Since my journey down the Beatles rabbithole began when I was 11, Penny Lane has always been my favourite song of theirs. Something about the ethereal nature of the song mesmerised me, and opened me up to a whole other world of music composed 40 years prior to my
birth.
Every time my Beatlemaniac little sister and I stumble across a record store, I have a routine of searching through every single/EP whilst she scouts the LPs. Anything I find that I think would spark her interest I put aside to show her. Every time I spy the Parlophone logo, the single is quick to be taken aside. I have never been as heavily invested in record collecting as my sister, but I’d always told myself that if I were to ever find the Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane single I’d make an exception.
It was during the summer holidays just passed, 5 years after first falling in love with the song, that I stumbled across the Penny Lane EP. I couldn’t believe my luck – the record is in perfect condition, still has its sleeve, and it didn’t even occur to me that I’d find the EP before the single. I was quick to purchase it – here it is pictured outside (a different) Penny Lane, one I had often passed whilst singing the song.
Hopefully someday I’ll have the time and money to expand my record collection further, but in the meantime this is my most treasured of my small collection for the joy its title song has brought me for years and will continue to for many more.