is a song by
The Beatles . It was released as a single in March, 15th, 1968, in the UK with "The Inner Light", written by
George Harrison , as its B-side. Recording dates went down at
Abbey Road Studios in two sessions that happened in February 3th and 6th in the same year, right before the Beatles' trip to
India .
According to its main composer,
Paul McCartney , the tune was inpired by another song called "Bad Penny Blues" which, coincidentally, was also produced by
George Martin .
John Lennon also was of big help in the writing of its lyrics. The bit "see how they run" was included after his suggestion. The theme had been used before in the track
I Am The Walrus , released as the B-side of
Hello Goodbye back in
1967 .
The piano styling was intended as a tribute to
Fats Domino (who would later cover the song that same year, giving him his last Top-40 hit). The
Saxophone solo was played by British jazz musician and club owner
Ronnie Scott .
The harmonic structure alternates between a I-IV repetitive pattern wrapped up by a bVI-bVII-I (see also
Queen ,
Crazy Little Thing Called Love ), and a bridge that consists of a
Cycle Of Fifths - as such, it mixes blues-based harmony (based on subdominant progressions), and more importantly, a blues-based feel, with the cycle-of-fifths progressions which were basic to many contemporary standards.
