"
Magical Mystery Tour" is a song by
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
, the opening track and theme song for the
albumMagical Mystery Tour is a record by the English rock band The Beatles, first released as an 11-track LP in the US on 27 November 1967 and on 8 December 1967 in the UK as a 6-song double-extended play disk . Both the US and UK records feature the 6-song soundtrack to a one-hour television film of...
and
TV film of the same nameMagical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television film starring The Beatles that initially aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967. Upon its initial showing, the film was poorly received by critics and audiences.-Initial Idea:“If stage shows were to be out, we wanted something to replace them...
.
Richie UnterbergerRichie Unterberger is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.Having worked as a college DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
of Allmusic called it "a pleasant, get-up-and-go tune, but not one of the Beatles' very best songs." Unlike the theme songs for their four primary film projects, it was not released as a single.
The song is credited to
Lennon/McCartneyThe songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney is one of the best-known and most successful musical and cultural collaborations in history. Between 1962 and 1969, they wrote and published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by The...
, and
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
said it was co-written.
John LennonJohn Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles...
said, "Paul's song.
"
Magical Mystery Tour" is a song by
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
, the opening track and theme song for the
albumMagical Mystery Tour is a record by the English rock band The Beatles, first released as an 11-track LP in the US on 27 November 1967 and on 8 December 1967 in the UK as a 6-song double-extended play disk . Both the US and UK records feature the 6-song soundtrack to a one-hour television film of...
and
TV film of the same nameMagical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television film starring The Beatles that initially aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967. Upon its initial showing, the film was poorly received by critics and audiences.-Initial Idea:“If stage shows were to be out, we wanted something to replace them...
.
Richie UnterbergerRichie Unterberger is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.Having worked as a college DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
of Allmusic called it "a pleasant, get-up-and-go tune, but not one of the Beatles' very best songs." Unlike the theme songs for their four primary film projects, it was not released as a single.
Composition
The song is credited to
Lennon/McCartneyThe songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney is one of the best-known and most successful musical and cultural collaborations in history. Between 1962 and 1969, they wrote and published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by The...
, and
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
said it was co-written.
John LennonJohn Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles...
said, "Paul's song. Maybe I did part of it, but it was his concept."
McCartney said the "Roll up! Roll up!" introduction was inspired by a
barkerA barker is a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events, such as a circus or funfair, by exhorting passing public, describing attractions of show and emphasizing variety, novelty, beauty, or some other feature believed to incite listeners to attend entertainment...
. The remaining lyrics explain in a general way the premise of the film: a
mystery tourA charabanc or "char-à-banc" is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or early motor coach, usually open-topped, common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. It was especially popular for sight-seeing or "works outings" to the country or the seaside, organised by businesses once a year...
of the type that was popular in Britain when the Beatles were young. Lennon and McCartney expanded the tour to make it magical, which allowed it to be "a little more surreal than the real ones."
Recording
Recording began on 25 April 1967, less than a week after the final sessions for
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by English rock band The Beatles. Released in the UK on 1 June 1967, it became a defining album in the emerging psychedelic rock style; it has since been recognised by prominent critics and publications as one of the most influential...
. The song was not complete when the session began and much of the evening was spent in rehearsals, but by the end of the evening the basic rhythm track was complete. The Beatles added bass guitar and vocal
overdubsOverdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....
on 26 and 27 April. On 3 May, the
brassA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
fanfare and other parts were added in a disorganized session where the trumpet players began the evening without a
scoreSheet music is a hand-written or printed form of musical notation; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
. According to Philip Jones, a friend of one of the players who was present, one of the players eventually took matters into his own hands and wrote a score out for them.
Release
"Magical Mystery Tour" was released on a six-song
EPAn extended play is a vinyl record, CD, or music download which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as an LP. Usually, a CD single has around 10–28 minutes of music, an EP has up to 36 minutes, and an album generally has 30–80 minutes. Mini-LPs generally contain 20–30...
in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
on 8 December 1967. In the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the EP was stretched to an
LPLong-playing record albums are 33⅓ rpm vinyl gramophone records , generally either 10 or 12 inches in diameter. They were first introduced in 1948, and served as a primary release format for recorded music until the compact disc began to significantly displace them by 1988...
by including five songs previously released as singles. During the CD era, the LP version was issued on CD in both countries.
Alternate movie version
The version actually heard in the movie differs somewhat from the one released on the album. The "Roll up, roll up" intro at the beginning had been re-recorded and also slightly expanded. Also, during the song's middle, a short monologue spoken by John Lennon was heard:
When a man buys a ticket for a Magical Mystery Tour
He knows what to expect.
We guarantee him the trip of a lifetime
And that's just what he gets.
The incredible Magical Mystery Tour!
This version has never been officially released.
Personnel
- Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
– vocals, piano, bass
- John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles...
– vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar, percussion
- George Harrison
George Harrison MBE was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as...
– vocals, lead guitar, percussion
- Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE , better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the rock group The Beatles. When The Beatles formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes....
– drums, percussion
- Mal Evans
Malcolm 'Mal' Evans is best known as the road manager, assistant, and a friend of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr....
– percussion
- Neil Aspinall
Neil Aspinall was a British music industry executive. A childhood friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head The Beatles' company Apple Corps....
– percussion
- David Mason – trumpet
- Elgar Howarth
Elgar Howarth is an English conductor and composer.Howarth was educated in the 1950s at Manchester University and the Royal Manchester College of Music , where his fellow students included the composers Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, and the...
– trumpet
- Roy Copestake – trumpet
- John Wilbraham – trumpet
- Personnel per The Beatles Bible
Cover versions
"Magical Mystery Tour" was
coveredIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by
Cheap TrickCheap Trick is an American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1974. The band consists of members Robin Zander , Rick Nielsen , Tom Petersson , and Bun E...
and released on their
1991See also:* 1991 in music Record labels established in 1991-Summary:The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year...
greatest hits compilationThe Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by Cheap Trick. It contains many of Cheap's Trick's popular songs, as well as a previously unreleased cover version of The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour, which according to the liner notes, was an outtake from the Lap of Luxury album...
. It has also been
coveredIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
live by
Type O NegativeType O Negative is a heavy metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. Although commonly viewed as a gothic metal band, Type O has also incorporated elements of doom metal, and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death has resulted in the nickname "The...
on their
Dead AgainDead Again is a 1991 psychological thriller/neo-noir directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson. Andy Garcia, Derek Jacobi and Robin Williams are also featured.-Plot summary:...
tour, and was a hit for
AmbrosiaAmbrosia is a musical group formed in the Los Angeles area during the early 1970s.-Formation and inspiration:The members of Ambrosia decided on the moniker in 1970 to represent a vision of their music: all shades, textures, colors and styles...
in 1978.
The song has been used in numerous shows of the
Drum and Bugle CorpsDrum and bugle corps is a name used to describe two forms of marching units.* Drum and bugle corps — such as those organized by Drum Corps International after 1972, Drum Corps Associates , and other similar international organizations* Drum and bugle corps — such as those organized...
, The Velvet Knights.
It was also covered by guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen along with vocalist
Jeff Scott SotoJeff Scott Soto is an American rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and for stepping up to the job of lead vocalist for Journey on their 2006-2007 tours after Steve Augeri had to leave the band for surgery...
, bassist
Jeff PilsonJeff Pilson is an American bass guitarist.Pilson was a member of heavy metal bands Dokken and Dio. He currently has his own progressive metal group called War and Peace, which was formed in 1993, releasing two albums: 1993's War and Peace and 2004's The Walls Have Eyes...
, drummer
Frankie BanaliFrankie Banali, born November 14, 1951, is an American drummer best known for being the former drummer of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot. He was also the band's manager for their final decade. He also played drums in the heavy metal band W.A.S.P...
and guitarist
Bob KulickBob Kulick is an American guitarist and Grammy Award-winning record producer. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he is the older brother of former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick, and was the one to suggest Kiss hire him....
. The new version lasts 4:30 minutes, almost two minutes longer than the original, and features extended
neo classicalNeo-classical metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that is heavily influenced by classical music. It refers to a very technical performance consisting of elements borrowed from both classical and heavy metal music...
guitar soloGuitar solos are a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, rock, metal and jazz styles such as swing and jazz...
s that weren't featured on the original.
The PunklesThe Punkles were a band performing songs by The Beatles in punk style. They formed in 1998 in Hamburg, Germany and it was actually a side project of Prollhead!....
did a Punk cover of this song on their third album "Pistol".