 The working title was " It 's Not Too Bad " , and Geoff Emerick , the sound engineer , remembered it being " just a great , great song , that was apparent from the first time John sang it for all of us , playing an acoustic guitar . " Recording began on 24 November 1966 , in Abbey Road 's Studio Two on a 4 @-@ track machine . It took 45 hours to record , spread over five weeks . The song was meant to be on the band 's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper 's Lonely Hearts Club Band , but was released as a single instead . 
