Alan Civil played classical horn for decades, but is most renowned for one evening of session work. He was the principal horn player in the Philharmonia when George Martin called him to ask if he could provide the French horn obligato on a Beatles song. For the instrumental break of "For No One," Civil played the melancholy French horn solo, something he recalled as difficult to come up with since the Beatles weren't clear about what they wanted, and because the track had been taped in the cracks between B-flat and B-major. Still, he did his job well, and is also heard briefly in the background near the end of the song. It was actually the third studio session he'd played on that day. Civil worked with the Beatles one more time, as part of the large orchestra heard on the dissonant crescendos of "A Day in the Life.".~ Richie Unterberger