Did a real newspaper story inspire one of the Beatles’ most emotional ballads?
🎙️ [Fact 1]
“She’s Leaving Home” was inspired by a real news article Paul McCartney read in the Daily Mirror in February 1967, about 17-year-old Melanie Coe, who ran away from home.
📚 Source: The Beatles Anthology
📚 Daily Mirror archive, Feb 27, 1967
🎙️ [Fact 2]
McCartney and Coe had met years earlier — he had unknowingly picked her as a contest winner on the ITV show Ready Steady Go! in 1963.
📚 Source: Interview with Melanie Coe – The Guardian (2008)
🎙️ [Fact 3]
Unlike most Beatles tracks, none of the Beatles played instruments on this song. The haunting strings were arranged by Mike Leander, not George Martin — it was the first time anyone else arranged a Beatles orchestration.
📚 Source: Mark Lewisohn – Recording Sessions
🎙️ [Fact 4]
George Martin was deeply hurt that Paul didn’t consult him — but he still conducted the session with professionalism.
📚 Source: The Beatles Anthology
📚 Revolution in the Head – Ian MacDonald
🎙️ [Fact 5]
John Lennon wrote the parents’ lines in the song — contrasting McCartney’s narrative of the girl. The dual perspective gave it emotional weight.
📚 Source: Lennon Remembers – Jann Wenner Interview (1970)
🎙️ [Call to Action]
A classical Beatles song… with no Beatles instruments?
🎻 Drop a 🎼 in the comments if “She’s Leaving Home” still gives you chills.
📸 Thumbnail Prompt:
A 1960s bedroom with an empty bed, a note left on the pillow, and a tearful mother in the background. Overlay the text:
“Based on a True Story… She Never Came Home”