I downloaded two of the 5.1 isolation tracks for A Day In The Life, to see if I can hear the echo ahhhh part clearer.
Boy, can you! Both the rear right and left have a different 'take' on it, the music drops out and it's all you hear. Perfect clarity.
AND:
After listening to both repeatedly closely and loudly, I can only say that...
I don't have a flickin clue who it is anymore. It is like uber-Beatle. It sounds like John, it sounds like Paul, and not enough like either one of them to say for certain.
In it's bare state it does sound like the John I always assumed it was, but not so much that you can't say...hmmm...that COULD be Paul. I even thought it was both but clearly it's not.
Bottom line: it's whoever you want it to be. I would not say it isn't John, nor would I say it isn't Paul. And whatever 'proof' I *thought* I had seen somewhere be damned.