a bit of Whatever

The London socialite Tara Browne, heir to the Guinness empire and son of a member of the House of Lords, died on 18th December 1966. On this day, forty four years ago, Browne had a traffic accident at the age of 21. As they say,  Browne drove his Lotus Elan car through London's South Kensington at high speed and  he ignored a red traffic light, colliding with a stationary van when he tried to evade a car coming towards him. 

He was good friend of the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. One of the members of this last band, John Lennon, was inspired by this sad event to write the song 'A Day in the life', which lots considers Beatles' best. The song is specifically written after Lennon read the story about the accident published in the Daily Mail on January 1967, that included the forensic report.  Paul Mccartney finished the composition, adding the central part and the orchestrial details. The last part, on the piano, is played by five people in three different pianos.

John Lennon said about inspiration arrived to him to write the song:  

"I was writing A Day In The Life with the Daily Mail propped in front of me on the piano. I had it open at their News in Brief, or Far and Near, whatever they call it. I noticed two stories. One was about the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main headline story. He died in London in a car crash".

 Here you have the lyrics of 'A day in the Life', closing theme of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band":

I read the news today oh boy

About a lucky man who made the grave

And though the news was rather sad

Well I just had to laugh

I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car

He didn't notice that the lights had changed

A crowd of people stood and stared

They'd seen his face before

Nobody was really sure

If he was from the House of Lords.

I saw a film today oh boy

The English Army had just won the war

A crowd of people turned away

but I just had to look

Having read the book

I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed,

Dragged a comb across my head

Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,

And looking up I noticed I was late.

Found my coat and grabbed my hat

Made the bus in second splat

Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,

and Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today oh boy

Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire

And though the holes were rather small

They had to count them all

Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

I'd love to turn you on

Source:  youtube/thebeatlesbible.com/rttnews.com

             picture: the beatles bible