“When I'm Sixty-Four” by The Beatles

Tucked into Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967, "When I'm Sixty-Four" is one of the first songs Paul McCartney ever wrote: he had the melody at about 14, probably in the spring of 1956 at 20 Forthlin Road, back when he figured his future lay in cabaret rather than rock and roll. It carries the Lennon–McCartney credit, but it's his.

He sings it as a young man laying out plans for growing old with his sweetheart, over his own piano and bass, while a trio of clarinets (two B♭ and one bass clarinet) puffs along and Ringo Starr adds chimes and tubular bells to his drumming. John Lennon and George Harrison chip in on backing vocals. George Martin produced, Geoff Emerick recorded it, and McCartney had the tape sped up so his voice would sound younger.

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