The Beatles - Penny Lane Lyrics

The Beatles Lyrics

"Penny Lane"

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to have known
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar
The little children laugh at him behind his back
And the banker never wears a mac
In the pouring rain, very strange

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the queen
He likes to keep his fire engine clean
It's a clean machine

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
A four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And though she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway

In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer
We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain, very strange

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
Penny Lane

Submit Corrections

Thanks to melanie price, Zainab Firdausi, pooksie for correcting these lyrics.

Writer(s): Paul McCartney, John Lennon

This song was inspired by Paul McCartney's childhood memories, like the previously written "Strawberry Fields Forever" was based on John Lennon's memories.

The street this song got its title from was named after James Penny, a slave ship owner who lived in the 18th century.

This song isn't about a street though but about a particular bus station where John Lennon and Paul McCartney would hang out in their childhood, because it was on the way between their houses, where they needed to change buses.

Paul McCartney decided to add a trumpet solo to this song after he saw a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto #2" on television.

There is a version of this song with piccolo trumpet notes at the end, and it was included in the original US promo single. Only very few such copies had been released for radio stations, before the pressing of the mix without the ending trumpet began. Those first recordings are considered the most valuable and rare collectibles of The Beatles.