Fixing a Hole
original song written and composed by Lennon-McCartney; first recorded by The Beatles
"Fixing a Hole" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
Writing
In a 1968 interview, McCartney said that the song was "about the hole in the road where the rain gets in, a good old analogy – the hole in your make-up which lets the rain in and stops your mind from going where it will." He went on to say that the following lines were about fans who hung around outside his home day and night, and whose actions he found off-putting: "See the people standing there / Who disagree, and never win / And wonder why they don't get in my door."
Some fans assumed the song was about heroin due to the drug slang "fixing a hole," but McCartney later said that the song was an "ode to pot". In his 1997 biography Many Years from Now, McCartney stated that "mending was my meaning. Wanting to be free enough to let my mind wander, let myself be artistic, let myself not sneer at avant-garde things."
In his 2021 book The Lyrics, McCartney revealed that the most important influence for the song was a "little blue hole" he saw while under the influence of LSD. According to McCartney, "the most important influence here was not even the metaphysical idea of a hole... but this absolutely physical phenomenon – something that first appeared after I took acid. I still see it occasionally, and I know exactly what it is. I know exactly what size it is".
Recording
The first of two recording sessions for "Fixing a Hole" was at Regent Sound Studios in London on 9 February 1967, in three takes.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Fixing a Hole” is original song written and composed by Lennon-McCartney; first recorded by The Beatles. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Fixing, Hole and original, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “original song written and composed by Lennon-McCartney; first recorded by The Beatles” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1352599. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1967, 1968, 1997 and 2021.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Fixing a Hole”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Fixing a Hole primary sources, Fixing a Hole archive and Fixing research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Fixing a Hole”?
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This entry incorporates text from “Fixing a Hole” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.