She’s leaving home
Released 26 May 1967
Recorded 17 March 1967,
EMI Studios, London
Genre Baroque pop
Length 3:26 (mono, 2017 stereo)
3:35 (1967 stereo)
Label Parlophone
Songwriter(s) Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s) George Martin
“She’s Leaving Home” is a Lennon–McCartney song, released in 1967 on the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Paul McCartney wrote and sang the verse and John Lennon wrote the chorus, which they sang together. Neither George Harrison nor Ringo Starr was involved in the recording. The song’s instrumental background was performed entirely by a small string orchestra arranged by Mike Leander, and was one of only a handful of Beatles songs in which the members did not play any instruments on the recording.
“She’s Leaving Home” was recorded during the sessions for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The day before McCartney wanted to work on the song’s score, he learned that George Martin, who usually handled the Beatles’ string arrangements, was not available. McCartney contacted Mike Leander, who did it in Martin’s place. This was the first time a Beatles song was not arranged by Martin. Martin was hurt by McCartney’s actions, but he produced the song and conducted the string section, in a session on 17 March 1967 that generated six takes. The harp was played by Sheila Bromberg, the first female musician to appear on a Beatles record. Three days later, McCartney’s lead vocal and Lennon’s backing vocal were recorded, with the two singing together on each of two vocal tracks, their voices overlapping to match the narrative.
Above: Sheila Bromberg: Harpist
The stereo version of the song, finalized on 17 April 1967, runs at a slower speed than the mono mix, completed on 20 March 1967, and consequently is a semitone lower in pitch. This was mentioned in the booklet accompanying The Beatles in Mono CD box set, but no reason was given. A 2007 Mojo magazine article revealed that the final mono mix was sped up to make McCartney sound younger. The subsequent stereo mix was not sped up, remaining in the original tempo and key. In 2017, for the 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Giles Martin and Sam Okell remixed the stereo version of the song to match the adjusted speed of the mono version. The six-disc version of the anniversary edition also included the previously unreleased first mono mix of “She’s Leaving Home”, which contains a brief cello phrase at the end of the first two choruses that was removed from the released mixes of the song.
In April 1967, McCartney visited Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in Los Angeles, where he played “She’s Leaving Home” on the piano for him and his wife. Wilson recalled: “We both just cried. It was beautiful.” As the credited composers of “She’s Leaving Home”, Lennon and McCartney received the 1967 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically
Personnel
Paul McCartney – double-tracked lead vocals
John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocals
Mike Leander – string arrangement
George Martin – conductor, producer
Erich Gruenberg – violin
Derek Jacobs – violin
Trevor Williams – violin
José Luis García – violin
John Underwood – viola
Stephen Shingles – viola
Dennis Vigay – cello
Alan Dalziel – cello
Peter Halling – cello
Gordon Pearce – double bass
Sheila Bromberg – harp