Beatles Taxman – count in is Paul?

Let me tell you how it will be.

 

I love that after 52 years I am still discovering things I didn't know about the Beatles! I always thought it was John doing the silly voice and Paul doing the "four" on the backing, but now I am convinced that both are George

 

Well I've never heard of Revolver being described as a 'quirky' album before. That's kind of funny

 

I just noticed this says lessons. I meant to write listens. Sorry about the goof up. Jeez, what a dweeb.

 

I agree. I just listened with my ear right next to the speaker about half a dozen times and that's what it sounds like to me.

 

The cough being George makes sense, it would be from the vocal mike take.

 

I was listening to Revolver the other night and my whole life, I've been thinking the fake count-in was George. Suddenly, out of the blue, my mind and ears took an unforseen step back and started to think..."wait...is this JOHN???".......!

 

After listening to the flacs...

That's Paul on the overdub, for sure. The real count is George.

Edit: Paul plays the great lead part that I grew up thinking was George... why not also grab a spotlight on the album opening?

 

Do you mean that Paul says the basso exaggerated "one two..."

 

Progress!

It's clear to me now that it is Paul doing one of his silly voices - letting go of the assumption that it is George is the first step...

 

Yes. He says "two" in a Paulish way. It doesn't at all sound like George at any point.

 

CAll me naive but I always thought it was John just because of the way the band seemed to work, and his role. I never even considered the others. John was always the one making fun.

 

I was wondering what causes the seasons so I asked some friends. A guy from MIT said it was the tilt of the rotational axis of the Earth towards or away from the sun over the course of a year. But, this McCartney fan was sure that . . . .

 

Well, it kinda sounds like it could be George - I mean it must be, right? Like you say, George also knocked the guitar solo out of the park on this one...

Confirmation bias is a helluva drug.

 

6 pages ?

 

I suppose it could be anyone. I just hear Paul's voice on the flac.

I opened Kehew and Ryan to check, and while they actually do a deep dive on Taxman, they are silent on the intro.

 

Paul on the solo. I say either John or George on the fake count-off...definitely not Paul.

 

As with the 'Ahhhhs' in "A Day In The Life", it's Paul on the faux count-in on "Taxman" - no question.

Not everything in life is clear cut but on close inspection it is obvious that these two cases are not in that category.

Exactly.

Arrgh!

 

When you think about it and in all seriousness, there's no "rule' that says it has to be a Beatle at all; I thought forever that the stumbling spoken intro on Rev 1 was Paul; Geoff Emerick claims it's *him* (meaning, himself).

 

I'm curious why you are so confident that count-in is Paul? To me, it clearly sounds like George's voice, and there doesn't appear to be any evidence disproving the possibility it is him.

 

The voice is all Paul on the count . It doesn’t sound like George at all. It was all for effect with the two counts , but the enthusiastic one is Paul . Why would anyone want to believe that on the leadin that they would have two people count it off ? As anyone that has done any studio work, there is only ONE person counting the time . It’s the one aspect of a song where the tempo is created from the get go, you would never have two people counting at the same time under any circumstance I could think of . When I’m finally allowed to start a thread ,I’m going to get into the idea of timing, the unsung hero of any given tune . The Beatles benefited enormously by not having a click track. If anyone is aware of ANY Beatles song that hasn’t strayed within the first six bars ,let me know . You first must get the intended BPM off of the count and first couple of bars ,then sync it up to a common metronome. Pardon the pun but “It Won’t Be Long “before it speeds up ( in most cases ) .
Ps. Can’t believe the makers of Viagra didn’t use that song to promote the competitions product : )

 

Agreed - you want to have an open mind at the start of any investigative process.

I had always heard the example you give as Paul saying "Take 2" - once aware of Geoff's comment, I listened more closely and it sounds like Geoff saying "18" over the talkback, immediately followed by what sounds like Paul saying "2" (I'm not saying that's what they said but that's what is sounds like).

First and foremost, as with the 'Ahhhhhhs', a close listen reveals Paul's unique vocal characteristics - it's the equivalent of a fingerprint match.

It also just so happens that things fit together rather neatly with it being Paul, helping to explain why:

* George never did anything similar before or since (Paul, on the other hand, is always messing around with silly voices close up to the microphone)

* the date of the overdubbed count-in (16th May 1966) is a few weeks after all other recording was finished on the track and is at the same session where the only other recording was Paul's vocal overdub on to "For No One"

Now, these observations don't prove it wasn't George but to my ears the aural evidence does and the fact that these observations are handily explained doesn't hurt the conclusion that Paul overdubbed the count-in.

The only reason people have assumed it was George, myself included, is that it was his song (and therefore his lead vocal) - of course, the fact that the count-in is in a put-on voice helps disguise who it was. Not giving it much thought, it would be natural to assume it was George - decades later that can be hard to unhear, apparently.

 

It's Paul on She Said.

There are plenty of fills, but because that bass track is buried under all the overdubs, they're harder to make out than something like, 'Taxman', which has a very consistent 'meter-esque' bassline, even more so than on 'She Said'.

Mostly, 'She Said' has Paul's pulse, especially during the 'when I was a boy' bridge sections...that song has your basically amazing Paul/Ringo interplay.

It's just buried.

My $.02

 

Not so. The reason I have always assumed it is George is that to me it sounds very distinctly like his voice, and the pronunciation of words sounds uniquely like his own. Just as I always thought the "ahhs" in ADITL sounded like Paul, I've always thought this count-in sounded like George. To me it's not an assumption based on whose song it is, but based on whose voice it sounds like.

Given that, I'd need some sort of evidence to be swayed. In this case, there isn't external evidence (such as there was with ADITL) that made the issue more clear. The date the count-in was recorded doesn't prove anything, unless there was evidence George was not in the studio that day. One thing I am curious about, though... according to Lewisohn, that count-in was superimposed onto "take 12" the final version which featured the Mr. Wilson/Heath backup vocals and the solo edited onto the end. That being the case, how is it that this count-in also appears at the beginning of take 11 on the Anthology? Wouldn't that mean that either a. the count-in was actually recorded earlier, or b. the count-in was frankensteined onto take 11 when the Anthology was compiled. Do we have any evidence of the latter?

At any rate, absent evidence to the contrary, I'm sticking with what my ears tell me... both count-ins are George.

 

I hear George.