Lennon's words to "A Day in the Life" were famously inspired by events recounted in the 17 January, 1967 edition of the Daily Mail, which he was reading at the piano as he wrote (newspaper taxis). One story concerned the coroner's report on the death of Tara Browne, heir to the Guinness fortune and friend of the Beatles; he sped through a red light and crashed his sports car into a parked van. One might ask, since the van was parked, wouldn't the accident still have happened if the light had been green? Lennon discourages this line of thinking: "I didn't copy the accident. Tara didn't blow his mind out. But it was in my mind when I was writing that verse" (Davies, 276).

At the time of the song's recording, Paul had taken LSD exactly once, at the home of Tara Browne in 1966. "Tara was taking acid on blotting paper in the toilet. He invited me to have some. I said, 'I'm not sure, you know.' I was more ready for the drink or a little bit of pot or something. I'd not wanted to do it, I'd held off like a lot of people were trying to, but there was massive peer pressure. [...] And that night I thought, well, this is as good a time as any, so I said, 'Go on then, fine.' So we all did it" (Miles, 380).

I'd love to turn you on: hear this as the voice of Tara Browne.