let's look at the raw energy of the Beatles performing live,
here is i'm down at shea stadium. notice that both george and john are singing backup harmony vocals.
watch this live performance at the Royal Variety Performance in London,
which includes johns famous "rattle your jewelry" remark and an absolutely breathtaking rendtion of Twist and Shout.
notice the sheer power of georges back up vocals.
let's look at what the beatles themselves said about johns singing in twist and shout.
About Twist and ShoutJOHN 1963: "I always hate singing the song, 'Twist And Shout' when there's a colored artist on the bill with us. It doesn't seem right, you know. I feel sort of embarrassed... It makes me curl up. I always feel they could do the song much better than me."
JOHN 1971: "The more interesting songs to me were the black ones because they were more simple. They sort of said shake-your-arse, or your prick, which was an innovation really. The blacks were singing directly and immediately about their pain, and also about sex, which is why I like it."
JOHN 1976: "The last song nearly killed me. My voice wasn't the same for a long time after-- everytime I swallowed it was like sandpaper. I was always bitterly ashamed of it because I could sing it better than that, but now it doesn't bother me. You can hear I'm just a frantic guy doing his best."
PAUL 1988: "There's a power in John's voice there that certainly hasn't been equaled since. And I know exactly why-- It's because he worked his bollocks off that day. We left 'Twist And Shout' until the very last thing because we knew there was one take."
RINGO 1994: "We started (recording the album) about noon and finished it at midnight, with John being really hoarse by 'Twist And Shout.'"