Contribution of George Martin

George Martin's close involvement in his role as producer made him one of the leading candidates for the informal title of the "fifth Beatle".^[307] He applied his classical musical training in various ways, and functioned as "an informal music teacher" to the progressing songwriters.^[308] Martin suggested to a sceptical McCartney that the arrangement of "Yesterday" should feature a string quartet accompaniment; according to MacDonald, his contribution was significant for its "disclosure to them of a hitherto unsuspected world of classical instrumental colour."^[309] The Beatles' creative development was also facilitated by Martin's willingness to experiment in response to their suggestions, such as adding "something baroque" to a particular recording.^[310] As well as scoring orchestral arrangements for recordings, Martin often performed, playing instruments including piano, organ and brass.^[311]
Collaborating with Lennon and McCartney required Martin to adapt to their different approaches to songwriting and recording. MacDonald comments, "While [he] worked more naturally with the conventionally articulate McCartney, the challenge of catering to Lennon's intuitive approach generally spurred him to his more original arrangements, of which 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!' is an outstanding example."^[312] Martin said of the two composers' distinct songwriting styles, and of his own stabilizing influence:

Compared with Paul's songs, all of which seemed to keep in some sort of touch with reality, John's had a psychedelic, almost mystical quality ... John's imagery is one of the best things about his work — 'tangerine trees', 'marmalade skies', 'cellophane flowers' ... I always saw him as an aural Salvador Dalí, rather than some drug-ridden record artist. On the other hand, I would be stupid to pretend that drugs didn't figure quite heavily in the Beatles' lives at that time ... they knew that I, in my schoolmasterly role, didn't approve ... Not only was I not into it myself, I couldn't see the need for it; and there's no doubt that, if I too had been on dope, Pepper would never have been the album it was. Perhaps it was the combination of dope and no dope that worked, who knows?^[313]

Harrison echoed Martin's description of his stabilizing role: "I think we just grew through those years together, him as the straight man and us as the loonies; but he was always there for us to interpret our madness—we used to be slightly avant-garde on certain days of the week, and he would be there as the anchor person, to communicate that through the engineers and on to the tape.