"Getting Better" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written mainly by Paul McCartney, with some of the lyrics written by John Lennon, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Composition The song has been said to be musically reminiscent of the Beatles' hit single "Penny Lane". It moves forward by way of regular chords, produced by Lennon and George Harrison's electric guitar. George Martin plays Pianet and piano, on the latter bypassing the keyboard and directly striking the strings. These heavily accented and repetitive lines cause the song to sound as if it is based on a drone. Harrison added an Indian tambura part to the final verse, which further accentuates this impact. The sound of the percussion introduced in this section combines with the tambura to create an Indian mood. McCartney's bassline, in counterpoint to this droning, was described by music critic Ian MacDonald as "dreamy" and "well thought out as a part of the production by McCartney". It was recorded after the main track was completed, as were many of the bass lines on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Starting out in the verse with a pedal on the root note (G) that leaps two octaves, McCartney moves to a marching quarter-note (walking) bass line for the first (and only the first) chorus. In stark contrast, all subsequent choruses are played using a fluid, swing feel, full of anticipated notes that propel the song forward despite the quarter-note droning of the guitar and keyboard. According to Beatles biographer Hunter Davies and MacDonald, the initial idea for the song's title came from a phrase often spoken by Jimmie Nicol, the group's stand-in drummer for the Australian leg of their 1964 world tour. The title and music suggest optimism, but some of the song's lyrics have a more negative tone. In this sense, it reflects the contrasting personas of the two songwriters. In response to McCartney's line, "It's getting better all the time", Lennon replies, "Can't get no worse!" In a December 1983 interview, McCartney praised this contribution as an example of things he "couldn't ever have done [him]self". In a 1969 interview, Lennon cited "Getting Better" as an example of "pure Beatles" music, whereby, with the four band members developing a song, "we've all written it and we've all turned it into sort