Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/13/breathtaking-isolated-john-and-paul-vocals-on-if-i-fell.html
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If I remember correctly, they kind of sing this to Ringo in the Hard Day’s Night movie
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Sounds nice. Is this the original vocals track or a software derived track?
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I especially like the contrast in the lines where the harmony does not ‘diverge’ and both sing the same notes - adds emphasis very effectively. These guys knew what they were doing, intuitively.
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That’s John singing the lower harmony, right? Every note has meaning & every choice has purpose. I often wonder how they came up with these harmonies. It really is a huge part of what makes the band.
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This is wonderful, but also really illustrates how the other two were so additive to everything the Beatles did. I couldn’t not hear Ringo’s lead-in on the rim of his snare or George’s delicate riffs. They were truly four extraordinarily talented chaps.
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This song and ‘Two Of Us’ are my favorite Beatles harmonies.
I remember reading an analysis of this song—perhaps Tell Me Why by Tim Riley?—that pointed out that their two vocal lines are so intertwined that it’s almost impossible to say at times which singer is taking the melody and which the harmony. Because John starts out on the melody and Paul joins in on the chorus, it’s easy to assume John’s got the melody throughout, except that on the chorus, it seems to be Paul who’s singing the melody, with John’s harmony underneath. This is complex stuff and, of course, they had no formal training, so this was all intuitive.
They were really crazy good, is what I’m saying.
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This has long been one of my most revered Beatles tracks - despite their groundbreaking later achievements. Quite apart from the synchronicity of their voices, the opening vocal section and subsequent chord changes are unprecedented in their originality. Quite astonishing (and so far removed from the algorithmic hit-song templates of our current popsters.)
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So true. Another early Beatles’ work which was goosebump-inducing because of key changes, minor chords and the John-Paul Harmony Magic was ‘There’s A Place’ – which got very little radio play. I recall it being the ‘B’ side on a 45 record label called “Tolley.” (I just had to Google to recall the ‘A’ side. It was “Please Please Me.”)
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They had a passion for music starting young for them. Everything was self taught. They were so talented!
I’m pretty sure the song you’re describing is Baby’s in Black, where there is - as they explicitly state later - no one definitive melody. If I Fell definitely has a melody - it’s Paul’s part.
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