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3.11am
10 August 2011
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Here’s a question for you song sleuths. It’s been nagging me for years:
“… and I went into a dream Na na-na-na, na na na na-na-na” sing the Beatles.
Deep Purple in their song “Hush” sing the exact same na na-na-na, na na na na-na-na but much faster.
Their song came out within a year or so of ADITL.
Looks like Deep Purple were inspired by the Beatles, right?
Not really.
“Hush” was a cover of Joe Souther’s song of the same name. [Joe Souther coincidentally had written a song called “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor (according to Wiki)]
The original song already has na na-na-na, na na na na-na-na at the same pace as Deep Purple’s.
So when did Joe Souther’s version come out, and were Lennon/McCartney perhaps inspired by this?
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
3.22am
19 September 2010
Offline First off, it’s “Ahh” not “na”, but whatever.
As far as I see, was written for Billy Joe Royal, whose version came out in 1967, and peaked on the charts in October – at 58. A Day In The Life was finished recording by early Febuary. Looks like a coincedence.
As if it matters how a man falls down.'
'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.
7.35am
10 April 2012
Offline I too noticed that similarity when I learned ADITL on the piano. The more interesting question: Who sings the ahhhs? John or Paul?
10.13am
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
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Trevor Kraus said
I too noticed that similarity when I learned ADITL on the piano. The more interesting question: Who sings the ahhhs? John or Paul?
Best not to go there. There have been many many many heated discussions on this site (and others) about the “ahhhs” with no conclusion in sight, just endless disagreements/discussions.
If you’d like to read 9 pages of them then here’s a nice thread, if you’d like an overview of how the discussions went then here (just scroll down a few posts) and if thats not enough then theres the search option. Plus there is the comments section for the song A Day In The Life . If you’d like to hear the ahhs isolated to decide for yourself then here.
Enjoy. And welcome.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
11.37am
26 March 2012
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It’s both of them together, with John’s voice higher in the mix. Paul’s is easier to hear towards the latter part of the “aah”s, I can hear his smoothness and ease on the higher notes although John is still more prominent. Why else would there be debate? It’s like the question of who sang “she loves you” at the end of All You Need Is Love ; people argued about it because they could hear their favourite singer and wanted to prove it was them. And the reason it was difficult to tell was because BOTH John and Paul sang it. If it was just John, or just Paul, I doubt there’d be argument because it would be easy to discern.
Anyway, sorry for opening this can of worms again but I felt compelled to express my opinion today for some reason or another.
SHUT UP - Paulie's talkin'
3.45pm
1 December 2009
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Actually, the “Hush” na-na-na similarity was also discussed before already – not on the forums, but on the main “A Day In The Life ” page, with the general consensus being that it was indeed probably a coincidence.
(And incidentally, it’s Joe SOUTH, not Souther!)
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
4.20pm
10 April 2012
Offline meanmistermustard said
Trevor Kraus said
I too noticed that similarity when I learned ADITL on the piano. The more interesting question: Who sings the ahhhs? John or Paul?Best not to go there. There have been many many many heated discussions on this site (and others) about the “ahhhs” with no conclusion in sight, just endless disagreements/discussions.
If you’d like to read 9 pages of them then here’s a nice thread, if you’d like an overview of how the discussions went then here (just scroll down a few posts) and if thats not enough then theres the search option. Plus there is the comments section for the song A Day In The Life . If you’d like to hear the ahhs isolated to decide for yourself then here.
Enjoy. And welcome.
Haha thank you for all that. I’m very familiar with the debate, having read pages upon pages of discussion about it on other forums, and I still can’t make up my mind. And I don’t think I ever will. And I’ve come to accept that as a tribute to the greatness of the song.
11.43pm
14 December 2009
Offline R.I.P. Joe South… 
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
4.03pm
10 August 2011
Offline Hadn’t seen that.
Good pickup!
Joe South made a significant albeit obscure contribution to Beatles’ lore – and to this Forum!
Without his “Hush” there’d have been (perhaps?) no ah’s to discuss!
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
7.02pm
14 December 2009
Offline Also says here that the lads apparently performed a Lennon-led version of his big hit “Games People Play” during one of the “I Want You…” recording sessions!
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
5.58pm
8 December 2015
Offline I think it proabably isn’t a coincidence: or at least, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think it would have to have been a coincidence, and it seems it would have been a pretty big coincidence. I think the most likely explanation is that Joe South heard the ‘ah’ melisma in ADITL, realised that there was probably at least one more hit for someone in such a powerful hook, and adapted it into something with quite a different feel in his own song. Not too far different from some of the Beatles’ own borrowings, of course.
6.46pm
12 December 2019
Offline Joe South had two more connections to Beatles’ lore: he was featured on the Apple-released soundtrack to the 1971 Italian movie “Come Together ” and, also, Allen Klein was his manager too (Klein, in fact, once said: that South was the most all-round complete musician of all the clients he’d ever had).
FWIW: the “ahhs” in A Day In The Life , to me, always had an Imagine -esque type vibe to them (with that same, nasally, point-of-breaking choir-boy effervescence of John reaching).
I will play the game Existence to the End ;)
