Browse By

The Beatles – Penny Lane

Some simple musical math: “Penny Lane” by The Beatles = One of the greatest songs by the greatest band ever.

Lyrics

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he’s had the pleasure to know.
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 mack
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 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.

* According to the “Penny Lane” entry on Wikipedia: “The mysterious lyrics ‘A four of fish and finger pies’ are British slang. ‘A four of fish’ refers to fourpennyworth of fish and chips, while ‘finger pie’ is sexual slang of the time, apparently referring to intimate fondlings between teenagers in the shelter, which was a familiar meeting place.”