is John or Paul singing this?
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This is the often debated day in the life "aaah". I originally thought it was John, but now it almost sounds like J and P. Does anybody have a proven definitive answer???? -
Sounds like John to me, with P & G in the background.
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I'd always thought it was John for all these years, but after hearing that now I'm almost convinced it's Paul! I always did think it was a bit high for John's range and the isolated vocal doesn't sound anything like John's voice...interesting!
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I always thought it was John because it is so trippy. But that is totally Paul.
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According to the book "Recording The Beatles" it is Paul.
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Yep, I always thought it was John. Never considered it wasn't.... until now. That sounds like Paul.
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Sounds like Paul to me...his voice gets up there like it does on When I'm 64
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Here's a few edited comments re: what Mark Lewisohn and (engineer) Geoff Emerick say in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions book: Thursday 19th January 1967: With take four John began a series of vocal overdubs onto the two vacant tracks, so that by the evening's end the four-track tape included three separate Lennon vocals, all with heavy echo. "There was so much echo on 'A Day in the Life,' recalls Geoff Emerick. "We'd send a feed from John's vocal mike into a mono tape machine and then tape the output - because they had separate record and replay heads - and then feed that back in again. Then we'd turn up the record level until it started to feed back on itself and give a twittery sort of vocal sound. John was hearing that echo in his cans [headphones] as he was singing. It wasn't put on after. He used his own echo as a rhythmic feel for many of the songs he sang, phrasing his voice around the echo in his cans.' Reading the whole piece on the recording of A Day In The Life', it seems clear that Paul's only vocal contribution to the track was on his song in the middle
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Kestrel:
Here's a few edited comments re: what Mark Lewisohn and (engineer) Geoff Emerick say in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions book: Thursday 19th January 1967: With take four John began a series of vocal overdubs onto the two vacant tracks, so that by the evening's end the four-track tape included three separate Lennon vocals, all with heavy echo. "There was so much echo on 'A Day in the Life,' recalls Geoff Emerick. "We'd send a feed from John's vocal mike into a mono tape machine and then tape the output - because they had separate record and replay heads - and then feed that back in again. Then we'd turn up the record level until it started to feed back on itself and give a twittery sort of vocal sound. John was hearing that echo in his cans [headphones] as he was singing. It wasn't put on after. He used his own echo as a rhythmic feel for many of the songs he sang, phrasing his voice around the echo in his cans.' Reading the whole piece on the recording of A Day In The Life', it seems clear that Paul's only vocal contribution to the track was on his song in the middle
But even Lewisohn has said his 1988 book has errors in it. After listening to the isolated vocal track in the original post of this thread to me it is clearly Paul singing.
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For those who haven't heard and had a chance to make their own mind up
You know what that part really reminds me of? When Paul sings the line 'every after' during the song 'One of These Days' from McCII -
graystoke:
But even Lewisohn has said his 1988 book has errors in it. After listening to the isolated vocal track in the original post of this thread to me it is clearly Paul singing.
Mark Lewisohn could have been in error but,although not impossible, its harder to believe that Geoff Emerick would also be in error. And to me it does sound like John's singing.
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I don't really understand this.... To me it's 100% definitely John.
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rich n:
For those who haven't heard and had a chance to make their own mind up
You know what that part really reminds me of? When Paul sings the line 'every after' during the song 'One of These Days' from McCIIYou all had me wondering for a minute, but hearing the isolated vocal track, that is 100% John. It has that nasal quality that absolutely identifies it as John. Notice, also, how he kind of falters at the end with that little vocal flourish; Paul would have had no trouble with that at all. Not sure about the brief background vocals, but the lead vocal is John, drenched in reverb, as he was so fond of adding.
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It's not John. It's Paul. That's final.
If it's not Paul, it's Ringo!! 
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It is absolutely John. Compare this nasal "aaah" to the sound of John's vocals over the end section of "Lovely Rita", or the way John sings "eyes" in the line "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes." Paul has a throatier way of singing "ahhh", as in "ahhh, look at all the lonely people," whereas John sings it with more of a flat "a" sound. There is no question in my mind that it's John. I looked back at Lewisohn's "Recording Sessions" book, and just before the quote referenced above in this thread, about all the echo on John's voice, Lewisohn wrote that there was no Paul McCartney vocal yet, on the day all of those echoey John vocals were recorded. Maybe he made mistakes in the book, but this is not one of them.
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Ok. It's John. Now I am going back to the real world to do real things.
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It's Paul.
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I'm sure of it.
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Shawn:
It's Paul.
Yup!
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favoritething:
It is absolutely John. Compare this nasal "aaah" to the sound of John's vocals over the end section of "Lovely Rita", or the way John sings "eyes" in the line "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes." Paul has a throatier way of singing "ahhh", as in "ahhh, look at all the lonely people," whereas John sings it with more of a flat "a" sound. There is no question in my mind that it's John. I looked back at Lewisohn's "Recording Sessions" book, and just before the quote referenced above in this thread, about all the echo on John's voice, Lewisohn wrote that there was no Paul McCartney vocal yet, on the day all of those echoey John vocals were recorded. Maybe he made mistakes in the book, but this is not one of them.
FT presents a very valid case. I only listened to it once on my PC speakers and I too thought it was John, but I need to take a closer listed with headphones. Though I must admit that there have been a couple very persuasive arguments put forth that it is John.
