Capturing the mood of the gloriously hot summer of 1966, ‘Good Day Sunshine’ kicked off side two of Revolver.
It was really very much a nod to The Lovin’ Spoonful’s ‘Daydream’, the same traditional, almost trad-jazz feel. That was our favourite record of theirs. ‘Good Day Sunshine’ was me trying to write something similar to ‘Daydream’. John and I wrote it together at Kenwood, but it was basically mine, and he helped me with it.
Around that time there was quite a spate of summer songs. ‘Daydream’ and ‘Summer In The City’ by The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Kinks’ ‘Sunny Afternoon’ – I think all those came out during the same year, 1966. We wanted to write something sunny. Both John and I had grown up while the music hall tradition was still very vibrant, so it was always in the back of our minds. There are lots of songs about the sun, and they make you happy: ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’ or ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’.It was now time for us to do ours. So we’ve got love and sun, what more do we want? ‘We take a walk, the sun is shining down/Burns my feet as they touch the ground’ – that was a nice memory of summer. ‘Then we’d lie beneath a shady tree/I love her and she’s loving me’. It’s really a very happy song.
The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present
In the studio
‘Good Day Sunshine’ was recorded over two days in June 1966, under the working title ‘A Good Day’s Sunshine’.
On 8 June The Beatles rehearsed the track many times before recording the rhythm track. The tape box indicated three takes were recorded, but the reel itself contained six.
Each take contained Paul McCartney on piano, George Harrison on bass guitar, John Lennon on tambourine, and Ringo Starr on drums, all recorded onto track one of the four-track tape.
Take one was considered the best. McCartney then overdubbed lead vocals onto track three, with harmonies in the chorus by Lennon and Harrison.
The next day Ringo Starr added more cymbals and bass drum, and additional piano by McCartney was overdubbed after the line “Then we lie beneath a shady tree”. Both were recorded onto track four.
George Martin added his piano solo to track two, which also contained handclaps by all four Beatles. Martin’s solo was recorded at half speed, so it sounded faster and higher upon playback.
The harmony vocals at the song’s close were recorded onto tracks one, two, and four.
Six mono mixes of ‘Good Day Sunshine’ were made at the end of the session, which finished at the relatively early time of 8pm. None of the mixes were used, however, and new ones were made on 22 June 1966.
Is that really ringo saying “she fuckin’ does” during that last verse at about 1:25?
It’s Lennon repeating: “She feels good”
Yes, right after Paul sings “She feels Good” you can hear Lennon Jokingly repeat “She feels good” ya know he meant it in a sexual way and you can actually hear the smile in Paul’s voice as he sings, “She knows she’s looking fine”
I love that part of the song, cuz you always had Lennon messing around w Paul trying to make Paul laugh or screw up. The closeness of those two then was still so cool to hear.
I know Paul was talented but did he really play both bass and piano when recording the rhythm tracks – you’d need 4 hands to do so (4 Hands to Mold You?). Perhaps somebody else played a temporary piano or bass track and Paul replaced it later? More likely Paul and Ringo recorded piano and drums with the bass and the rest overdubbed.
They recorded it at different points during the day. They would record just the bass, and then just the piano, and the other instruments all separately, and then put them together.
According to Peter Framptin on the Beatles channel, George played bass.
George could easily played the bass part.
There are photos of George playing a berns bass during the session.
Paul would play the piano on rhythm track with the drums, then add the bass as an overdub next, that way you have an actual useable backing track ( meaning rhythm section ) onto which you add everything else after you have a basic rhythm track. Paul did his bass very often last in the rhythm section, giving him time to come up with all his sublime bass lines .
The vocals come next,then the sweetening of the tracks last …
Everett’s take:
Paul plays piano and Ringo drums for the basic track. Paul’s lead vocal for the verses went onto track two and John and Paul’s vocals for the chorus went on to track three. The bass was added to track four. These four tracks were reduced to two tracks.
Ringo then added more crash cymbals, bass drum and snare to the choruses plus tom or rim tapping elsewhere. At the same time Paul added a shuffling lead piano part and those available clapped hands for the last verse and chorus.
The fourth track had George Martin recording the tremolo-rich honky-tonk piano solo (at a slower speed) and Paul, John and George adding vocals for the coda which were given tape echo.
I don’t care what anyone says, George Martin WAS the fifth Beatle. He has added so much of his musical talents to numerous Beatle songs, with Good Day Sunshine being the perfect example.
are you related to Martin, a cousin perhaps?
No, not a relative. Just giving credit where credit is due. The Beatles owe Martin so much….starting with their career.
Totally agree with you.
All I know is that I love the intro.
Michael: Are you a troll, perhaps? What, exactly, is your problem?
tstout’s comment is a relevant addition to the conversation. The same can’t be said for yours……
And BTW, Martin did indeed add so much to the Beatles’ recordings as a producer, arranger, and performer.
During the “Good Day Sunshine” parts, you can here the snare drum rolls, and an extra snare drum along with the beat. There are 2 drum parts, presumably Ringo. Maybe one was played by paul?
No, both parts were played by Ringo.
But why were there 2 drum parts at all?
Because they overdubbed it later… When bands record, they don’t record all the parts at once. That’s impossible with only 4 guys (8 hands) With the Beatles… They would lay down a basic “RHYTHM” track with just Piano and drums, played by Paul and Ringo… Once those parts were recorded onto 2 out of the 4 tracks available in recording back then, they would OVERDUB all the other instruments onto the remaining tracks. That is how recording works.
Ringo would often double the snare on the backbeat 2/4 if in 4/4 to make it punchier. The Beatles were smart in respect to using percussion, they inherently knew that is what people felt especially on uptempo songs …
Also notice the ride cymbal roll on the 4th bar of the intro done at the same time or simultaneous with the triplet beats/hits on the snare. I think those were impossible to accomplish by one drummer unless Ringo overdubbed it or somebody was on the ride cymbal while Ringo is doing the snare part.
GM’s solo is played in a grand piano with some effect or is it an electric one, like a fender rhodes or even a Hofner ?
George has admitted he played bass on many tracks. it is a simple bass line. i am sure it could be George. He had a Burns bass and they may have had the Bass VI by then also
George actually seldom played bass and despite the presence of a right-handed Burns Nu-Sonic bass, they didn’t have the right-handed Fender Bass IV yet, so it was clearly a mathematical error.
There is some confusion as to whether it was Paul or George playing the bass – Robert Rodriguez has suggested that George played bass on the track, but then again, there is the possibility (I can’t confirm for sure) that he may have merely played a guide bass part intended for Paul to overdub or replace with his own bass part played on his trusty left-handed Rickenbacker bass that he clearly liked by now.
Had this been the case (Paul replacing George’s bass part with his own), George most likely would not have cared at all, since his and John’s usual instrument was the guitar.
As far as I know, he only played bass on “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight”, “Honey Pie” and “Back in the USSR” (in tandem with Paul and John, that is), which is not all that many. He was erroneously credited with playing bass on “Birthday”, but in reality, it was Paul.
George plays bass on She Said She Said
Thanks for pointing that out. I think I read somewhere that Mark Lewisohn discovered that the basic track to “She Said She Said” actually had two guitars, bass and drums, thus implying that Paul was in fact playing bass on the backing track, and George couldn’t play bass and lead guitar on the basic track simultaneously.
I don’t get why so many people unfairly vilify Paul as a dictator or tyrant in the studio – he wanted things in a certain way – and even Ringo acknowledges that Paul’s “bossiness” contributed to very good products.
One of my all time favorite songs to listen to on a beautiful day
I just love this song…you can notice here Paul’s talent for music….well apart from the top hits like All My Loving or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
An excellent song, and probably the first of some Beatles songs that share a peculiar feature: the alternation between B major and A major. I suspect John was influenced by this song to write Doctor Robert, which, just like Good day Sunshine goes from A in the verse to B in the chorus. A year later Paul reverse the roles in Penny Lane, which is in B, but goes to A in the chorus. Then John follows him once more, in I´m the Walrus, which starts in B, then turns for most of the song to A, only to temporarily return in the “Sitting in the English garden” part to B. And even later in Hey Bulldog B and A are to be found in each other’s near. Obviously a trick they relished.
Good observation
I always interpreted this song as somewhat sarcastic. The piano is too solemn and deep and serious for the lyrics, so I always thought it was a dark joke: good day, sunshine, (ominous piano)
I love this! If you saw the new documentary Eight Days a Week, they made an awesome use of this song that plays on that “ominous piano” effect: it plays under footage of the protests and burnings of Beatles records in the South after the “bigger than Jesus” comment. 🙂
Both Lennon and McCartney play piano on the band track. In the chorus Lennon adds the octave fills between “Good Day Shine” (he uses a similar lick in “All You Need Is Love”). In the verse he plays the descending chromatic run and then a boogie part. McCartney plays the syncopated right hand chords. The parts are clearly scored in THE COMPLETE BEATLES SCORES and can be heard fairly clearly separated in the left and right channels. That would leave Harrison on bass (and Martin on the piano solo).
Problem with the The Complete Beatles Scores is they note only two voices in the chorus. But I hear three voice harmony..
John and George did backup for the chorus.
Lovely optimistic Paul McCartney tune from”Revolver”. Obviously John Lennon helped. Wonderful piano playing in this by McCartney.
Why “obviously”? John was known more for sarcasm, not optimism. Paul stated that John participated, but it’s odd to me that you pick out that feature of the song and then point to John.
I have always liked that song!i remember one summer day I played it over and over again. my cousin told me to turn it off.
{he did not like it.} but I like d it, it is a happy, optimistic type song.
This was my dad’s favorite Beatle song…..He wasn’t really a fan…
He liked the positivity of it…….
There is the arpeggiated guitar part that comes in.. Who played that? I’m guessing George?
Where do you hear this ?
Paul and George Martin are on piano. George Harrison plays bass guitar since it was recorded during the basic takes and McCartney was at the keys. Nobody documents this but John Lennon played electric guitar on the basic track as well, on his Epiphone Casino. You can faintly hear it playing in the song’s final master.
May have been George on bass but it sounds more like Paul to me. Paul for sure dude!!
You said it. As I pointed out earlier, it is possible that George played a guide bass part intended for Paul to replace his own basslines – he was The Beatles’ usual bassist, so it was only natural for him to do so.
You may be right about John’s faint guitar playing. “Good call”
I think you may be correct. There is an electric guitar part, mixed low.
This makes the possible backing track lineup as Paul on piano, John on electric guitar, George on bass, Ringo drums… with further overdubs of George Martin piano, Ringo extra drums, and the various vocals.
This obviously is a very good song, but it’s too short. Paul really should have tried to come up with another verse to make it awesome,
An early song in the style of what John would eventually call Paul’s “granny shit.” I love this song, but listened today to the isolated piano. Very piano hall, his best of that type IMO.
This is not in the style of granny shit. I don’t know why people misunderstand John’s comment. If songs are purely in the style of music hall, then that would have to include For the Benefit of Mr Kite.
The piano solo was expertly played by George Martin but I think if Paul had played it on the master take it would have somehow sounded and fit in better. I truly believe Paul was a very underrated Keyboard player with the Beatles.
This is one of those songs that’ll always make you a little happier when you hear it. Daydream, Mr. Blue Sky, Looking Out My Back Door all come immediately to mind. Fine, uplifting little tunes.
The least substantial song on Revolver and the one that I think lets the album down.
The arrangement is definitely lacking as the song sounds somehow incomplete.
it needed a rhythm guitar part somewhere.
There is a guitar. It’s just reaally faintly mixed. I assume it was played by John, very much his style.
Some parts it can be heard at (mixed in the same track with the piano): 0:23, 0:30-0:32, 0:53, 1:04-1:05, 1:20-1:22. The guitar mostly plays the rhythm dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah duh-da-da-da with a very mellow tone.
I agree: There is definitely a guitar in the mix! For me it is clearly audible at 0:30-0:32, just after “In a special way”. Someone (Lennon?) is playing a B-chord on the second beat of the bar, and again between the third and fourth beat. The chord is played at the seventh fret, in exactly the same way as the one that opens the studio version of The Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash – although with a completely different sound! Watch Keith Richards play it (with a windmill:-) at the Rock and Roll Circus video (at 0:44-0:48 and 1:24-1:28).
Pretty confident that’s George on the bass, as several sources list. It’s unlikely to be Paul.
Why? Well, first, yeah, Paul did overdub bass sometimes, but that really started with Sgt. Pepper–it was rare before then.
Second, when Paul did overdub bass, those parts tended to be very prominent in the mix. Instead, the bass part here is mixed quite low (listen to ‘For No One,’ a case of when he did overdub bass pre-Sgt Pepper for a major contrast in bass volume).
Third, by this time McCartney had gotten quite creative with his bass parts. This part is pretty bouncy (which George was good at), but it mostly just sticks to the root notes–really not a typical Paul part for 1966. It’s much like the bass part in She Said, She Said, which is also credited to George and also sticks mainly to root notes.
Fourth, the bass, drums (except for the drum overdubs) and the ‘rhythm’ piano part are all crowded together in the left channel–consistent with them having been recorded at the same time and then having been bounced into one channel to provide room for extensive overdubs. There would be no reason to have the bass there if it had been dubbed later. Again, listen to ‘For No One,’ where McCartney really did play bass and piano–the bass is clearly separated from the piano in the mix.
Fifth, most sources agree that the first piano part, bass and drums were all recorded at the same time, and that McCartney played all the piano except for the solo. Example: Mark Lewisohn writes (Thursday June 9, 1966): ‘After a long period of taped rehearsal, the group recorded three proper takes of the rhythm track–bass guitar, piano and drums. With take one being ‘best,’ they then spooled back to record an overdub of Paul’s lead vocal with John and George… (goes on to detail the overdubs, none of which involve bass guitar). BTW, Lewisohn is one of the few people in the world to have actually been granted access to those tapes, so he’s a good source. Basically, if the guitar, bass and rhythm piano were recorded at the same time, it must have been George or possibly John on bass… unless someone else played the piano part.
All in all, the evidence strongly points towards the bass player not being Paul.
You said it about Paul’s bass overdubs being relatively there and as far as I know, the first time when he recorded his bass part as an overdub was on the session for “Michelle”. Just so I don’t confuse you, I’m not referring to instances where he double or triple-tracked his bass part, but rather, I’m referring to him actually recording his bass part separately from the basic track in the overdubbing stages.
To be honest, it’s hard to tell what exactly the bass is playing. I think it may be playing both the root and the fifth, at least during the choruses. I agree it’s almost likely George. I previously thought that there was a faint electric guitar by John, but upon listening closer it becomes clear that there is a tambourine on the left channel, presumably in the rhythm track, which must have been John or George. There is a TINY chance that it is John on bass— it’s so simple, I bet he would be capable of playing it. If it is playing chords like I think it may be, it is practically a low-end rhythm guitar part. But I agree it’s probably George with John on tambourine. I hope they (well, Giles) can remix Revolver and separate the muddy rhythm tracks on all these great songs. Not sure they have the original tapes— they may have to use software.
A very typical Paul McCartney gets influnced by some style and a basic idea song, and just to write something to add to the summer love good feeling, he ends up with one of his weakest songs of the Beatles era. The lyrics are truly banal.