Studio Album · No. 7
Magical Mystery Tour Songwriting Credits by The Beatles
Produced by George Martin · Engineered by Geoff Emerick (recording), Ken Scott (recording)
Holds writing credit on 11 of 11 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 11 / 11 documented
Scored across the 11 tracks with documented writers, by whether The Beatles carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 11 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Awards & Recognition 1
Originally released in the UK as a double EP tied to the self-produced TV film; Capitol Records expanded it to a full LP for the US market by adding five 1967 standalone singles, "Hello, Goodbye," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," "Baby, You're a Rich Man," and "All You Need Is Love." McCartney wrote or led vocals on most of the tracks including "Penny Lane," "Hello, Goodbye," "Your Mother Should Know," and "The Fool on the Hill." Lennon contributed "I Am the Walrus" and "Strawberry Fields Forever," both among his most experimental compositions. The US LP format became the standard worldwide edition.
Magical Mystery Tour is a studio album by The Beatles in its US LP form, released in November 1967 on Capitol Records, combining the six tracks from the UK double EP associated with the self-directed BBC television film alongside five previously released single A- and B-sides. The album represents the peak of the Beatles' psychedelic period and contains some of Lennon's most radically experimental compositions: 'I Am the Walrus', built on a drone, filled with surrealist imagery drawn from Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, its backward strings and studio manipulation pushing Abbey Road's facilities to new limits, is his most sonically adventurous composition. McCartney contributed the whimsical title track, 'The Fool on the Hill,' and the philosophical 'Hello, Goodbye'; Harrison offered 'Blue Jay Way,' written in Los Angeles while waiting for Derek Taylor. The inclusion of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' (both excluded from Sgt. Pepper's to maintain freshness there) gives the US compilation an unusually strong claim as the definitive artifact of the band's 1967 work. Ringo Starr received no songwriting credits on this album, as was the case on most Beatles releases, a distribution of creative ownership that his drum performances on every track make visually paradoxical.