“A Day In The Life” by The Beatles is a masterpiece that showcases their creative powers and breaking boundaries. The song was based on multiple true stories, including the death of Tara Browne, the heir to the Guinness fortune. The collaboration between John and Paul on the song led to the creation of a unique musical statement.
The song explores the absurdity of life, the bizarre attachment of luck to a man’s demise, and the incongruence of achievement with sudden death. The Beatles’ sharp lyrics convey the absurdity of life and the absurdity of life’s short meaning through drugs and intense human relationships.
Conspiration theories, such as “Paul is dead”, have emerged as an urban legend and conspiracy theory, alleging that English musician Paul McCartney of the Beatles secretly died in 1966 and was secretly replaced. Theorists claim that the other Beatles covered up his death by hiring someone who looked like him, sang like him, and had the same appearance.
Life doesn’t have a meaning, and humans often try to find meaning in things when it doesn’t exist. Conspiracy theories can be rewarding by providing a sense of meaning and purpose, sparking feelings of importance, legitimacy, and hope. Former believers have found meaning in conspiracy theories, even when they felt empty, even if those promises proved to be hollow themselves.
📹 A Day In The Life – The Beatles (Meaning)#TheBeatles #Meaning #BeatlesMeanings
A Day In The Life – The Beatles (Meaning) A Day In The Life is a song from The Beatles’ 1967 album called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely …
📹 The Vocal Debate About A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life is one of the most iconic Beatles songs. But there’s a 50+ year debate over who is singing the “ahhhs” in the …
They were both singing and they blended the audio in the dub for release. That is why it sounds like both of them, because it is both of them. Edit: Actually you can also hear Harrison in the mix. you were able to isolate the vocals but not the harmonics. The Beatles often triple harmonized, their songs. So there is no mystery voice, its the 3 of them harmonized. The dragging neutral ahh’s are George, the highs are Paul, and the tonal is John. You can hear the same in the first example I want to tell you, when George comes in about a half beat behind both John and Paul again. The base voice doesn’t change pitch, so their are 2 singers, and then it breaks into 2 tenor sections with Paul going off high and George holding the tenor, and John holds the bass of the vocals through the section. So ya 3 probably all 4 were mic’d to tracks, as Ringo also provided many backing vocals because of is lower tenor range although I don’t hear his tone in the track so I don’t think he sang on it. George Paul and John definitely did. You can literally hear all three vocal parts in the Ahhs.
Intentionally distorting his voice on high notes, the way he bends the notes, but what gave it away is the last vocal adlib part which is too Paul. I can absolutely see why this could be confusing because Paul is chameleon when it comes to singing. on his 1971 release RAM, you can hear how he does all kinds of things with his voice.
0:15 There is NO mystery about the alarm clock. It’s an old fashioned bedroom alarm clock ringing to wake up the sleeping person. And the next line is: “woke up, got out of bed….” ⏰⏰ Something like this happens millions of times a day around the world..except today is an iPhone which synthesizes the bell sound.
This is what someone should just do, just take this song of paul and then the ahs from DITL and put it through this audio graph and then compare the ahs to the vocals of paul from another song and it will just prove that its him doing the ahs. I can’t even believe that so many people are still saying its john, its so obviously pauls vocal range. Beatles vocal harmony on YouTube who’s a professional beatles vocal expert even says its paul. Someone needs to do it and just end the argument of if its Paul or John once and for all.
Who do you think is singing the “ahhhs” – is it Paul or John? According to track listing from the Abbey Road ProTools project from the 2017 Sgt. Peppers Remix, the “ahhhs” section is listed as “Paul’s vocals” . Check it out! dt7v1i9vyp3mf.cloudfront.net/styles/news_large/s3/imagelibrary/I/IT_08_17_11-MTGuWf7mo12OsfZ5L36p8awEjr2q9L9S.jpg Read more here: soundonsound.com/techniques/inside-track-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band
>it sounds like John >two guys who were there say it was John >it’s framed as a bridge back to the main verses, which are sung by John >the Beatles generally sung stuff they wrote themselves and Paul only wrote the ‘woke up got out of bed’ lines >there is an effect applied over the voice which is something John regularly had done because he didn’t like the sound of his voice itisamystery.jpg
Sounds like John and George to me. Maybe further light can be shed on the mystery if we establish who actually wrote that section, which is musically distinct from Paul’s upbeat “Woke up, got out of bed” section. To my ears it has the trademark Lennon dreaminess – with perhaps a touch of Harrison input.
Sounds like both of them, lol. Gonna add to this. When you isolate the singing, you can hear multiple voices in the background. Most of them are singing weird notes, but there are parts in the aahs that sound like paul, that fade up over John’s. So it’s entirely possible for it to be both of them singing it together, with the engineers then sliding the levels up and down to get one voice appearing above the other.
The real answer is right above our eyes. It’s John’s voice. For me, as Peter Griffin (the biggest John Lennon fan ever), John’s voice can NOT be outmatched, and it IS actually impossible for Paul’s or George’s voice to fit in correctly in the “Aaahh” part. You can not prove me wrong, because Peter Griffin is the truth and the ones who disagree are all babies. Are you listening, Meg?
For over 30 years I thought it is Lennon. I have to admit I was wrong. Guys on Hoffman forum done a great job bringing it to the details. I won’t repost it, anyone can check it so I just say that according to evidence like production process and isolated tracks it seems very likely it was McCartney all along. We will never got a decisive 100% here, though. People were convinced all their lives that it is Lennon and I understand it’s hard to overcome it. What is more, “A day in the life” is more than a song. This is THE song. Ultimate masterpiece. Widely regarded on Lennon’s side apart from McCartney bridge. Taking into account that many people got their favourites it would be hard for some of them to admit they were wrong because now, digging into evidence we got, the contribution for the song is shifting to the center, making it almost equal (still, main melody and idea came from John). That is what bothers some people but it is what it is. And, if you still hear Lennon’s voice in the isolated tracks, well, nothing gonna change your world. PS Great material, I simply cannot unhear this.
The answer was given to us when you played the ISOLATED vocal. You actually hear John singing the Melody ah’s with Paul doing a harmony above him. And some high oo’s Paul is indeed singing in the background, but a harmony not lead. There are 2 distinct vocals doing different things. But what you would call the main Melody ah is 100% John.
I always heard John, but listening just now it sounds almost like Paul doing a John. That could be the reverb I suppose. There are parts of it that sound undoubtedly Paul to my ear. I’m gonna have to say Paul, either due to effects or by an intentional impersonation of John, the underlying voice is Paul’s
I always thought it was John but after hearing the isolated vocals on a different site, you hear Paul draw a breath to sing the ahhhh and when compared to the Lovely Rita intro it’s almost identical. Plus, their’s a footnote somewhere where the engineer says Paul came in to do some ahhs. Also, on the stero mix they keep the ahhh in the same website Paul is in when he first comes in on Woke up fell out of bed….but John returns to the opposite website he was in. Showing the engineers were keeping their vocal parts separate
It’s not just that it’s John’s vocal quality, but the heavy reverb is a dead giveaway. John (who didn’t like his own voice) liked having his voice processed, and he asked for heavy echo to be placed on it. This was true of a lot of tracks, but especially on “A Day in the Life”. John’s voice has heavy echo added to it, while Paul’s is crisp and effect-free. The ghostly wail has the heavy echo–which means it was from John’s microphone.
I’ve always thought it was John–not only does it have his unique way of sounding like a nasally angel, his contributions to the song are all the trippy, otherworldly parts; Paul’s is the more down-to-earth section. So I’ve never questioned it. But I’ll be honest, hearing the clip of Lovely Rita from the same album… that’s thrown my confidence somewhat. Paul’s a vocal chameleon, remarkably able to vary his voice’s tone, weight, style from song to song. (When doing background vocals or shared lead w/John, he’s almost always the best at matching tones with whoever’s singing lead.) So if he wanted to sound trippy like John, he certainly could have. That said, I still think it makes sense for it to be John given their respective segments. And if Emerick and Giles Martin both say it’s John, I’ve gotta trust them! But I love how many puzzles like this there are throughout their music.
That’s why John and Paul harmonized so well together. Their voices blended so well, and George’s voice fell somewhere in between the two. His tone was closer to John’s, but if you listen to George sing the low part on the live version of “All my loving” his voice blends so well with Paul. It’s as if the three of them were meant to sing together. Every contribution each of them made to a Beatles recording was perfect. Whether it be the solo Paul played on Taxman, the low bass like guitar George played on Two of us, or John’s lead guitar on Get Back.
It was Roady Mal Evans who counted the bars and triggered the alarm clock. He also “played” anvil on Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. Mal had a sad ending to his life. He went into a depression after the Beatles folded. He got drunk and threatening. The police were called and Mal was shot to death. He was cremated but his ashes disappeared. They were finally found in an Ern, in a locker in a railway station.
it’s Paul. You can tell by his timbre at the beginning and end of the notes. Also, at 2:29 just after the high “backround harmony” starts, you can hear john singing his silly high note falsetto that he also does also at the very end of Got To Get You Into My Life – first version/take 5 from the new Revolver remaster
It’s always been John to me. If I hadn’t seen debates over it online I never would have thought there was any confusion over it. John has a very distinct voice. Yes it’s true that Paul could sing like that too, but it’s not exactly the same. Paul is singing immediately before the ahhh and you can tell it is a different voice. And two people who worked on the song and were close to the band both say it was John? There’s really no evidence in Paul’s favour Edit 3 years later – oh no it sounds like Paul now. what happened
According to the book “Recording the Beatles” (an exhaustive document of all Beatles recording sessions): “Though many have understandably attributed this vocal to John Lennon in the past, isolation of the vocal reveals it to be Paul. As the part progresses, his voice takes on a more nasal tone; this, in combination with an application of Repeat Echo similar to that already applied to John’s, does much to give an impression of it being Lennon.” (Recording the Beatles, pg. 444)
What is most amazing to me is that there is a discussion about this at all! It shows to go you that every nuance, every note, every inflection by these young men is so important to their fans. I can’t think of any other group of musicians who have had their songs examined down to the hemidemisemiquaver! I love it! Oh, and it’s John. No doubt.
It is Paul. You have to remember that he can imitate or pull off a John Lennon timbre with ease while singing. When he released his song, “LET ME ROLL IT”, John was immediately threatened because John thought that Paul was capitalizing on his vocal style for profit. Giles wasn’t even born when this song was recorded so there is no way he would know exactly who.
Holy shit I’ve always been so sure that John was singing the aaahs, like come on, this nasal tone, who else could it be? And I was convinced I would waste my time perusal this because so many comments I read said that this article was clickbait. But no! I was very wrong. The article made me change my perspective. The aahs do sound like Paul when his voice gets a bit tense and more nasal to sing louder or hold a note, at the risk of straining it. Slightly similar vocals from his solo career come to mind (1985, Hi Hi Hi) I can make myself picture John singing it or Paul singing it, both are possible options. But, yeah, I mean, I get why this is kind of clickbait, because well, I’m going to believe the engineers on that one! On another note, I’ve always had doubts about who sang the chorus to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. I think it’s John, but it sounds a whole lot like Paul’s clear tone to me (well on the first line anyway, then it’s even harder to know, there are multiple voices, with changed pitch). The thing is, it’s hard to know because at that point the Beatles were adding trippy effects to their voices (in this song John’s voice sounds distorted because it’s been sped up to heighten the pitch). John’s voice is so unique, you would think it’s impossible to confuse it with Paul’s, but it’s more complicated than expected in certain cases. And after all, Paul is a vocal cameleon, and John’s dislike of his own singing voice led him to modify it from the very beginning, mainly through double tracking.
The Beatles sped up (i.e. “VSO”‘d) their voices a lot in those days, and most especially on Sgt. Pepper. Paul was often able to mimic John’s voice fairly accurately and the effect was particularly convincing when the voice was recorded with the machine running slightly slower so that when played back, it sounded thinner and more shimmering. Those gorgeous harmonies at the end of the second verse on Lovely Rita are the result of using this technique. Therefore, even though this “aahhh” part on A Day In The Life features John’s signature vocal sound, there is something not quite real about the sound of the voice that indicates it was probably sped up. Paul could easily have done his believable John-like imitation in this instance, but I wouldn’t necessarily put money on it. I’m just grateful that these guys could cover for each other in many ways, with John or Paul playing lead guitar in places where we always assumed it was George, or Paul playing drums when we thought it was Ringo, or even George or John covering for Paul on the bass on occasion. The Rolling Stones did swap-out things like this all the time too, as did many bands … and this continues today with any group that is bursting with talent. Makes it more fun and interesting for sure ..
I don’t want to throw a spanner into the discussion, but there are two listening environments for Sgt Peppers. One is obviously speakers, that varies by kind, type, or size of speakers and their enclosures. The other is headphones. Each has a completely different sound field, that can affect our judgement.
The beginning of Lovely Rita is unmistakably Paul. This Day in the Life section is John. VERY similar but it’s John in my opinion. And, BOTH Lennon and McCartney loved Hendrix’s version of Hey Joe. Even the chord progression in the ‘ahh section’ is almost identical to H.J…which came out in late ’66.
OK, a really contentious idea, and I’m not being facetious: how about it being George? In the isolated vocals’ section of this article we hear three voices. Something tells me they were recorded simultaneously, around one mic: the lead singer up close, the background singers ad libbing from a distance. At 2:52 in particular, we hear the two background vocals harmonise ABOVE the lead vocal (one voice singing a B4, the other a G#4, while the lead sings an E4). John and Paul would typically take the higher registers in any three-part harmony, and George the lowest. And while it’s no proof, I can certainly hear characteristics (in the lead vocal) that are reminiscent of George. If I’m right (and I’m not saying I am), this may explain why nobody has ever been able to attribute this vocal to either John or Paul. Your thoughts? And no flaming, please. 😊
“Recording The Beatles” was published in 2006. (I bought it then for about fifty bucks; apparently now collectible.) It’s an exhaustive study of the recording equipment–from microphone stands to mixing consoles–used to record the group, as well as session notes. One of the most striking details was that Paul sang the “Ahhh” from bridge into the final verse. Like almost everyone I’d figured it was John, but this account by an engineer who was there states it’s Paul. It also makes sense within the song structure, as Paul’s dreamscape follows his smoke and hearing a person speak on the double-decker bus. What I want to know for sure is who sings the equivalent part on “Lovely Rita” right after “…when are you free to take some tea with me?” That must be John, right? Back to RTB to recheck; didn’t see it mentioned.
It sounds more like Paul to me. I think he had more sheer lung power at his disposal than John (not the John’s voice wasn’t powerful in other ways) and would be far more likely to hold and stretch and push his voice on an extended climbing and dipping vocal-line like this, especially one that’s essentially a ‘dreamy trifle’. The first few seconds sound especially Paul-like, as does the very end of the passage, where his voice begins to ‘scrape’ as he runs out of puff.
I had always assumed it was Lennon; and in the track it particularly sounds like him (partly due to it making sense that Lennon’s voice would return after McCartney’s section ceased). However hearing the part isolated for the first time I’m almost convinced it’s Paul. My main reason being the bellowing, bottom of the belly style of the performance. While John had a more nasally, throaty sound, the very long held out notes combined with complex ad-libs and trills (for example If you listen to the vocal trill at 2:35 in the article) to me sound distinctly McCartney. Admittedly the background “oh”s sound reminiscent of McCartney’s famous improvised “doo”s. Only they’re so reverb soaked its almost impossible to tell who it is. And you can’t rule out either the possibility that both vocals are in fact McCartney, with overdubs and bouncing common throughout the album. McCartney was the most prevalent writer/ performer on the LP too so talking strictly numbers; he is the most likely. If its John, I’ve never heard him sound like that before.
It sounds like John to me, and always has. Listening to the isolated vocal track, there’s more than one voice in there, which sounds like Paul doing some “ooh”s and at points even George sounds like he gets in on it. You can’t really pick these up on the final recording without a decent audio set-up. The fact people involved have said it’s John as well leads me to suspect there’s no mystery here.
I’ve heard Paul singing this part all my life, and this article changes nothing. It is clearly his timbre and, even more obviously, his vocal trill at the end of the ‘Aaaah’ (John simply didn’t have this in his musical vocabulary. He never sang a trill remotely similar to this throughout his career). Btw.. I tend to be more of a John fan if I have to choose a favorite, and I have no beef in this dispute. This is just obviously Paul singing, and to me it’s even weird there is a debate about this.
I’m no deep diver on this sort of thing, just an avid listener for 52+ years…and I’d always assumed, would’ve been beyond 100% certain it was John, no doubts whatsoever… ….then you had to go and play that isolated track from Lovely Rita…. Now…I’m 95% sure it’s STILL John…the upfront “aah” still sounds more him ( though it could be Paul) BUT the waifting back round “oohs” on that same track are more McCartney and others…
Hey???? I have an idea. Instead of bickering about who, what, overdubbed, splice tape, this person did this or that, who had a sore throat that day, or was John sitting or standing?????…..can’t we all just enjoy the song, revel in the fact it is one hell of an awesome song and relax??? Oh here is something to ponder……has anyone asked Paul or Ringo who sang the part???? I mean come on. Paul does interviews all the time. Ask him!!! Or Ringo.everyone was there……just ask Paul!
Paul had to ‘punch in’ on the same track between Johns existing vocal, I remember talk of Paul having to scan his last line with an emphasis on the m of dream to get a tight end to his line (“..and I went into a drea-MUH”) to cue the tape engineer to stop the tape sharply as not to go over/erase Johns next bit which was the ‘aaah’
Definitely sounds like John. Paul is a man of “many voices” ranging from songs like “Yesterday” to the grit of “Helter Skelter” but the “ahh’s” on Day In The Life have a strong John Lennon quality that is found on virtually all his solos and songs. John’s voice is more “one dimensional” than Paul’s and it just sounds so much like the singer that he was. That said, Day In The Life” is the Beatles masterpiece and one of the greatest rock songs of all time. So much packed into a little under 5 minutes it takes the listener on an amazing journey.
John is sing Ahhhh part, when John was singing A day in a life, he know there was going to be a gap, so the Ahhhh was a filler for that part. Then Paul said he had a little incomplete song that may fit in one of the gaps, that`s when, woke up, got out of bed ….. comes in. It was short and filled in for all the piano playing, the engineers wanted Paul`s song to be quick so it wouldn`t cut out John`s Ahhhh, the reason is because they put Paul`s voice on the same track as John`s.
After continuous re-listening I’ve come to a conclusion that it’s definetly Paul’s voice. It’s tricky when you listen to the piece for a first or a second time, since the reverberation was added to the voice. But if you listen closely to the given part and compare it to the beginning of ‘Lovely Rita’ you’ll recognise the same manner of singing, the same pitch and the same voice.
It never occurred to me that it might be Paul singing, it always sounded exactly like John to me. Until I heard the isolated vocal, and now I’m fully convinced that it’s Paul with lots of reverb. I don’t want to believe it because at the beginning of the article I never thought I would hear it as Paul, but now that I have I can never unhear it. I think I’ll choose to believe that it’s doubletracked and it’s actually both of them singing.
Paul was just asked on a Reddit AMA the following question: One of the great mysteries of Sgt Pepper is who sang the “ahs” immediately after you sing “and I fell into a dream” on A Day In The Life. Was that you or John singing there? His answer: I seem to remember we all sang it. But I was definitely in there.
It was still paul’s part of ‘a day in the life’ since he wrote that part, you can even see him directing the symphony orchestra during the ah’s in the music article, then it was back to johns screentime after the middle part, also in the take 1 & 2 of A day in the life john wasnt singing the ah’s, and paul didnt sing the whole middle part either cause i believe he still havent figure what lyrics would fill out that part yet, john then again sings the “i read the news today oh boy” and so on. John’s vocals is also lot more nasally, the more you listen to it, its definitely paul.