Beatles: A Day In The Life Meaning

Song Released: 1967

A Day In The Life Lyrics

I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car
He didn’t notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of...

1. anonymous

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   Dec 14th 2010 !⃝

   its as simple as this. timothy leary was a shaman. the beatles looooved tim leary and quoted him religiously. the fact is as a shaman he studied death as beautiful. and thatturn you ooooooonnnnn means give you lsd. the beatles really wanted people to listen to and follow dr.timothy leary
2. anonymous

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   Nov 8th 2010 !⃝

   While finding within yourself what a song means is an important thing to do, to me, these epic rhetorical descriptions of life, love, humanity, etc. are extremely pretentious. The guys who said that John and Paul both wrote two separate songs are correct. I think the whole thing was George Martin's idea. Both decided to write about "A day in the life" (had the title before the song) and used a full orchestra to have a "controlled free-for-all" for the transitions between the two independent songs. John's lyrics are quite literally about what he did one day. Paul's, however, are memories of his growing up. The song is genius because of John's ominous guitar and haunting voice juxtaposed against Paul's typically vaudevillian pop melody. And lest we forget the the orchestra and the song's brilliant time changes. Tell anyone else to put those elements together, and you would get pig shit. Tell John and Paul to, and you get one of the best songs ever recorded. The lyrics, however, are not the groundbreaking masterfully written poetry that some here are making them out to be. For that, listen to any of Ringo's songs!! (haha)
3. m320753

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   Apr 20th 2010 !⃝

   this song means exactly what john and paul wanted it to mean and anything more or less about it is an act of frustration to dwell on each line. most people should take the song with a teaspoon of salt
4. anonymous

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   Feb 14th 2010 !⃝

   The song is one of a myriad of clues concerning Pauls' death, back in the 60's by being hit by a car.
5. crackerjack

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   Jan 29th 2010 !⃝

   This song, like many others (It's Only Rock and Roll - The Rolling Stones ... Limelight - Rush) expresses the frustration that songwriters feel in consequence of their writing efforts going entirely over the heads of their (adoring) audiences... They'd truly love to "turn you on" ... to the significance of a tragic death in a motor car, for example ... but you might only be wondering if the deceased is famous ... ... a member of the House of Lords, let's say ... (otherwise, how interesting is it, really?) ... or to the inhuman horrors of war ... (but the war is over, isn't it? ... so why bother to watch a dreary film about it?)
   
   ... In the third verse, he tells you just how many holes (empty suits ... vacant minds) it takes to fill a premier performance venue in England - The Albert's Hall ... It got to be that the Beatles couldn't even hear themselves play above the wailing of the audiences ... so they ... stopped ...
   
   :)
   
   ... Pal McCartney's contribution is almost disgracefully ironic ... All his (entirely amiable .. even admirable) fellow is concerned with is getting to work on time ... and not looking too disheveled when he gets there ... to have a smoke and a (well -deserved, right?) cup of "joe" ...
   
   ... Well ... with all that's wrong with the world (as was then ... as is now) can you blame him ...?
   
   :)
6. shoveitin

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   Aug 5th 2009 !⃝

   if you imagine john being a master pulling strings of peoples imaginations with words and imagery, then this is what this song is. we make the meanings. he only picks them out of our brains. because he knows exactly how you think as a human being and the what various thoughts you think. there
7. anonymous

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   Jul 30th 2009 !⃝

   At the end of A Day in the Life, after the final chord, you will a high-picthed note intended only for dogs to hear, because John didn't want dogs to be left out of Sgt. Pepper's finale. After that, you will a strange message. The message is "will Paul comeback as Superman". That is related to the "Paul is Dead" hoax.
8. JamesPaul

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   Apr 14th 2009 !⃝

   This is kind of a general statement regarding all songs. Art is self portaiture, the lyrics probally reveal some unconscious insecurities, desires, fears, etc of the writer. Another theory- art is only percieved through the eyes of our own psyches, so there is no pure art. something that paul meant may mean something totally different to another person.
9. beatlesfan101

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   Apr 9th 2009 !⃝

   this song is about a friend of the bands who was killed in a car crash he and his girlfriend were driving and he did not see that the street light had change and he died from severe head injuries and john was reading the storie and was just writing as her read he truly is a geneous (musically) his friend was also an heir of a famous beer company but i forget which one. :))
10. anonymous

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    Mar 30th 2009 !⃝

    Ok I know it doesn't really have to do with an interpretation but if you wait until the last few lines which are "Never could be any other way" repeated, and play it backwards, you hear "When will Paul be back as superman" and not I want to **** spider man like some idiot posted...The Beatles put many messages like this in their songs and album covers to make people think Paul was dead. They were funny people and they just wanted to see how crazy people would go trying to figure out if he was actually dead.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. Vallick

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    Feb 7th 2009 !⃝

    For me its sound like John wrote this song by himself on the day he received the news that they found a replacement for paul.
    
    John is upset because Paul is dead. The song is about finding a replacement for paul. I read the news today oh boy about a lucky man who made the grade. Johns clearly talking about pauls replacement faul who made the grade. Though the news was rather sad John just has to laugh looking at the photo graph. Johns having conflicting emotions about Pauls death and can't help but laugh at the photo of Pauls replacement.
    
    John is not reading the main stream news. Instead John gets the inside news that they found a replacement for paul
    
    He blew his mind out in a car
    He didn’t notice that the lights had changed
    A crowd of people stood and stared
    They’d seen his face before,
    Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of lords.
    
    The above lyrics paint a very clear picture that Paul died in a car accident
    
    For me its sound like John wrote this song by himself on the day he received the news that they found a replacement for paul.
    
    Its sounds crazy at first Paul dyed in 1966 but this type of thing happens. I found out about Paul after I was investigating Henry Paulson who was assassinated jan 2007 but for some reason Henry paulson is still alive.
    I then watched the beatles rooftop concert and then I found all these videos about Paul dieng in 1966. I first found out about Henry paulson and this seems to be a true story and then I find out about Paul who died in 1966 but is still alive hmmm. I hope the illuminati didn't sacrifice Paul or anything dirty like that but who knows. This is a crazy thought maybe a satanic group of people murdered Paul and they cut of his head for there rituals. They then put him into a car and crash it to make it look like he was decapitated in the crash. you never no hollywood is ruled by people who worship satan and the Beatles were friends with the aleister crowley crowd right???

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Jan 28th 2009 !⃝

    first verse is about tara browne, the heir to guiness beer. he was john's friend and didn't know he had died in a car accident until he read the news. second verse is about the movie "how i won the war" which john was in.
    
    the song then is merged with an orchestral crescendo cacophony(thanks to george marin's expertise) into a separate piece that paul had written, but not completed.
    
    the song then reprises with another verse from john about the counting the pot holes in blackford, a town in lancashire.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. justme

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    Nov 3rd 2008 !⃝

    I'm only 17 however I'm doing this in college and I reckon that the song was written to show how people read the news and see horrific things like war and instead of doing things to stop it or to find another solution to it they just ignore it and go on with their everyday life. They make the same mistakes and only care about their day in their life, not how others are living. For example in the first two verses they are talking about the news and all bad things then the third verse is all about going out and being late for somewhere and completely forgetting about what they have seen and read.
14. anonymous

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    Oct 20th 2008 !⃝

    This was a song about the heir to the Guinness (brewery) fortune, who was a member of the House of Lords. His name was Wade, and he was killed in a car accident shortly before the song was written; he was in his early 20s. The whole song is written and sung from a detached third-person perspective, as if you are reading the news getting ready for work, in a hurry to rush out the door to catch your bus, then going out to a movie later ("I saw a film today...")
    
    "Four thousand holes in Blackburn...": "Holes" is a British dialect pronunciation of "halls", common in Blackburn at the time.
15. mgc

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    Oct 19th 2008 !⃝

    A day in the life
    
    I read the news today oh, boy
    About a lucky man who made the grade (about jfk)
    And though the news was rather sad (and though it affected me)
    Well, I just had to laugh (there was something funny about it)
    I saw the photograph
    He blew his mind out in a car (the gunman blew jfk's mind out while he was in a car)
    He didn't notice that the lights had changed (jfk was unaware of the danger)
    A crowd of people stood and stared (loads of people saw it happen but froze)
    They'd seen his face before (they knew the killer?)
    Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of lords (ppl questioned if he was from the government?)
    
    I saw a film today oh, boy
    The english army had just won the war ("they" "found" the "killer")
    A crowd of people turned away (and attention dropped)
    But I just had to look (but not mine)
    Having read the book (cause I knew what was going on)
    I love to turn you on. (ill tell you more)
    
    Woke up, got out of bed (my eyes had opened and I decided to take action)
    Dragged a comb across my head (I reviewed past events)
    Found my way downstairs and drank a cup (found the answer and got very pissed)
    And looking up, I noticed I was late (in retrospect, I saw I was way behind)
    Found my coat and grabbed my hat (found something to protect me and took the evidence I needed)
    Made the bus in seconds flat (didnt delay)
    Found my way upstairs and had a smoke (and met with high up people and told them my story)
    Somebody spoke and I went into a dream (then they told me theirs and it opened my eyes for another reality)
    Ah (lamenting, screaming)
    
    I read the news today oh, boy
    Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
    And though the holes were rather small
    They had to count them all
    Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall
    I'd love to turn you on (I can't tell you more)
    
    This last verse is supposed to be about corrupt politicians but doesn't seem to connect to the rest of the story except that its all about corrupt politics.. maybe it's about a different kind of holes.. like bullet holes.. Though I don't understand 4 thousand.. maybe he just wanted to illustrate there were (to) many?

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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