# orchestra in a day in life

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 22, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758 "2006-06-22T19:42:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![saurabhsingh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@saurabhsingh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saurabhsingh)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/1 "2006-06-22T19:42:36Z")

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Readers might be interested to know about this little mischieif john(lennon) played while mixing this song.At the end when the orchestra crescendos ,john added an ultrasonic whine to freak out any dogs in vicinity.If the turntable did not have auto-return it would play repeatedly giving the dog the dogday of his life.(On a more personal note,Cecil doesnt seem to be a beatle fan.)

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**Author:** ![RonstarDeluxe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@RonstarDeluxe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RonstarDeluxe)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/2 "2006-06-23T01:39:07Z")

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[QUOTE=saurabhsingh]  
Readers might be interested to know about this little mischieif john(lennon) played while mixing this song.At the end when the orchestra crescendos ,john added an ultrasonic whine to freak out any dogs in vicinity.If the turntable did not have auto-return it would play repeatedly giving the dog the dogday of his life.(On a more personal note,Cecil doesnt seem to be a beatle fan.)  
[/QUOTE]

I think this needs expanding a little as it’s a little inaccurate. At the end of the song, an orchestra rises to a crescendo (which John Lennon apparently described as symbolizing the end of the world). There then follows a piano chord (played on many pianos) which was stretched to fade out after a period of some 30 seconds or more.

It is only after the piano has faded out to silence that the ‘ultrasound’ plays (I use the inverted commas as with it being at 15KHz many people, myself included, can hear it). It only lasts for a period of 4 or 5 seconds or so.

The ‘never ending’ part that was designed for non auto-return turntables is a mix of various parts of speech from all band members edited together forwards and backwards to create a general garble. Whilst the band maintained that it was merely intended to be unintelligible, for decades various fans have tried to decipher the speech and have even theorized it to be a message. At any rate, the most prominent of the speech in this segment is from Paul’s mouth and can be approximated to sound like “Never could see any other way” (especially if you squint and tilt your head to one side!).

Personally, I tend to believe that most of the so called messages in Beatles’ songs were unintentional and the product of just trying to play with emerging technology in the recording studio. It has often been reported that the rather surreal lyrics to “I Am The Walrus” were John Lennon’s answer to ‘Idiots who’ll read meaning into any old rubbish’.

Ronnie

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/3 "2006-06-23T13:34:32Z")

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The voice garble at the end is (or at least originally was) only on the British LPs.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/4 "2006-06-24T12:03:47Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB, saurabhsingh.

A link to the column is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_321b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_321b.html)

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**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/5 "2006-06-24T14:58:31Z")

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[QUOTE=John W. Kennedy]  
The voice garble at the end is (or at least originally was) only on the British LPs.  
[/QUOTE]

Considering that the CD releaseof Sgt. Pepper is nearly 20 years old, and includes the simulation of the original British LP experience, and the fact that newly-manufactured LP distribution dried up to less than a trickle about 15 years ago, this is this is probably a moot point other than being a minor historical curiosity.

This way to the [Tiny Events That Make You Realize How Old You Are](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375951) thread.

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/6 "2006-06-24T15:29:31Z")

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[QUOTE=RonstarDeluxe]  
At the end of the song, an orchestra rises to a crescendo  
[/QUOTE]

Quibble time: the orchestra _crescendos_, it doesn’t rise to one.

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/7 "2006-06-24T18:58:06Z")

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[QUOTE=scotandrsn]  
Considering that the CD releaseof Sgt. Pepper is nearly 20 years old, and includes the simulation of the original British LP experience, and the fact that newly-manufactured LP distribution dried up to less than a trickle about 15 years ago, this is this is probably a moot point other than being a minor historical curiosity.  
[/QUOTE]  
Not if you’re old enough to have the original LP and are spending too much on _new_ CDs to feel like spending more money on what you already have.

(Being a straight male, I find Andrea Corr a hell of a lot sexier than _any_ of the Fab Four – insert Bob Hope growl here!)

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/8 "2006-06-27T18:11:36Z")

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[Beatlesongs](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671682296/qid=1151431671/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0717327-6694253?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) says that they kept turning up the volume to catch the piano chord for as long as possible, finally getting the air conditioning of the studio also.

It also says that John deliberately made the lyrics of “I Am the Walrus” obscure for fans who read messages into the songs.

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**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/9 "2006-06-27T20:15:34Z")

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[QUOTE=Voyager]  
\<snip\>John deliberately made the lyrics of “I Am the Walrus” obscure for fans who read messages into the songs.  
[/QUOTE]

Come Togather, Strawberry fields and Across the Universe he made obvious to make up for it?

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/orchestra-in-a-day-in-life/361758/10 "2006-06-28T03:06:16Z")

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I had heard it was Paul not John who added the music for dogs.
