6th March 1966: Paul McCartney and Jane Asher Leave for a Swiss Holiday – and a Revolver Song Is Born

On 6th March 1966, Paul McCartney and his girlfriend Jane Asher travelled to Switzerland for a two-week skiing holiday.

The couple rented a chalet in the mountains near Klosters, a quiet Alpine resort popular with British visitors. While the trip was intended as a break from the intense pace of Beatlemania, it also became a surprisingly productive creative retreat for McCartney.

Writing a Future Beatles Classic

During the holiday, McCartney began working on musical ideas that would eventually appear on Revolver.

One song in particular took shape during the trip: For No One.

According to McCartney, the inspiration came in an unlikely place — the bathroom of the Swiss chalet where he was staying.

Recalling the moment later in The Beatles Anthology, he said:

“I can remember more about writing Revolver than about recording it. I was in Switzerland on my first skiing holiday… I ended up in a little bathroom in a Swiss chalet writing ‘For No One’. I remember the descending bass-line trick that it’s based on, and I remember the character in the song – the girl putting on her make-up.”

The song would become one of the most emotionally subtle tracks on Revolver, notable for its melancholic tone and elegant descending bass line.

A Break Before a New Beatles Era

By early 1966, The Beatles were about to enter one of the most transformative periods of their career.

Later that spring, the band would begin recording sessions that would produce the groundbreaking Revolver album, widely regarded as one of the most influential records in rock history.

McCartney’s quiet time in the Swiss Alps therefore served as a rare moment of relaxation — and a creative spark — before the band returned to the studio.

Returning to London

McCartney and Asher remained in Switzerland until 20th March 1966.

Shortly after returning to England, McCartney moved into his newly purchased London home at 7 Cavendish Avenue in St John’s Wood — a house that would become closely associated with his songwriting during the late Beatles years.

A Holiday That Helped Shape Revolver

While the trip may have been intended as a skiing holiday, it ultimately contributed to one of the defining albums of the 1960s.

In a small chalet bathroom in the Swiss Alps, Paul McCartney began writing a song that would soon become one of the most admired compositions on Revolver — proving once again that Beatles inspiration could strike almost anywhere.