Fixing a Hole

"Fixing a Hole" is a song mainly written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

"Fixing a Hole"
Song by The Beatles
from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released	1 June 1967
Recorded	9 and 21 February 1967, EMI and Regent Sound studios, London
Genre	Psychedelic rock, baroque pop
Length	2:36
Label	Parlophone
Songwriter(s)	Lennon/McCartney
Producer(s)	George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing
13 tracks Side one "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" "With a Little Help from My Friends" "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" "Getting Better" "Fixing a Hole" "She's Leaving Home" "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" Side two "Within You Without You" "When I'm Sixty-Four" "Lovely Rita" "Good Morning Good Morning" "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" "A Day in the Life"

Recording

The first of two recording sessions for the song was at Regent Sound Studio in London on 9 February 1967 in three takes.^[1]

The lead vocal was recorded at the same time as the rhythm track, a change from their post-1963 approach of overdubbing the vocal.^[1]

According to McCartney, on the night of the session an unusual man appeared at the gate of McCartney's home and said he was Jesus Christ. After a cup of tea, and after getting him to promise to be quiet and sit in a corner, McCartney brought the man to the recording session.^[2][3] After the session the man left and was never heard from again.^[3]

In another version of the story, John Lennon arrived at the studio, found the man hanging around the front door, and it was Lennon who invited him in.

The song is referenced to by Lennon in the last stanza of the song "Glass Onion" ("Fixing a Hole in the ocean"), from The Beatles, released a year later.

In the live-action scene at the end of the 1968 movie Yellow Submarine, Ringo mentions that he gave the other half of the "hole in me pocket" to Jeremy, so that he could "stop his mind from wandering", a direct reference to "Fixing a Hole".

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – double-tracked vocal, bass
• John Lennon – backing vocal, guitar
• George Harrison – backing vocal, double-tracked lead guitar
• Ringo Starr – drums, maracas
• George Martin – harpsichord

Personnel per Ian MacDonald^[4]