TOP 100 SONGS OF THE BEATLES: 82

"She's Leaving Home" (McCartney – June 2, 1967) 

Sgt. Peppers… – Side 1, Track 6 (3:35)

YouTube (McCartney live in Red Square)

From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone and About.com –  

Recording – 

The day before McCartney wanted to work on the song's score, he learned that George Martin, who usually handled the Beatles' string arrangements, was not available. He contacted Mike Leander, who did it in Martin's place. It was the first time a Beatles song was not arranged by Martin (and the only time it was done with the Beatles' consent: Phil Spector's orchestration of Let It Be was done without McCartney's knowledge). Martin was hurt by McCartney's actions, but he produced the song and conducted the string section. The harp was played by Sheila Bromberg, the first female musician to appear on a Beatles record.

The stereo version of the song runs at a slower speed than the mono mix, and consequently is a semitone lower in pitch. This is mentioned in the booklet accompanying The Beatles in Mono CD box set, but no reason is given. A 2007 Mojo magazine article revealed the mono mix was sped up to make Paul sound younger and tighten the track.

This song -- an idea by Paul, but worked on with John, just like in the early years -- was inspired by a February 27th, 1967 headline in the UK newspaper, Daily Mail, which read "A-Level Girl Dumps Car and Vanishes." It told the story of one Melanie Coe, a 17-year-old female "straight-A" student from a wealthy family who'd suddenly disappeared, seduced by the club scene of swinging London. Paul read the story, picking up on a line from her father: "I cannot imagine why she should run away, she has everything here." He realized it was a great idea for a song, but also spotted the generation gap at work -- the prevailing idea of the postwar free world that money could literally buy happiness, which was steadily being rejected by youths in both Europe and America.

The song was written quickly, with John providing much of the chorus; not only did he suggest singing the title in extended phrases, he also came up with the idea of the Greek chorus-like backing vocals echoing the parents' confusion. (Most notable was John's idea to end "We gave her everything money could buy" with the answering phrase "...bye, bye.")

As this song, like "Eleanor Rigby," needed no backing from the band at all, the recording of "She's Leaving Home" was extremely simple, especially by Sgt. Pepper standards; Paul simply went to the studio on March 17, 1967, with an arrangement for the small orchestra he intended to use. Unfortunately, producer George Martin had been unable to score it, having already been booked by manager Brian Epstein for a Cilla Black session, so Paul called in another arranger named Mike Leander and had him write one. (This upset Martin, but he soon got over it -- "She's Leaving Home" is the only Beatles song with an orchestral score he didn't write, with the exception of Phil Spector's remixes of "Across the Universe", "Let It Be", "I Me Mine" and "The Long and Winding Road,"done after the Beatles were essentially dissolved.) Nine takes were done, but the first was judged best, and three days later, Paul and John laid down backing vocals.

Takes: 9

Personnel

Paul McCartney – Double-tracked lead vocals
John Lennon – Double-tracked lead vocals
Mike Leander – String arrangement
George Martin – Conductor, producer
Erich Gruenberg, Jose Luis García, Derek Jacobs, Trevor Williams – Violin
John Underwood, Stephen Shingles – Viola
Dennis Vigay, Alan Dalziel – Cello
Gordon Pearce – Double bass
Sheila Bromberg – Harp

Trivia –

In one of the stranger coincidences in Beatle history, Paul had met Melanie Coe, the subject of his song, years earlier, though he didn't realize it when writing "She's Leaving Home." The popular Coe had entered a lip-syncing contest on the ITV musical variety show “Ready Steady Go!” in 1963; Paul, as the judge, named her the winner and presented her with her prize. It was only in the mid-'70s, when she saw a TV interview with McCartney about the making of Pepper, that she realized the song had been about her.

Coe never met “a man from the motor trade" but rather abandoned her car and belongings to move in with a croupier from a nearby casino. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of telling the wrong person where he worked, and after the father called the croupier's boss, she was back home within a week. As far as Melanie was concerned, however, this changed nothing, and before long she'd run away again, this time to marry a gentleman from Spain. After a year that marriage went sour, and Coe flew to California to live in an ashram. She eventually wound up on the Hollywood scene, dating several celebrities, including Burt Ward, who played Robin in the original ABC-TV Batman series. She returned to London in 1981 to care for her mother, who was now dying -- and there met the man she would be with ever since. They live in Spain, where she handles estate planning.

The stereo mix of "She's Leaving Home" was, for some reason, slowed down quite a bit from the original session tapes, so much so that the "original" mono mix is in the key of F and the stereo take in the key of E.

Mike Leander would go directly from this career-making appearance into scoring the Rolling Stones' hit cover of Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By." He would later become even better known for co-writing and producing Gary Glitter's big hits, including "Rock and Roll (Part 2)."

The "man from the motor trade" was thought by many to be a sly allusion to Brian Epstein's business partner Terry Doran, who indeed owned car dealerships with him. This, however, was just a product of McCartney's imagination. Aside from that detail, however, and the fact that the escape happened in the afternoon and not the morning, Melanie now says that the song captured her emotions and the situation itself perfectly -- almost unnaturally so.

Today in Beatles History (From The Internet Beatles Album) January 18 –

1963 – Recording for Radio Luxembourg: "Carol", "Lend Me Your Comb", and others.

1964 – "With The Beatles" number 1, 7th week (UK Record Retailer chart).– "I Want To Hold Your Hand" number 45, 1st week in the Top 100 (Billboard).

1965 – Brian Epstein Automobiles takes out mortgages on a car showroom and a nearby workshop in Hounslow, Middlesex.

1966 – Brian returns to England from the Virgin Islands.

1969 – John speaks about important financial problems in Apple, warning it could go broke because of its continuous losses.– Yellow Submarine LP, 1st week in the Top 30, entering the ranking (Billboard).

1977 – AIR Studios, London. Cleaning and reprocessing of tapes for “The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl”. Producer – George Martin; Engineer – Geoff Emerick; 2nd Engineer – Nigel Walker.