John on piano, George on guitar, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums. It was almost as if he were trying to interject. Overdubbed maracas were added and all reduced to one track. One of the very few occasions where the Beatles harmonies are out of tune. The Beatles are not out of tune. They are experimenting with discord sounds also known as dissonance.
Nah… it sounds like a rush job to me. If they were to aim for a harmony vocal they would have accomplished it.
This particular song presented another musical option and they went for it. The performances were full of raw genius, but not note-perfect, like if they had been session players. Truly, one would think that the flat high notes would be a mistake. I believe the answer of this song lies in another one of Georges song: He was denouncing the publishing business, and his treatment within it. Really, I think that the Beatles and George wanted the notes to be flat. His voice sounds totally strained, and the three part vocals are out of tune — just a bit, but they are.
Since Revolver is an album of experimentation, it is not unfeasible to extend that to this particular song. If you are not comfortable with musical references that explain the song then that is your problem. George had already passed on and had no say in how the performance should be delivered; in key or out. They had quit touring for the purpose of recording. The version on Revolver is the version they and George wanted. We are talking about the time period when Beatle product meant everything to them.
I agree with everything you said! The fast mono one even beats this one. To my ear, it seems that George in the lower register is flat on just about every one of the sustained triads. Maybe something to do with his vocal being prominent in the recording? It sounds… well… Indian.
Pay attention, George contributes for once with 3 songs on this album, the largest amount for a single album. About the harmonies I can hear a sort of indian style, so I believe they were actually experimenting. Paul makes it interesting, though, with his jangling piano, bass and unique harmonies. This is a superb song on perhaps the greatest album the Beatles ever made. This is one of the few songs they could have performed in concert.
It is one song that I never get tired of hearing. I believe he was a better musician than the others, or at least, he had a more refined ear. This is all conjecture, of course. George wanted to be the Byrds for awhile. They all listened to Ravi Shankar at that time, even Ringo. Count me with those who think it was intentional. It goes with the stained sound in Paul background vocals throughout. Which to me has always spoken to the tension inside the song. It also goes with the piano, which has always fascinated me.
The piano always seemed out of tune or out of time, adding to the awkwardness of the narrator. I always pictured him having a crush on a girl but afraid to make his move. And the Beatles were absolute masters in the studio by this point. You can also make the argument that Paul McCartney is the greatest background singer in the history of music.
I certainly believe that.
Paul was not only a master of feeling but a technical virtuoso. Very insightful interpretation of the song. Yes the music supports this feeling beautifully. They may have chosen this take over others because the out of tune harmonies worked for the mood of the song. Wether or not the strained backing vocal from Paul was intentional, they exist, and they convey a certain feeling. Nevertheless, the general tuning of the voices is not as accurate as usual, just because they were in a rush. Just happening on to this discussion but I would concur with Dreww that even the piano sounds dissonant and that was what they wanted.
The whole song is raucous and crazy compared to most anything else they had put out at that time. I had to look it up to see if that had any merit.
The dissonance is obviously intentional, but dissonance and out of tune are very different. I think the hasty nature of recording attributed to it. I, however, also believe they listened back and probably thought it was a neat sound! With this song, George demonstrates his ability to turn the mundane into the profound. This might be the most ephemeral Beatles song: In fact, the intentional off-key-ness is explicit in the lyrics themselves, just like Northern Song only subtler: The big issue here is that a vocal take can sound very nice until you add harmony, then suddenly bad notes become more apparent.
I love this song. Always have- Always will. Of course its out of key, the harmonies, piano, bass, vocals. Revolver is one of my favorite beatles albums.
One thing, I do not hear john on this song. Then two paul vocals. Paul holding on real well with the word time and paul doing his melisma on the word time. MONO version is much better. Say what you want, but out of tune is alright by me. George was on the verge of a great new awareness and creativity and this song signals that. I love the fade out. In a contemporary review for the NME , Allen Evans wrote that "The Beatles' individual personalities are now showing through loud and clear" and he admired the song's combination of guitar and piano motifs and vocal harmonies.
Adds something to a toughly romantic number. In America, due to the controversy there surrounding Lennon's remark that the Beatles had become more popular than Christianity , the initial reviews of Revolver were relatively lukewarm. Writing in Rolling Stone ' s Harrison commemorative issue, in January , Mikal Gilmore recognised his incorporation of dissonance on "I Want to Tell You" as having been "revolutionary in popular music" in Gilmore considered this innovation to be "perhaps more originally creative" than the avant-garde styling that Lennon and McCartney took from Karlheinz Stockhausen , Luciano Berio , Edgar Varese and Igor Stravinsky and incorporated into the Beatles' work over the same period.
In his overview of "I Want to Tell You", Alan Pollack highlights Harrison's descending guitar riff as "one of those all-time great ostinato patterns that sets the tone of the whole song right from the start". Among Beatles biographers, Ian MacDonald cites the song as an example of Harrison's standing as "[if] not the most talented then certainly the most thoughtful of the songwriting Beatles". He comments that, in keeping with the lyrics' subtle Hindu-aligned perspective, Harrison's embrace of Indian philosophy "was dominating the social life of the group" a year after its release.
In his review of the song for AllMusic , Richie Unterberger admires its "interesting, idiosyncratic qualities" and the group vocals on the recording, adding that McCartney's singing merits him recognition as "one of the great upper-register male harmony singers in rock". Ted Nugent covered "I Want to Tell You" on his album State of Shock , [24] a version that Billboard ' s reviewer said was "probably enough to sell the album". Although "I Want to Tell You" had been the least well-known of Harrison's three tracks on Revolver , [24] it gained greater renown after he began performing it live in the early s.
Lynne was backed by a large band, including Clapton and other musicians who had supported Harrison on the tour and at the Natural Law Party Concert. Blue Cartoon covered the song in the power pop style for the Harrison tribute album He Was Fab , [] released in According to Ian MacDonald: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The song was about the frustration we all feel about trying to communicate certain things with just words. I realised that the chords I knew at the time just didn't capture that feeling.
George's guitar creeps out of the silence the opposite of a fadeout , and his syncopated eighth notes and triplets deliberately trick the ear as to where the beat will land. It isn't until the drums enter with the solid backbeat that a rhythmic pattern is established — it's the most disorienting introduction to a Beatles song yet. Retrieved 26 September Archived from the original on 26 September Retrieved 14 March Retrieved 29 September Retrieved 25 September Talking About a Revolution". Mojo Special Limited Edition: Available at Rock's Backpages subscription required. Music Box CD liner notes.
The Music Box vol. Jerry Garcia tribute band makes Marin debut after two years on the road". I Want To Tell You". Archived from the original on 12 August Here Comes The Fun". Looking Back at the Concert for George". Retrieved 19 June A Loving Tribute to George Harrison ". The New Zealand Herald.
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