3 Things to Know About the Toy Piano on “The Fool on the Hill”

Paul McCartney played a child’s toy piano on the track He picked out the melody on a small plastic toy piano during the Magical Mystery Tour sessions, giving the verses their delicate, slightly out-of-tune bell-like sound.

It is not a celesta or harpsichord Many listeners mistake the instrument for a celesta or harpsichord, but it is just a cheap toy piano probably intended for a five-year-old.

Paul played it himself for a deliberately childlike sound A real instrument would have sounded too clean, so McCartney performed the part to achieve the imperfect, playful tone that fits the song.