Read on Twitter
it’s #SgtPeppers day which means it’s a perfect time to talk about one of my favorite subjects: a magical song called “A DAY IN THE LIFE” https://open.spotify.com/track/5V3HOUIcQTAdUmzHPcfb6F?si=MBwhFlaFRW67lCWnE2u52g
before i start i wanna say all this info is from these books + interviews I’ve read/watched over the years OKAY HERE WE GO
John and Paul talking about writing the song -John: “”A Day in the Life” that was something. I dug it. It was good piece of work between Paul and me. I had the “I read the news today” bit, and it turned Paul on. Now and then we really turn each other on with a bit of a song.”
Paul: “As John and I looked at each other, a little flash went between our eyes, like “I’d love to turn you on,” a recognition of what we were doing, so I thought, okay, we’ve just got to have something amazing that will illustrate that.”
A passage from Geoff Emerick’s book about Ringo’s part: “With John and Paul coaching and egging him on, he did an overdub that was nothing short of spectacular.”
George is only credited with playing the maracas (or congas depending on who you ask) on this song. But you know what? He CONTRIBUTED!!! https://twitter.com/sgt_macca/status/1261030582064222214
The alarm clock heard on the track was used to tell the Beatles when to come back in after a long break. It was a happy accident that it worked so well with Paul’s “woke up, fell out of bed” lyric. Also Mal Evans is who you hear counting the bars.
An orchestra was brought in and asked to play for 24 bars starting at the lowest notes of their instruments and climbing up to the highest. They were instructed to ignore the other musicians and play it at whatever interval they wanted - as long as it was completed in 24 bars.
The musicians were less than excited about these instructions. They went back and forth with George Martin and Paul about it. John announced to them, “We’re going to turn down the lights, this way no one will be able to tell if their neighbor is playing off key.”
As they recorded the crescendo, John and Paul encouraged them all to stand up and move around while they played. They did several takes and then later the takes were layered on top of each other. The final product was the equivalent of 200 musicians playing this insane crescendo.
Here’s what George Martin had to say about the process of mixing the orchestral takes. It’s really interesting. From his book “Summer of Love: the Making of Sgt. Pepper”: “It required a great deal of patience and understanding. I kept the Beatles well away...” 
The song’s closing piano chord was created by John, Paul, Ringo, Mal Evans and George Martin all hitting chords on separate pianos at the same time. As the chord would fade, Emerick would raise the gain so the chord continued. Paul and John requested that it “go on forever.”
They all had to stay completely silent while the chord went out because any sound would have been obscenely loud and destroyed the take. At the end of the chord the Abbey Road air conditioning can be heard because of how much Emerick had turned up the faders.
George showed up late and missed the piano recording. John said to him, “Nice of you to turn up, George! You only missed the most important overdub we’ve ever done!”
There’s so much more I can say about the production of this song - like the inclusion of a tone only dogs can hear - but this thread is already so long so I’ll finish up. It really is a fascinating moment in the Beatles catalog.
The BBC banned the song because of the “allusions to illegal substances.” From the Beatles???? No way. and thus concludes my thread on not just one of the great Beatles songs but one of the all time great songs in EXISTENCE!!!!
“somebody spoke and i went into a dream”
