The vividness of Paul McCartney’s “Penny Lane” and other songs on the US version of “Magical Mystery Tour”, by The Beatles (1967)

My posts on Beatles lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney have focused on the song lists on their UK releases. But the US version of "Magical Mystery Tour" supplements the six songs on the British EP with five extraordinary singles, including the brilliant pair of Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" and McCartney's "Penny Lane". Those two are not only grounded in the songwriters' lives but also overflow with imagery, something completely absent from songs on the band's early albums. "Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes", McCartney sings – and the vivid descriptions of the barber, banker, fireman, and nurse make it live for our ears and eyes, too. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 2 July 2024)