David Mason, who played the piccolo trumpet solo heard at the center of the Beatles' song "Penny Lane," has died at age 85, according to Brass Musician and All Music.com.
George Martin, in his book, "All You Need Is Ears," says it was Paul McCartney who was responsible for Mason's being used on the record. He wrote:
"But Paul decided he wanted a special sound on it, and one day, after he had been at a concert of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, he said, 'There's a guy in them playing this fantastic high trumpet.' 'Yes,' I said, 'the piccolo trumpet, the Bach trumpet. Why?' It's a great sound. Why can't we use it?'"
In an interview (see video at left), Mason said it was an appearance on TV playing Bach's Second Brandenburg Concerto that led to his being used on the track. "He was obviously sitting at home and saw this little trumpet and thought, 'Well, that's a new gimmick, a new sound, and he'd just written 'Penny Lane,' and had had a rather bad backing track, so apparently that was how I came to do it."
Mason also recorded a seven-note coda for the end of the song, but a late decision was made not to include it on the released single. That, however, came too late to remove it from the promotional single sent to radio stations, who played the longer version. The coda was restored on versions of "Penny Lane" on the "Rarities" LP and "Anthology 2."
© COPYRIGHT STATEMENT: This article is the original work of Steve Marinucci. Under no circumstance may any portion of this article be broadcast, copied, published, rewritten or used without the permission of the author. To purchase this or any other article by Steve Marinucci, please email beatlesexaminer@gmail.com.
Steve Marinucci is the author of the Beatles Examiner, Paul McCartney Examiner, Vintage Rock 'n' Roll Examiner and TV on DVD Examiner columns on Examiner.com.
- Be sure to subscribe to this column by clicking the button at the top of the page.
- Your feedback and ideas are always welcome. Contact us at beatlesexaminer@gmail.com.
- See all the Beatles Examiner columns: http://www.examiner.com/beatles-in-national/steve-marinucci
- Please join us on Twitter: @stevemarinucci and @beatlesexaminer (RT's are much appreciated!)
- Add us as a friend on our Beatles Examiner page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beatles-Examiner/372042379525
- And if you like this article, please share this article on StumbleUpon, Digg, Twitter, or Facebook!
Comments