Glenn Shorrock remembers recording The Twilights’ “What’s Wrong With The Way I Live?” at Abbey Road with Norman “Hurricane” Smith, while Paul McCartney was working on “Penny Lane” nearby and George Harrison arrived for the session.
by Paul Cashmere
Glenn Shorrock has recalled one of the most extraordinary recording sessions of The Twilights’ career, when the Australian band was at Abbey Road recording “What’s Wrong With The Way I Live?” with Norman “Hurricane” Smith while The Beatles were working on “Penny Lane” elsewhere in the studio complex.
The session placed a young Australian band in the middle of one of the most consequential periods in British recording history, with Shorrock remembering Paul McCartney working on “Penny Lane” nearby and George Harrison arriving as The Twilights were recording.
Watch the full Glenn Shorrock interview here:
The Twilights had travelled to Britain after winning the 1966 Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds. Their Abbey Road sessions produced three recordings, including their version of The Hollies’ “What’s Wrong With The Way I Live?”, which was written by Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Graham Nash. The recording was produced by Smith, who had worked extensively with The Beatles as an engineer before moving into production.
For Shorrock, the significance of the session went beyond simply being inside Abbey Road. He was close enough to The Beatles’ activity to hear what was happening next door.
“It was a magic night,” Shorrock told Noise11. “McCartney was recording ‘Penny Lane’. He was down laying vocals on ‘Penny Lane’ in a studio up the corridor.”
The proximity was too tempting for the young Australian singer. Shorrock recalled repeatedly creeping towards the studio to listen.
“I kept creeping up and sticking my ear at the door to have a listen to what was going on,” he said. “And I was nearly busted by George Harrison who was arriving for the session as well.”
The timing places The Twilights inside Abbey Road during the period when “Penny Lane” was being completed. The Beatles’ recording sessions for the song continued through January 1967, with Paul McCartney heavily involved in the arrangement and production of the track. The completed recording was later issued as the famous double A-side with “Strawberry Fields Forever”.
Shorrock’s own session was being overseen by Norman Smith, the engineer who had been closely associated with The Beatles during their formative Abbey Road years. Smith engineered The Beatles’ recordings through Rubber Soul before becoming a producer and A&R executive at EMI. In 1967 he would also begin producing Pink Floyd, including their debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.
That made Smith an important figure in the transition between two defining periods of British music. For The Twilights, however, he was simply the producer responsible for capturing their sound at one of the world’s most famous studios.
“What’s Wrong With The Way I Live?” had originally appeared on The Hollies’ 1966 album For Certain Because.
The Twilights recorded their own version in London and released it in Australia in February 1967. It became one of their major Australian hits, reaching No. 3.
The recording also illustrates how closely The Twilights were studying the British music scene during their London visit. The band had already built a reputation in Australia for reproducing contemporary overseas material with precision, and their Abbey Road sessions gave them access to the same recording environment being used by Britain’s leading artists.
Shorrock still remembers the atmosphere of that night, particularly the chance to witness McCartney at work.
“‘Penny Lane’ became, and still is, one of my favourite Beatles songs and records,” he said.
For Shorrock, the experience was also a reminder of just how quickly music history was being made around him. The Twilights had gone to Britain as an ambitious Australian band looking to establish itself in the UK. Instead, they found themselves recording at Abbey Road while The Beatles were creating one of their most enduring songs.
The Twilights’ British breakthrough ultimately did not eventuate, but the Abbey Road recordings became an important part of their catalogue. “What’s Wrong With The Way I Live?” remains one of the clearest documents of the band’s ability to translate the sounds they admired overseas into their own Australian pop identity.
More than half a century later, Shorrock has another Abbey Road memory to add to the story. His new live album Legendary: The Ultimate Collection, recorded in 2003, revisits songs from across his career, including material connected to The Twilights, Axiom and Little River Band. The live recording is out now. Find it here.
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