Alan Aldridge | The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics Artwork - Now You're In Gear [Good Morning Good Morning], c.1967

Alan Aldridge

The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics Artwork - Now You’re In Gear [Good Morning Good Morning], c.1967

titled on image, collage with airbrush, unsigned, framed and glazed, (230 x 180mm.)

This image was used to illustrate the song ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’. It was published in monochrome in The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics on page 52 of the 1970 edition. The fourth line from the end of the song reads “…Watching the skirts, you start to flirt now you’re in gear..”. The song, written by John Lennon, appeared on the 1967 album ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. His inspiration for writing the song is quoted in the ‘Illustrated Lyrics’ book: “I often sit at the piano, working at songs, with the telly on low in the background. If I’m a bit low and not getting much done then the words on the telly come through. That’s when I heard ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’…it was a Corn Flakes advertisement..”

Alan Aldridge was a friend of the vendor and gave him his first job aged 17 as an illustrator in an advertising agency. This artwork was a gift from Aldridge in c. 1971 in lieu of outstanding fees.