The Beatles - Getting Better

Copyright - 1967 EMI Records Ltd.

"Getting Better" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an original idea by McCartney. It was recorded by The Beatles for the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song's music suggests optimism yet the lyrics, strongly influenced by Lennon, alludes to more sinister themes. In this sense, it exaggerates the contrasting personas of the two most active songwriters in the group. In response to McCartney's line, "It's getting better all the time," Lennon replies, "It can't get no worse!" Lennon also claimed the lyric that begins, "I used to be cruel to my woman..."

According to Hunter Davies, the initial idea for the song's title came from a phrase often spoken by Jimmy Nicol, the group's stand-in drummer for the Australian leg of a 1964 tour.

The song, musically reminiscent of the hit single "Penny Lane", moves forward by way of regular chords, produced by Lennon's guitar and George Martin, who struck the strings of a pianette with a mallet. These heavily accented and repetitive lines cause the song to sound as if it is based on a drone. Lead guitarist George Harrison adds an Indian tambura part to the final verse, which further accentuates this impact.

The song was performed live for the first time by McCartney during his 2002 and 2003 US and World Tours.

Lyrics:
It's getting better all the time
I used to get mad at my school
The teachers that taught me weren't cool
You're holding me down
Burning me round
filling me up with the rules

I've got to admit it's getting better
a little better all the time
I have to admit it's getting better
it's getting better since you've been mine

Me used to be angry young man
Me hiding me head in the sand
You gave m the word
I finally heard
I'm doing the best that I can

I've got to admit it's getting better
a little better all the time
I have to admit it's getting better
it's getting better since you've been mine
getting so much better all the time

It's getting better all the time
better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
better, better, better

I used to be cruel to my woman I beat her
and kept her apart from the things that she loved
Man, I was mean but I'm changing my scene
and I'm doing the best that I can

I've got to admit it's getting better
a little better all the time
Yes, admit it's getting better
it's getting better since you've been mine
getting so much better all the time

It's getting better all the time
better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
better, better, better
Getting so much better all the time (less info)