Fixing A Hole (Lennon/McCartney)
The lyric to Fixing a Hole is actually about a farm in Scotland which Paul had invested in. The house hadn’t been occupied for nearly five years and was run down. Many people have thought that the “hole” is a needle hole in the arm, but Paul has denied this. Paul, Jane Asher, and Alistair Taylor tried to eliminate the drabness by buying markers and coloring and drawing pictures on the walls. Paul has also claimed at the song was an “ode to pot” and about the idea of literally fixing a hole in a road.
The song was completed in two recording sessions, the first of which commenced at London’s Regent Sound Studio because Abbey Road was not available that night. It was the first use of a British recording studio other than Abbey Road for an EMI-issued Beatles album.
Quotes
“If you’re a junkie sitting in a room and fixing a hole then that’s what it will mean to you, but when I wrote it I meant if there’s a crack or the room is uncolorful, then I’ll fix it.” – Paul, on claims that the song is about shooting up
“The funny thing about that was the night when we were going to record it, at Regent Sound Studios at Tottenham Court Road, I brought a guy who was Jesus. A guy arrived at my front gate and I said, ‘Yes? Hello’ because I always used to answer it to everyone. If they were boring I would say, ‘Sorry, no,’ and they generally went away. This guy said, ‘I’m Jesus Christ.’ I said, ‘Oop,’ slightly shocked. I said, ‘Well, you’d better come in then.’ I thought, Well, it probably isn’t. But if he is, I’m not going to be the one to turn him away. So I gave him a cup of tea and we just chatted and I asked, ‘Why do you think you are Jesus?’ There were a lot of casualties about then. We used to get a lot of people who were maybe insecure or going through emotional breakdowns or whatever. So I said, ‘I’ve got to go to a session but if you promise to be very quiet and just sit in a corner, you can come.’ So he did, he came to the session and he did sit very quietly and I never saw him after that. I introduced him to the guys. They said, ‘Who’s this?’ I said, ‘He’s Jesus Christ.’ We had a bit of a giggle over that…But that was it. Last we ever saw of Jesus!” – Paul
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – lead vocals, harpsichord, bass guitar
- John Lennon – backing vocals, bass
- George Harrison – backing vocals, double-tracked lead guitar, maracas
- Ringo Starr – drums
- George Martin – harpsichord
Release history
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Edition (2017) [2017 stereo mix]
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Edition (2017) [take 1]
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Edition (2017) [take 3 and speech]
