<P> Production began in Studio 2 at Abbey Road on 29 December 1966 with piano as the main instrument . Initially, Paul McCartney recorded keyboard parts onto the individual tracks of the four - track tape: a basic piano rhythm on track one; a second piano, recorded through a Vox guitar amplifier with added reverb, on track two; a prepared piano producing a "honky - tonk" sound on track three; and percussion effects and a harmonium playing high notes fed through the guitar amplifier on track four . The following day, the four tracks were mixed together to form the first track of a new tape, to which vocals, drums, congas, guitar and bass were added in early January 1967 . Brass and woodwind instruments were added on 9 - 10 January, in a score by George Martin, guided by McCartney's suggested melody lines . </P> <P> On 17 January 1967, trumpet player David Mason recorded the piccolo trumpet solo . The solo, which was the result of a suggestion from McCartney after seeing a BBC performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's second Brandenburg Concerto, is in a mock - Baroque style for which the piccolo trumpet (a small instrument built about one octave higher than the standard instrument) is particularly suited, having a clean and clear sound which penetrates well through thicker midrange textures . According to lead sound engineer Geoff Emerick, David Mason "nailed it" at some point during the recording; McCartney tried to get him to do another take but producer George Martin insisted it wasn't necessary, sensing Mason's fatigue . Emerick also notes in his book that prior to this recording, the high "E" was considered unobtainable by trumpet players and has been expected of them since the performance on the record . Mason was paid £ 27 and 10 s for his performance on the recording . </P> <P> The original US promo single mix of "Penny Lane" had an additional flourish of piccolo trumpet notes at the end of the song . This mix was quickly superseded by one without the last trumpet passage, but not before a handful of copies had been pressed and sent to radio stations . These recordings are among the rarest and most valuable Beatles collectibles . "Penny Lane" was mixed in stereo for the first time in 1971, for a West German issue of the Magical Mystery Tour LP, and in 1980 this mix of the song, with the addition of the trumpet ending, was included on the US Rarities compilation and the UK set The Beatles Box . A remix of the song released on Anthology 2 in 1996 also included the trumpet coda . The original promo single mix was made available again in 2017, when it was included on a CD of mono mixes in the six - disc 50th - anniversary edition of Sgt . Pepper . The two - and six - disc anniversary editions also featured a new remix of "Penny Lane" prepared by Giles Martin, designed to allow the keyboard parts to be heard distinctly . </P> <P> The song has a double tonic structure of B major verse (in I--vi--ii--V cycles) and A major chorus connected by formal pivoting dominant chords . In the opening bars in B major, after singing "In Penny Lane" (in an F ♯--B--C ♯--D ♯ melody note ascent) McCartney sings the major third of the first chord in the progression (on "Lane") and major seventh (on "barber") then switches to a Bm chord, singing the flattened third notes (on "know" with ai (Bm) chord) and flattened seventh notes (on "come and go" (with a ♭ VI (G) chord) and "say hello" (with a V (F ♯) chord)). This has been described as a profound and surprising innovation involving abandoning mid-cycle what initially appears to be a standard I--vi--ii--V doo - wop pop chord cycle . To get from the verse "In the pouring rain--very strange" McCartney uses an E chord as a pivot, (it is a IV chord in the preceding B key and a V in the looming A key) to take listeners back into the chorus ("Penny Lane is in my ears ..."). Likewise to get back from the chorus of "There beneath the blue suburban skies I sit, and meanwhile back..., McCartney uses an F ♯ pivot chord (which is a VI in the old A key and a V in the new B key). The lyrics "very strange" and "meanwhile back" can be viewed as hinting at these complex tonal changes . </P>

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