“Getting Better” by The Beatles

"Getting Better" is one of the sunnier corners of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles' 1967 album. Paul McCartney wrote most of it and sings lead, with John Lennon chipping in some of the words, and some ears hear a family resemblance to "Penny Lane". Lennon and George Harrison push it along with steady electric guitar chords, while producer George Martin plays Pianet and a piano he strikes right on the strings, hammering the same accented figures until the whole thing hums like a drone.

For the final verse Harrison brings in a tambura, and with the percussion that arrives alongside it the song tips into an Indian mood. Against all that, McCartney's bass line, added after the main track like many on the album, moves in counterpoint; the critic Ian MacDonald found it dreamy and carefully worked out.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.