of chaos. Martin had been no stranger to hiring musicians, but he almost put his foot down before anyone managed to walk in the door.
“‘You cannot have a symphony orchestra just for a few chords, Paul. Waste of money. I mean, you’re talking about ninety musicians.’”
George Martin
You have to remember that orchestras aren’t necessarily cheap, and Martin felt bringing in those musicians wouldn’t be necessary for the band, saying, “‘Nonsense’, I replied. ‘You cannot have a symphony orchestra just for a few chords, Paul. Waste of money. I mean, you’re talking about ninety musicians.’ Thus spake the trained corporate lackey still lurking somewhere inside me. Yet my imagination was fired: a symphony orchestra! I could see at once we could make a lovely sound.”
And while Martin may have been hung out to dry by Macca when making the arrangements for ‘She’s Leaving Home’, he more than makes up for it here. The idea of translating musical anarchy to an orchestra was bound to be difficult, but letting Martin oversee made for the kind of crescendo that’s both atonal and beautiful in its own way, especially as the strings ramp up until they reach the final E major chord at the end.
The major executives at the studio may not have been happy seeing the band write a check that big for studio musicians, but sometimes inspiration trumps any kind of paycheck. ‘A Day in the Life’ was about making something new for the world, and after years as everyone’s favourite rock and roll band, The Beatles had shown everyone there were peaks they hadn’t even reached yet.
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