She's Leaving Home

provided input on the chorus, counter-melody and some of the words. It was recorded at Abbey Road on March 17 & 20, 1967 and released on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on June 1 (June 2 in the US). It is one of a very few Beatles songs in which the group sings without playing any instruments. (Good Night, The Inner Light and Eleanor Rigby are the others.) George and Ringo did not participate in the recording at all.

Paul later said he liked the way the song sustained a long C chord -- something he attributed to Lennon's hand -- instead of jumping around with a lot of chord changes, as was the case in their earlier songwriting. The song is based on a story that Paul read in the Daily Mail about a 17-year-old girl who runs away from home to be with a man. The verses are written from her point of view, and the chorus is from the parents' viewpoint. ("We gave her most of her lives," etc.) Paul called this "the Greek chorus" as in a classical play where the chorus comments on the action.

This song also is noteworthy because McCartney, needing a string arrangement, contacted a contract composed (Mike Leander) when he found out that George Martin was unavailable. He did not imagine George would mind. In fact, Martin was very offended, and McCartney learned a valuable lesson about "dancing with the one that brought you to the ball." The presence of harpist Sheila Bromberg was the first time a woman has appeared on a Beatles record in a musician's role.