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[dcowboys107]

I've really gotten to enjoy this song especially the harmonies sung by Paul.  I was wondering, how does Paul get his voice so high on that song like he does in "Act Naturally" as well? Is it falsetto or something?  If anyone knowns please let me know because it's something that has been intriguing me.  

Are there any early takes to these two songs that I can bootleg?

[alexis]

Hi - That high voice of Paul's has always intrigued me also!

I learned to sing like that just by doing it all the time, for a long time (I'm a guy). For me, it's a different voice than my speaking or talking voice, or even my "regular" singing voice, it comes from a different place in my throat (farther back?,  a friend of mine who knows this kind of stuff calls it "head singing"). Funny thing is, that high voice comes from such a different part of the throat/head that it can be unnaffected even if I can have a head cold that leaves me unable to speak, much less sing with my "regular" voice!

After a while the more I listen, the more I hear that high "Paul" voice in rock harmonies. Another place that kind of voice is used (sounds almost identical to Paul when he uses this high voice) is the harmony in "Take it Easy", 2nd verse: "Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona", by the Eagles. Once you get the voice down, you can use it in a lot of songs.

I think Paul used this voice (the one like your "I've Just Seen a Face") really early in his singing career, it sounds like the same voice on most of "Long Tall Sally"; "Kansas City"; "Ooh My Soul"; "Lucille" and others. It then carried on with later songs of his like "I'm Down";  harmony on "I'll Get You", and "Eight Days a Week";  among others.

Addendum: VERY early on, Paul used to get laughed at with this voice, it was called a "girlie" voice, I think this was before he was even singing professionally. He was kind of copying Little Richard with that voice. I wonder if he was the first white singer to use it?

Later, when they got back from Hamburg for one of their first gigs back in Liverpool, it was that voice on "Long Tall Sally" that got Beatlemania going, the girls in the crowd just lost it with the first few notes, and that's all she wrote, according to one of his contemporaries. Sorry, no references for this, but I'll bet you can find it somewhere in the links from this site!

Sorry, this isn't as helpful a post as I thought it might be. I remember asking the same question a long time ago. I think the very first thing I tried to imitate was that part in George's "Piggies" where Paul sings an ascending harmony "Eat the bacon!". It's a good practice exercise!

Hopefully "An Apple Beatle" will respond to this thread, I think he sings Paul a lot in his gigs too, I'd be very interested in his experience and explanation  

[Geoff]

Are there any early takes to these two songs that I can bootleg?

Offhand I can't recall hearing any booted studio takes of either of these, although others here would know more. "I've Just Seen a Face" is a great one of Paul's, I think.  

[alexis]

Offhand I can't recall hearing any booted studio takes of either of these, although others here would know more. "I've Just Seen a Face" is a great one of Paul's, I think.

Love the duet guitar intro as well   I always figured it was John and George, but now I've got to wonder if it was Paul and George, or maybe Paul and Paul (he was like one of those single cell organisms in that other thread, he didn't need anyone else to (re)produce - music that is!)

[Geoff]

Love the duet guitar intro as well   I always figured it was John and George, but now I've got to wonder if it was Paul and George, or maybe Paul and Paul (he was like one of those single cell organisms in that other thread, he didn't need anyone else to (re)produce - music that is!)

Ian Macdonald credits John and Paul with acoustic parts and George with the lead. I'm not sure who's playing what in the intro; Paul double tracking himself is a pretty good guess, but since John played the guitar on "Honey Pie" too I wouldn't be surprised if he were in on the intro here as well: he had a wider range than he's usually given credit for.

[An Apple Beatle]

Yes i do love that intro. Sounds like Macca harmonising with himself on this. It all depends on the key of the song to get various types of tone. I think them reslo ribbon mics played their part in that sound too. That classic slightly distorted effect. Macca also likes to tail off notes sometimes by edging into falsetto's but he's not adopting it much on this track. When you think falsetto, think choirboy. First thing to go after a few beers is falsetto and certainly don't last a full weekend of gigs! lol

"fallin, yes I am fallin' is classic country harmonies.



The name of a Simon & Garfunkel tune that eludes me here has that same harmony effect..lydee da, lydee lie la lie de da, lie de da, ly la ly ly ly ly la la la la ly. lol...total memory blank!

[alexis]

Yes i do love that intro. Sounds like Macca harmonising with himself on this. It all depends on the key of the song to get various types of tone. I think them reslo ribbon mics played their part in that sound too. That classic slightly distorted effect. Macca also likes to tail off notes sometimes by edging into falsetto's but he's not adopting it much on this track. When you think falsetto, think choirboy. First thing to go after a few beers is falsetto and certainly don't last a full weekend of gigs! lol

"fallin, yes I am fallin' is classic country harmonies.



The name of a Simon & Garfunkel tune that eludes me here has that same harmony effect..lydee da, lydee lie la lie de da, lie de da, ly la ly ly ly ly la la la la ly. lol...total memory blank!

The Boxer? Except I don't remember "lol" being the last one ...  

[alexis]

But seriously, Apple Beatle, do you sing a lot of this Paul stuff, and if you do, what are your thoughts on how you make that sound? Thanks  

[HeatherBoo]

Yes I think they are refering to The Boxer

[An Apple Beatle]

It is The Boxer. For some reason I thought that had another outro and I was mixing it up with something else! Too much old R&B, Soul & Funk lately. heheh

I gotta say Alexis that I sing more of the later repertoire but every year it gets bigger. The growl of Golden Slumbers is my 'forte' say to speak. I also excel at the soft tones of If I Fell harmonies etc. I'm not really sure what I do...Say a track like I'll Follow The Sun or I Will, I just think of all the times I have loved and listened, so I suppose I imagine the voice I am going to sing if that makes any sense. I'm still on catch up with youtube really where you can glean more from watching the strain and shape of the mouth when singing for more clues....Another secret, knowing the words implicity breeds confidence.

Somewhere in my mailbox is a list of tunes I do which I can yarn streams about at the mo.

Infact, on my desktop right now...heres the contenders for this year IW Festival and Cowes Week and the ones I'm in the zone with at the moment. (No particular order)

Please Please Me
Come Together
Sgt. Peppers
Drive My Car
I Feel Fine
Back In The USSR
All You Need Is Love
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Hey Jude
A Hard Days Night
You Can't Do That
Things We Said Today
Ticket To Ride
Paperback Writer
If I Fell
Twist & Shout
I Saw Her Standing there
Can't Buy Me Love
Money
We Can Work It Out
I've Got A Feeling
Taxman

Just discivered thru youtube last night that these are different keys from what I thought was my largely gospel Beatle chord book. Makes the harmonies even easier!
And I Love Her - Fminor
If I Fell - Dflatminor (starts in Dminor)Capo 1st fret

[dcowboys107]

I think them reslo ribbon mics played their part in that sound too.

How could a microphone change the pitch of your voice?

[An Apple Beatle]

How could a microphone change the pitch of your voice?

Dunno mate..you said that. 'Sound.'

[An Apple Beatle]

How could a microphone change the pitch of your voice?

If it was going through a vocoder. lol

[dcowboys107]

Oh I'm sorry I mean how was he able to reach a note like that.  It sounds almost falsetto but I'm not sure.  Sorry about the confusion.

[An Apple Beatle]

No Worries DC...I have just listened to Act Naturally which I don't know too well and noticed that there is no falsetto going on. I'm finding it hard to describe how he physically hits a note other than his great range and control. That just comes from singin, singin and playin and singin.

[alexis]

Oh I'm sorry I mean how was he able to reach a note like that.  It sounds almost falsetto but I'm not sure.  Sorry about the confusion.

Hi DC Cowboys - If you'd like to sing like that, just start out practicing/trying. I think it was Apple Beatle that said on this thread or another, watching the youtube performances is really cool because you can see what mouth and throat muscles they used to make the sound, easier to imitate.

GFITD!

[Sondra]

Don't you have to have a voice like that to begin with or can you actually train yourself to hit those notes? Like I'm thinking, Paul's voice was naturally high to begin with. Same with the guy from Journey (Steve?) or Freddie Mercury. Not everyone can go there. Or can they? Although I think Freddie's voice was a rarity. In his prime, did Paul ever come close to his range? I mean, McCartney's voice is pretty amazing, but I'm not sure how one would compare.

[alexis]

Don't you have to have a voice like that to begin with or can you actually train yourself to hit those notes? Like I'm thinking, Paul's voice was naturally high to begin with. Same with the guy from Journey (Steve?) or Freddie Mercury. Not everyone can go there. Or can they? Although I think Freddie's voice was a rarity. In his prime, did Paul ever come close to his range? I mean, McCartney's voice is pretty amazing, but I'm not sure how one would compare.

I'm not sure how to answer that because initially I couldn't do that high stuff, but with practice I could. If you ask the people in my dorm room in college what they remember about me, it will probably be that I was screaming all the time (like in Long Tally Sally, not (chainsaw)  kind of stuff!). But maybe someone else couldn't have done that even with a lot of practice. I can hit pretty low note too because of practicing (like on a rare morning, E or D two octaves below middle C, usually at least down to the G, which is one note lower than the word "frown" John sings in "I'm a Loser"), couldn't do that initially. So I think probably people can stretch their vocal ranges at least that much do that with practice.

But I defer to experts like Apple Beatle and arthurlee and such!

[An Apple Beatle]

I believe the boundaries are in the mind. Yes you can be born with a voice but until you try and hit them notes, you'll never know. Freddie's voice was opera trained I believe, which is another grounding all together. I think both could hit a top C in their own way.

People are born with ranges like Baritone, tenor, counter tenor but you can train and improve your range quite considerably with breathing and warm-up exercises. Hitting the note is one thing but hitting it with control and style is another. Huge repertoire helps. You start finding that a trick or style for one song is appliable to many others.

[alexis]

I believe the boundaries are in the mind. Yes you can be born with a voice but until you try and hit them notes, you'll never know. Freddie's voice was opera trained I believe, which is another grounding all together. I think both could hit a top C in their own way.

People are born with ranges like Baritone, tenor, counter tenor but you can train and improve your range quite considerably with breathing and warm-up exercises. Hitting the note is one thing but hitting it with control and style is another. Huge repertoire helps. You start finding that a trick or style for one song is appliable to many others.

Yes, this is so true. It's the phase I'm working on now, so much easier now that I have in ear monitors when I'm on stage. I can't sing when there is anything loud going on, and that includes my home acoustic piano, never mind on stage.

I also agree it's all in the mind. Like if I pretend to be Paul, or "channel" John, I can sing so much better. I know that sounds really superficial and such, and I guess it probably is, but it really helps me. I wish I could sing just being me, but I'm not sure who that is on stage!

(I guess that last comment keeps this on topic, "Act Naturally" and all!)


Here's a link to Long Tall Sally -

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahD2swCU0GQ&amp;amp;feature=related" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahD2swCU0GQ&amp;amp;feature=related</a>

- it is just so cool how they are all really going after it. Paul does a great job too!