Written mostly by Paul McCartney, ‘Every Little Thing’ was sung by him and John Lennon for The Beatles’ fourth album, Beatles For Sale.
McCartney initially hoped it would be the follow-up single to ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, although this wasn’t to be. In America, ‘Every Little Thing’ was released in 1965 on the Beatles VI album.
‘Every Little Thing’, like most of the stuff I did, was my attempt at the next single. I remember playing it for Brian backstage somewhere. He had assembled a few people. It was one of those meetings – ‘Oh, we have to do some recordings, who’s got what?’ and we played a few at Brian. We didn’t often check things with Brian, in fact I just remember it in connection with this because I thought it was very catchy. I played it amongst a few songs; it was something I thought was quite good but it became an album filler rather than the great almighty single. It didn’t have quite what was required.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
The song was written in August 1964 during The Beatles’ first full US tour.
John and I got this one written in Atlantic City during our last tour of the States. John does the guitar riff for this one, and George is on acoustic. Ringo bashes some timpani drums for the big noises you’ll hear.
Disc, 14 November 1964
A love song, most likely written with Jane Asher in mind, ‘Every Little Thing’ is as emotionally revealing as any of Lennon’s songs on Beatles For Sale. Although the music was less successful, the lyrics are among McCartney’s most succinct and tender on the album.
In the studio
The Beatles began recording ‘Every Little Thing’ on 29 September 1964. They taped four takes, the last of which was temporarily considered the best.
They returned to it the following day, recording a further five attempts. It was a light-hearted session, as recounted by Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn:
Take six was aborted when Paul burped a vocal instead of singing it, take seven was complete but ended in uproarious laughter. And Ringo was having fun with an instrument new to Beatles recordings – timpani. This appeared for the first time on take nine, along with the guitar intro and piano piece.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions
A tasty and unique little song, but a careful listen to the stereo mix reveals some details missed in the Lewisohn quote above.
Firstly, John played the intro, solo, and those cool chimy notes in the chorus on his Rickenbacker 325/12. This is the only track that prominently features this unique custom guitar, and could be the only time it was used in recording. The sound is way different than George’s 360/12, and the approach to the solo sounds much more Lennon than Harrison.
Like most of the Beatles’ four track recordings of the period, the session tape would have contained the basic instrumental track on 2 tracks and the basic vocal on the third. On this song the contents of the fourth (overdub) track are mixed to the far right(in the stereo master) so it is easy to figure out what was added after the original take 9 was laid down.
One surprise in the right channel though. In the solo, there are bass guitar notes that were obviously played in the overdub–Paul plays a short run on the bass, which is answered by the 325/12, this pattern is repeated, then John plays a slightly rushed arpegio to finish the solo. This is in addition to the bass line which runs through the song, which is mixed to the near left.
So, this song is one of, if not the first songs ever to feature multi-tracked bass.
The piano part was part of the original take 9, so credit should go to George Martin for this.
Summary: take 9 originally consisted of:
John Lennon: Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocal
Paul McCartney: Backing Vocal and Bass
George Harrison: ???????
Ringo Starr: Drums
George Martin: Piano
Recorded onto track 4 of take 9:
John Lennon: Lead Guitar
Paul McCartney: Bass
Ringo Starr: Tympani
That’s how I hear it, any one like to add or subtract to this??
The “bass” overdub is also present at the coda. My ears think it’s a bass, but it could also be low notes on a guitar. The pressing question would be: if McCartney was playing piano on this overdub, then who played the bass notes?
Not only is John not playing lead, it’s not even his style of playing. There are 2 lead guitar overdubs. The first half of the solo consists of a single lead guitar while the second one played the low register E F# G# A phrase. For the jangling notes both guitars played the same phrase.
It’s a John and Paul duet. Why people keep crediting Lennon as the main writer and singing of this song annoys me considering as the facts suggest he isn’t. Paul in his own words brought this song up to be a single but was rejected. Lennon was dominating the song writing at this time (64) so why would Paul give away yet another song to him . especially being the main writer of it? Even Lennon said it was his song!
Yes – I myself am very sceptical of the lead guitar credit going to John.
More takes of “Every Little Thing” were recorded the following day and session photographs officially confirm that George was present at that day’s session, Rickenbacker 12-string strapped on.
“John does the guitar riff for this one, and George is on acoustic” -Paul McCartney
I too thought it was John double tracked in the verses. It’s not. You can hear Paul clearly on “people tell me I’m lucky”. https://youtu.be/q902ThYzSrw?t=248
Hi Les
I had always heard this song as a Lennon lead vocal….one of his best in my opinion; and as a result had always assumed that it was predominantly a John Song. So I thought it was odd that John took the lead vocal after I discovered that it had actually been composed by McCartney. However, on closer inspection whilst listening to the stereo version through headphones – it became clear to me that both John and Paul are singing the verses in unison. John’s personality cuts through a little more, perhaps because the notes are closer to his strong vocal range than Paul’s. However, Paul can be heard quite distinctly on the last word of each line of the verse as he holds the note for a fraction of a second longer than john. Once you hear the two voices together, you can’t un-hear it and for me it just adds to the pleasure of listening to this fantastic vocal performance.
Les, many thanks for your comment – very illuminating! I’ll bow to your superior ears, and amend the line-up accordingly.
Les is right with his comments about the guitars and its players but in case of the vocals I would say that Lennon and McCartney are on shared lead vocals because both of them are singing together all the time (often in unison).
I’m pretty sure it’s double-tracked Lennon in the verses, joined by McCartney in the choruses.
Listen again, this one has no double-tracked Lennon. You can hear McCartney’s voice come through a few times:
00:22 (“… her”)
01:01 (“… forever”)
And also there was no free track for Lennon to double his voice. According to Everett, the four tracks consists of:
1) Paul’s bass, Ringo’s drums, John’s acoustic guitar
2) Lennon-McCartney vocals
3) John’s Rickenbacker 12-string
4) piano by Paul(!), Ringo’s timpani
SD – I hear the same exact thing! Circa 1963/1964 John & Paul’s voices could sound very similar when singing together. Great song. Love how it doesn’t rhyme, one of the few songs as such. Just for fun, anyone know of any other of their songs that do not rhyme (Tomorrow Never knows, for one)?
“John & Paul’s voices could sound very similar when singing together.”
That’s EXACTLY WHY they had such a phenomenal vocal BLEND!!!
That BLEND was The Beatles!!!
Baby You’re A Rich Man?
During the intro, a thumped guitar body is evident in the left channel of the stereo mix, so perhaps John did play acoustic and George played the 12-string lead parts.
The piano is certainly played by Paul. Lewisohn has a photo in his book (Recording Sessions, page 48) which captures the overdub recording with Ringo on timpani and Paul on piano (30 September 1964).
Definitely John and Paul singing together the entire way. However it does sound like a single Lennon-sounding voice (more Lennon sounding than McCartney).
This amazing phenomenon can be heard on a lot of other songs: MISERY, SHE LOVES YOU, FROM ME TO YOU, I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND, EIGHT DAYS A WEEK, I’LL GET YOU, THANK YOU GIRL, LITTLE CHILD, maybe a few others.
Nope.
John on lead, no Paul at all.
In songs like I Want to hold your Hand you can hear the two voices not too difficult, it takes just a decent ear.
Here is John and that’s all.
Who’s hearing Paul in the verse is simply dreaming.
Paul does the chorus harmonies, and that’s it.
Sorry Cris, you’re wrong. While it’s usually John OR Paul double-tracked on the verses, this time they’re singing together.
Paul’s timbre can be heard especially good at the end of the second verse (“will never die”). It’s even more audible on the “forever” just before.
And you’re right, of course, it DOES take a decent ear.
Well, all I can hear is Lennon’s voice double tracked, as usual, with John.
The great critic Ian MacDonald, on “Revolution in the head” wrote “it’s lead-sung by Lennon”.
I totally agree with him.
Yes, Lennon is the dominant voice in the verses, especially in the first.
But check out SDs post, which I didn’t read before posting my own. He heard Macca at the same part as I did, so there must be something to it.
And according to Lennon and McCartney this is mostly Paul’s song, so it would be totally untypical that John should sing it alone.
They wrote it together, so they sing it together.
Another great “singing together unisono in the verses and with great harmonies in the chorus” song is the fantastic “I’ll be on my way”.
Some people say they also sing unisono in Eight days a week. But that one is REALLY a toughie. I’m not sure about Paul in the verses there.
But in this one, there’s really no question: John AND Paul are singing unisono, which gives the vocals a certain quality and sound a double tracked Lennon wouldn’t provide.
Definitely Paul is singing lead with John. I think Paul is doing a “Lennon” voice here. Same on “Things we said today” Macca is doing the John bit too. Also you can hear John doing a “Paul” voice on Rain. Those cheeky chaps…
Totally agree, Its John and Paul. Everything else you’ve said makes perfect sense.
Yes, I think so, too. You can definitely hear Paul at the end of “lucky” at 0:10.
paulsbass “In Spite Of All The Danger” was written by Paul and Sung by John taking the Lead. Same Thing with “Every Little Thing” was a Song written by Paul at Wimpole Street and Sung by John & Paul.
Agreed that the lead vocals are Lennon (they are very distinctive and have an edge). In the section “Every little thing she does…” it’s John on the lower vocal and Paul on the higher harmony vocal.
John & Paul duets are an underdiscussed aspect of Beatle lore, but this is clearly John & Paul duetting throughout the song. The reason Lennon seems to be singing more than he is is that McCartney’s voice is not as powerful in this register. You can hear McCartney’s voice as almost a soft growl in the verses and then coming to it’s full strength as he goes high for the chorus and just before the chorus. There has to be some modern software that can be used to pull these two vocals apart.. I know they were recorded together on one track on the same mic.. but their character is so different that I really think this song and Tell Me What You See would be instructive!
Of course, one could simply ask Paul, since he’s not dead!
Their voices blend together really well but I believe that it is both of them singing together. If you listen closely to the remastered version you can hear that Lennon’s voice has a bit of ‘overdrive’ or hoarseness to it while Paul’s is smooth with no breakup.
I can hear Paul dueting with John on this one – it’s very clear when they sing the word “forever”.
However, I can’t hear Paul at all on the verses of Eight Days a Week and Little Child.
To me, the clearest proof that it is both of them on the verses is how Paul’s voice trails John’s slightly at the end of each line. John’s voice sounds clipped and Paul’s faintly follows.
It still amazes me that people can’t hear what the Fabcast guys call the Beatles Supervoice (John+Paul). The Supervoice is definitely in this track, and is frequently employed on all the early albums. I’ve read comments saying Paul doesn’t sing on the record of I Want to Hold Your Hand!! Amazing. That’s one of the best uses of the Supervoice ever. Yes John’s voice has that amazing rough texture but Paul could mimic that (he “ghosted” John’s voice in Free as a Bird to strengthen the cassette recording that John made).
Drive my car….
There is no definitive answer to who played the lead guitar. I post on Beat Gear Cavern, and even there no consensus has been reached.
“Some sources claim that John plays lead on this song, due to the style of the solo, and also because George did not arrive at the studio until two hours after the backing track was laid down. However, the guitar being played is indeed George’s (1964 Rickenbacker “Fire-glo” 360-12), although John may have merely borrowed it. The argument has never been resolved.”
The writer is claiming that the solo is a kind of call and response solo.. listening to it, I agree.. whoever is playing the da da da da could be someone else on guitar but it’s not a bass.. then john responds with the verse melody and then da da da da .. john responds with the next bit of the verse and then it’s possible both guitars to the spiral downward that ends the solo. I don’t know.. I’ve always thought the sound of the guitar on this song is rather exotic and could be two guitarists playing in unison as the Beatles did several times in their career.
I remember the photographs from that session. There’s a photo of Paul behind the piano, Ringo behind the Tympani, and George with his 12 string guitar.
I think that he overdubed his guitar to John’s lead. Both are heard on the right channel’ with the piano and tympani.
The 12-string lead guitar in question is clearly NOT George’s Ricky 360-12. The sound is very different and would be John’s Ricky 325-12.
Colin Manley is quoted in Andy Babiuk’s Beatles’ Gear as saying the 325-12 had an odd sound, something like “a small harpsichord”. That would indicate a “clipped” non-sustaining sound, which is exactly what you hear on this song. George’s 12 had a very round, full sound.
John stated in his Hit Parader interview that both Paul and he wrote this song – he does sing the lead vocal.
In the Playboy interview he actually states that Paul wrote it, but that he[John] may have thrown something in as well — unlike in the Hit Parader interview, where he just throws the song into the Lennon/McCartney pile, without further comment.
But from those two sources, I would find it fair to assume he had _something_ to do with the writing, as well as being audibly the most prominent lead singer.
I don’t think Lennon wanted to be the most prominent singer.. any more than he did on Eight Days a Week.. McCartney just couldn’t maintain the power and stability in this range to overpower Lennon.. that’s why McCartney is always double tracked when he sings up this high as in Can’t Buy Me Love. His home range is more All My Loving, And I Love Her, I’ll Follow the Sun. This song.. Eight Days a Week.. single tracked Can’t Buy Me Love.. McCartney’s voice has a rather thin nasal quality and is pretty shaky at times in their early work. In these duets.. Lennon usually sounds more prominent but you can certainly hear McCartney QUITE clearly… especially that line “there is one thing i’m sure offf..I will luv her forevaaarrrr” and his voice is like a soft growl.
“…McCartney is always double tracked when he sings up this high as in Can’t Buy Me Love. His home range is more All My Loving, And I Love Her, I’ll Follow the Sun… McCartney’s voice has a rather thin nasal quality and is pretty shaky at times in their early work.”
I beg to differ. Just have a listen to the (single-tracked) bridge of A Hard Day’s Night: “When I’m home…”. Or “If I Fell”, where Paul sings the (high) lead melody despite the fact that John primarily wrote the song. Or “Fixing A Hole”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, or a thousand other examples. I think you will discover Paul is a phenomenally strong singer, ESPECIALLY on high notes.
I totally agree with Silly Girl on this. Paul always had an excellent voice and a very strong range.
The other comments are kind of ironic, since John complained about having a weak voice in later years – he became very self-conscious about his singing after the break-up and because of that he relied a lot on double-tracking and echo. Not that I agree with him at all. His voice had a more nasal but always very distinctive quality.
In this 1972 John Lennon interview: Some of the Song’s John answer…
“Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” – Paul – One of HIS BEST. (Come On!)
“Back In U.S.S.R” – Paul – Maybe I helped a little bit BUT I DON’T THINK SO.
“Rocky Raccoon” – Paul – I might have helped with some words, I’M
NOT SURE.
And down at the bottom of the interview “Every Little Thing” was attribute to John & Paul. With NO! Comment by John
I had to Laugh, Almost on every Paul’s Song John is Saying “Maybe I helped with some words or Maybe I helped a little BUT always adding I’M NOT SURE!
Or No! Comment at all.
Charles Lucas & Johan Cavalli,
The Playboy Interviews With John Lennon and Yoko Ono – “Every Little Thing” page 173
Playboy: “Every Little Thing”?
Lennon: “Every Little Thing” is his song; maybe I threw something in.
And
Paul McCartney Many Years From Now, Author Barry Miles – “Every Little Thing” page 174
“Every Little Thing”, Paul wrote at Wimpole Street sitting in his garret room alone, strumming his guitar.
Paul: “Every Little Thing”, like most of the stuff I did, was my attempt at the next single. I remember playing it for Brian back staged somewhere. He had assembled a few people. It was one of those meetings – “Oh, we have to do some recordings, who’s got what?’ and we played a few at Brian. We didn’t often check things with Brian, in fact I just remember it in connection with this because I thought it was very catchy. I played it amongst a few songs; it was something I thought was quite good but it became an album filler rather than the great almighty single. It didn’t have quite what was required.
And
Albert Cunning,
“In Spite Of All The Danger” was written by Paul McCartney & the guitar riff done by George Harrison credited to McCartney/Harrison – The lead singer was John Lennon even though he did not write any of the song.
Here’s some interesting food for thought about “Every Little Thing.”
McCartney said in interview in late 1964 (as found in Keith Madman’s book “The Beatles Off The Record”): “John and I got this one written in Atlantic City during our last tour of the States. John does the guitar riff for this one, and George is on acoustic. Ringo bashes some timpani drums for the big noises you hear.”
In Paul’s “Many Years From Now” Book, co-author Barry Miles says the song was written at Jane Ashers house on Wimpole Street, but contradicts himself by saying in one place that it was written in the “little music room” and in another place saying that Paul wrote it “sitting in his garret room alone, strumming his guitar.” Interestingly, neither of these quotes are from Paul himself! Even so, the book came together around 30 years after the fact, so the more reliable source would be Paul’s 1964 quote.
John playing lead guitar is also substantiated by this quote, while George playing acoustic guitar is quite a bombshell.
Thanks Dave. I’ve added that quote – I have a copy of Keith Badman’s (Madman?) book too. You’re right – it is best to rely on the 1964 quote rather than something (mis)remembered years later. It’s a shame Badman doesn’t attribute the source, though – some of the snippets in his book are from years after the event, though others are more obviously from the 1960s.
It’s interesting about George playing acoustic – I’ll add him back into the line-up.
Just for the record, that Badman quote is from the 14 November 1964 edition of Disc. Paul did a track-by-track commentary on the Beatles For Sale songs, setting the record straight concerning a lot of who-plays-what on the LP.
Thank you! Is that commentary available online anywhere, or could you send me a copy? joe at beatlesbible dot com.
I don’t think it’s online (believe me I’ve looked!!) – I checked it out at the British Library. I wish I’d have taken a copy, but I just made a few notes, I’ll send these to you. It’s also quoted in the brilliant Beatles for Sale on Parlophone Records by Spizer. The article also confirms, by the way, that Paul, John and George Martin all played piano at the same time on Rock And Roll Music.
I just assume Paul started writing it at Wimpole Street, and then he and John put it together while on tour.
Although, I must admit, I thought it was the Australian tour.
I seem to remember — very vaguely, I must say — reading some interview where John was asked what new songs he and Paul had written on the tour, and John asks Paul what were the names of the two new songs they wrote the other day, and Paul answers: ‘What You’re Doing’ and ‘Every Little Thing’.
See, in those days, it was still ‘we’, rather than ‘me’.
Because in those days it was the Lennon/McCartney collaboration that was emphasized regardless of who wrote what. In 1964 it would be very strange for young fans to read ‘I wrote it’ from either John or Paul. It’s called good management. The Beatles had a lot to thank Brian Epstein for.
Sorry about Keith’s name. I guess he’s a “bad man” and not necessarily a “madman” 🙂
Have you ever heard ‘take four’ of the song that they recorded on September 29th? You can hear it on YouTube. John originally played more lead guitar flourishes during the verses as well as a somewhat different sounding solo in the instrumental section. Paul even pops into a couple harmony lines in the verses. It’s an interesting listen!
John’s lead guitar riff is simple, showing how he hadn’t progressed as a guitar player much at this point. I’ll have to listen closer to see if I can detect George’s acoustic guitar section.
It’s John AND Paul singing in unison on the verses, despite what McDonald (genuflects) says. Listed very carefully – with headphones – and try to block out Lennon’s voice. After a few listens Paul’s voice becomes clearly evident. Lennon’s voice stands out more because of the raspy vocal quality he has. It’s true.
There is no question that John and Paul sing the verses in unison, it is not Lennon double tracked.
John’s voice prominant is true, and Paul IS singing lead too, if you can’t hear his voice listen to his pronunciation “PEOPLE tell my I’m lucky”, it’s Paul for sure. John plays lead and acoustic too (listen to the double tempo along the guitar solo, that´s John’s style). So George isn’t present at all.
Sorry, Carlos, but you’re wrong.
George is on the song.
‘Every Little thing, What You’re Doing, Tell me what you see’
Their three weakest songs.
I agree with you on all counts, Casparus.
And yet I’d be a happy man if I could write three songs half as good as these, in my life (no song reference intended).
Bit of a lightweight song, the kind you’d expect as a B-side that came out between WTB and AHDN, but pleasant nonetheless. And John’s Rickenbacker 325/12 adds an interesting, unique quality to the sound.
I think this could have made a catchy single, despite what Paul says.
SD and paulsbass are right. I clearly heard Paul’s voice in the line “There is one thing I’m sure of, I will love her forever.”
John’s voice is too dominant at this pitch that’s why we hardly hear Paul’s voice.
I love the cover by YES.
Listen, it’s obvious, John sings the verses lead, it’s his voice, can’t be mistaken. Paul joins him on the chorus. I know Paul could make good impersonations ( Lady Madonna ), but it’s JOHN who sings and probably co-wrote this song with Paul. To compare, listen to “What you’re doing” on the same side, where it’s the opposite, Paul singing lead the verses!
Lennon was ashamed over his composition Cry Baby Cry. That´s why he said he didn´t write Cry Baby Cry. The same thing with Every Little Thing, from the album Beatles For Sale 1964. McCartney used the opportinity, and claimed he wrote Every Little Thing. But I don´t trust in him. McCartney even said in a show 1990 that he wrote Help, but after Ian MacDonald´s book Revolution in the Head,1994, McCartney admitted Help is a Lennon composition. The verse in Every Little Thing is typical Lennon with its descending, or “falling”, melody in the verse. And the middle part three first notes are typical Lennon. During the years 1963-1965, or before Yesterday, Lennon was the dominant composer, and that embarrasses McCartney tremendously. Every involved, for example George Martin and Geoff Emerick, always said that the composer always was the lead singer. Wy on earth should the competitive McCartney let Lennon alone sing “his song” ???
Because , firstly, He didn´t ! It´s John and Paul all the way through this song, like, for instance, Misery, Little Child, Eight Days a Week , I Want to Hold Your Hand and From me To You, where they sing it in unison but a few notes and phrases. John more nasal voice dominates but Paul is definitely there all the time. Secondly, if Lennon had written the song, and didn´t like it, he would say it´s rubbish, like he said about a lot of his songs.
I would also add No Reply
When both writers say Paul was the main contributer, and you still won’t believe it, what chance do we have?
Nothing to learn from JC’s comments above; the same old dribble.
More infantile meanderings from the ever silly Johan. BTW, no one you mentioned ever said the composer ALWAYS sang the song in question. I know of no quote from any of them that states it in such an iron-clad way. They DO say that GENERALLY you can tell who wrote the song by who sang it.
It’s quite noticeable that you never site sources, never give direct quotes. Just endless distortions and outright falsehoods.
Your credibility here is zero. I don’t know what, really, you think you are accomplishing with all this ridiculousness.
Johan Cavalli,
” Why on Earth should the competitive McCartney let Lennon alone Sing “his Song”???
” In Spite Of All The Danger” was written by Paul McCartney and credited to McCartney/Harrison. John Lennon TOOK The LEAD…
It does happen!
Listen to the outtake on YouTube. No way is John on that solo. That’s George’s style all the way and he is playing the bass note intro to the solo a la Scotty Moore, one of his heroes stolen from That’s Alright Mama. John was not that advanced. He is playing his rhythm Gibson or possibly his Framus 12 string to accompany his singing. It’s straight Beatles each playing his usual instrument.
Paul himself said in 64 it was John on lead. And John wasn´t so weak a player. Listen to his solos in You Can´t Do That and Long Tall Sally, the first one, and you´ll see he was entirely capable of it.
Sorry, but you simply haven’t a clue. John definately could play this and it really does not sound like George’s style at the time.
A beautiful and underrated song. It has an desperate quality to it that meant it suited johns voice more and made it more prominent in the mix.
I really like the drama of it,the piano and the almost spector-like production. For me its easily one of the best on “beatles for sale”.
I have been ruminating about this for years because, if it is only John on the main verse, it would be the only song in the entire canon written by one and sung on the main verse by the other. While I can’t really hear Paul, I am willing to admit he’s there on the main verse. The lack of a separate track for double-tracking John is telling. I think the specific mic placement on 9/29-9/30 has a lot to do with it. Listen to No Reply, recorded 9/30.
A lovely wistful song I’ve always loved. I was a bit disappointed when I learned that lead singer John wasn’t the chief writer. I used to cite it as evidence of John’s ability to craft winning melodies. Still, I don’t know if I’d like it as much if Paul sang lead. I think I’d miss the way John’s huskier voice (and tougher persona) lend emotional complexity to the sentimental lyrics and melody.
Sorry, haters, but this is one of my favorite Beatle songs of all time. It’s so simple, so direct, so sincere. There’s no doubt that in its construction and lyrics, it feels so much more like a John song, and there’s also no question that John’s voice dominates on the verses. Still, there’s ample evidence that he and Paul are singing in unison.
I also believe there’s no question that John is playing the lead parts on his recently acquired Rickenbacker 12-string. Anyone with ears ought to be able to tell that the sound of this instrument is completely different from the sound George got out of his Rick.
The only other fly in the ointment is that someone has to be playing a six-string electric guitar in the course of the solo. That’s because the lead up to the A that comes after the first phrase (E-F#-Ab-A) would feature octaves if it had been played on a 12-string. It’s the same deal with the muted steady A notes that lead into the final riff at the end of the song. No octaves, so this has to be a six-string playing along with the Rickenbacker 12.
I’m no expert as many are on the subject of who is playing what on which track. But this had to have been worked out in some way.
@Mike. I don’t know why you would think this as a Lennon song just because it has directness. John’s lyrics tended to be rather antagonistic towards women; the lyrics here are not. Emotional complexity in his songwriting was as evident in Paul as it was in John during the Beatles years. It was only in his solo career that he became less direct for one reason or another.
OK, I’ll join in the lead vocal guessing game! So I was sure it was John doubled, but between Paul being the main writer, and I think hearing Paul’s different, softer vocal approach (especially “There is one thing I’m sure of, I will love her forever”), I think I’m a convert. Also, John’s lead vocal in the verses is so obviously doubled (either by John or Paul), where-as I don’t think I hear doubling in the choruses–I think if John were doubling himself in the verses, he would have continued doubling himself in the choruses. (Actually either way–if John did double himself in the chorus too, why does it sound so much less distinguishable than in the verses?) As far as the volume difference, it could have been that Paul produced less volume in the lower register vs. in the chorus, or they adjusted the fader while mixing, or Paul chose to lay back, I don’t know.
So, my new opinion is that Paul took a back seat to John on the verses for some reason–but the combination of John’s edge and Paul’s sweetness on the vocal really add to the appeal of the song for me.
In his book “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” , second edition 2005, Mark Lewisohn writes: “30 september 1964. Recording Every Little Thing. Take six was aborted when Paul burped a vocal instead of singing it, take seven was complete but ended in unproarious laughter”.
Would McCartney had behaved like this if it was h i s composition?? Of course not. The same misbehaviour, with laughter, when they recorded Lennon´s I Should Have Known Better February 1964.
McCartney did not compose Every Little Thing.
And John Lennon didn’t compose “And Your Bird Can Sing,” because no one would have stood for him breaking down in fits of giggles together with Paul while they were first attempting the song. That misbehavior wouldn’t have flown at Abbey Road Studios either. And of course he could never have composed “I Should Have Known Better,” because he had no right to laugh over his own harmonica playing along with the other Beatles when one basic take broke down.
Tell me again the one about the pop band whose name you couldn’t identify who gave you reliable information about George Martin’s insight into the chemistry of the band.
But do so elsewhere on this sight of course since you’ve already given such an enlightening take on how “Every Little Thing” was not a Paul McCartney song. Peter Sellers could have learned from you.
Johan, you’ve been posting here regularly, and every single posting contains some quite petty words of hate for Paul McCartney.
This is a BEATLES fanpage. Paul was a quite integral part of the Beatles, as were John, George and Ringo.
So PLEASE take your dislike for Paul to a John Lennon-page or whereever but stop spreading words of hate on a place for the BAND who spread the message of love.
Nobody cares what or who you believe, because you proved yourself an irrational Paul hater.
I’ve seen other users asking Joe to “do something about this guy”, because you’ve flooded the comment section with spiteful postings for some time now, but since you’re obviously free to express your opinion he rightfully didn’t act in any way, as long as you refer to the song.
So hopefully you do the smart thing yourself and realize that nobody gains anything by pouring hate and spiteful words over a certain member of The Beatles.
So PLEASE show some respect to Sir Paul OR at least step away from posting the same nonsense again and again.
I surely won’t answer to any more of your dribble, let me just state that I love the fact that they all didn’t take themselves as seriously as they easily could have as the biggest band in the universe, especially Paul who often gets the blame for being “too competive” or whatever…
There are endless examples where Paul upgraded songs by the others with an integral bass, keyboard or guitar part and so much more.
On the other hand, Paul laughed during the recording of his own song “Maxwell’s silver hammer” – and kept it.
Final word about “who wrote what”: There’s an almost perfect way to tell, with very, very few exceptions: Singer = writer. On “Every little thing” it’s easy: They both sing everything, John being more audible in the verse, Paul in the chorus. So there you are, they wrote it together, John might have done more on the verses, Paul on the chorus.
It’s as easy as that and if you feel the need to express your hate for Paul by questioning his character and his motives – fine, your loss!
But try to realize that your personal opinion might be quite offensive and disrespectful not just against Paul but also his fans.
Johan, the only thing you prove with your constant, consistent, and pathetically repetitive conspiracy theories and attempts to downgrade Paul and his talent, is that you prove you are a sad person in desperate need of attention and acceptance. While you do get attention with your trolling, you are failing miserably in the latter part of that quest.
Sounds too much like a solo John Lennon vocal. Where the chorus is yes I can hear Sir Paul sing in harmony with him. But otherwise this really sounds like it’s only John singing.
No strong feelings about this song one way or another; it’s pleasant enough. I hope this isn’t blasphemy though, but I really like Yes’s version. Even. more. than. the original. Which is a pretty weird thing to say for a Beatles song. Especially, Yes. You wouldn’t exactly put those two bands together. But, that’s how musicians are creative, and I’m not. God bless ’em all.
John and Paul harmonize on the chorus, but John alone sings the verses. And because of that, even though in theory each vocal line could be the ‘lead’, I hear John singing lead throughout. It is interesting how John’s voice dominated to such an extent in 1964 that his songwriting contribution seems more dominant than it was (tho he did dominate the songwriting in A Hard Day’s Night).
No, the verse is John and Paul singing in unison. There is only one track with vocals on the four track tape for this song. So no doubling from John.
I suspect it’s John on verses and Paul on chorus harmonies, although I think it’s primarily Paul’s song. It sounds like it was written during the up and down final days of his relationship with Jane Asher. I believe Paul is sentimental and emotional, perhaps even superstitious about this time period, and he may have felt John would sing his (Paul’s) words with more conviction as they may well have been recording it during the days following (or during) Paul’s and Jane’s final breakup. Whatever, it is among my favorite Beatles songs. This whole period has a folkiness and complex harmony development as Paul (I think) investigated and experimented with three part and more complex harmonies.
The bass note overdub could be bass notes on a piano. That what i always thought.
One of My favorite Beatles songs. So simple, yet só beautiful and magical. Typical Beatles genius.
This is the best version of an isolated vocal I’ve heard where you can clearly hear Paul singing in the lower harmony. And, to my ears, I clearly hear George voice in the choruses. In this age of AutoTune we don’t get harmonies that sound this tight.
The two are apparently singing parallel fifths, a practice that was actually prohibited in contrapuntal compositions from the 13th century onwards (in order to avoid arguments like this; LOL).
I suspect this prohibition was pointed out by Paul and attracted John (the “naughty Beatle”). It may just be the reason behind why they did it.
I’m curious to any links to a musical analysis of this song anyone may have stumbled across online. For one, it appears the song is in A Major, but some of the chords don’t fit into that key. In particular, the G major used throughout but also the B major as well as the use of a B dominant seventh chord on the last line just before the chorus (“Can’t stop *thinking* about her now”).
As I am just learning to play guitar, I’m not well-versed in music theory, so any input would be appreciated.
Yup, the song is in A major, and there is a quick G chord in the verse (using the first verse as an example, it’s when they sing “luck” in the line, “People tell me I’m lucky”) and in the chorus the chords slides up and down between A and G (you can hear when it slides). And while G major is not in the key of A major, it’s the Beatles; they TRIED to add unexpected chords, which can be surprising and/or interesting and/or jarring and/or simply what sounded right while composing the song. But there is no use of a B major in “Every Little Thing,” only B minor. The chord on the word “thinking” that you reference in your comment is a Bm/A (a B minor with an open A on the A string). It follows the short descending base line (B-A-E-A) played under those two measures.
Yes does a magnificent cover circa1969.
Photographs of this session are educational:
John (In a white shirt with black polka dots, also wearing shades) IS using the 325/12.
Paul is pictured playing John’s regular 325 upside-down. Ringo is standing at the Timpani.