Extras - All You Need Is Love / She Loves You

One of the questions that has caused the most discussion in the rec.music.beatles newsgroup, and also in the course of compiling this website, is this :-

Who sang the line "She Loves You" at the end of All You Need Is Love?

I think that it's been cracked at last. It's probably not the answer you're expecting. It's an answer that seems to fit the technical facts, and the evidence. It doesn't fit with a lot of widely held beliefs ... including my own!

I can't believe it took so much time to conclusively find the answer.

Long before May 1993, there was discussion on the newsgroup over who sings what at the end of "All you need is love". Personally, after years of being convinced that Paul sung the "She Loves You" part, I was interested in the development of the thread. Here's what I've saved of that, and what I have recently discovered. Any comments amongst the news articles are in the light of what I know now...

In May 1993, leff7555@nova.gmi.edu (Carl Leffler) says

> Hello! I've been reading previous postings the past > week or so and I'd love to join! First, I want to > say I also think it's Paul singing "loves you yeah, > yeah, yeah" at the end of AYNiL. I've listened to it > trying to picture that with John, but I just don't > think that's him. And I won't budge!

May 24th 1993, rm34@quads.uchicago.edu (Brother Robert) says

> The easiest way to get a picture of John singing the > bit of "She Loves You" is to watch the film of them > performing the song on TV. I agree that on listening > it can sound like Paul, but I was watching _The > Compleat Beatles_ the other day and there it was! > John singing away. I suppose it's possible that when > they overdubbed later (or did they rerecord the > vocals entirely? I don't have The Book here with me > at work) Paul might have taken over, but I tend to > doubt it.

May 25th 1993, another contributor (who wishes to be anonymous) says

> The guy singing at the end of 'All You Need Is Love' > is indeed John, even though it sounds *exactly* like > Paul. I've seen the b/w video of that broadcast > several times, and it is definitely John at the end, > rippin' into 'She Loves You'.

Three articles, all admitting that it sounds like Paul, two saying that it can't be, because on the video it is John. Interesting ...

mark@pluto.logica.co.uk says

> This was presumably semi-planned as John also sings > it when the tapes were being rewound prior to the > complete 'take' - check out Unsurpassed Masters 3.

It was indeed semi-planned. It was probably, to quote Mark Lewisohn, an "off the cuff Lennonism" but that inspirational moment was during rehearsals. A deliberate decision was made to keep it in for recording.

After this discussion ended, I placed the following entry in "What Goes On" - The Beatles Anomalies List on the 17th January 1994

> As to the Paul V John debate, it is without doubt > Paul that sings the "Woh Yea" toward the end, much > too mellow to be John [and] the same voice sings > "She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah, She'd Love To, Yeah > Yeah".

This sparked further discussions in rec.music.beatles.

gwrepneal@aol.com (GWRep Neal) says

> Definitely John, not Paul. The basis for this > release was the sung-over-tape "live" 6/26/67 > worldwide broadcast, "Our World", and it is > definitely John.

The basis for the release. If it is the basis for the release, this is already implying that some other work was done after. Could not this include re-dubbing of vocals?

In April, in a "shooting-ones-self-in-the-foot" kind of way, GWRep Neal said

> One of the difficulties in going by the film to > determine who sang what is the fact that they were > singing over tape...not just an instrumental tape, > but a previous pass, which also contained backing > vocals .... This means that during the "performance" > John and Paul, especially Paul, had the luxury of > singing along or mouthing the words to lyrics > previously sung by anyone.....<In "Around the > Beatles"> we can see John mouthing the words > with Paul to the pre-taked "Can't buy me love", the > cameras inadvertently capture John at the beginning, > but it is Paul singing.

Which is what I thought happened here for the "She Loves You" chorus.

Then, in a new twist, 26th February 1994, Jonathan Huber (an616@FreeNet.Carleton.CA) says

> The last time I saw a tape of this broadcast, it was > Paul singing "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah. If > I'm not mistaken, John even throws him a > funny look as if he's surprised that Paul is singing > it.

I replied to this message, requesting references on where this had been seen. Jonathan reported with amazement that it was John, he was sure it was Paul at one time.

gwrepneal@aol.com (GWRep Neal) says

> It is John. I cannot immediately check the video for > myself (broken VCR) but have checked with two > trusted Beatles discographers for a "reality check." > It is indeed John. I can speculate that perhaps Paul > mouths the lyrics, but it is John's voice. No one > has any doubt about this from my end.

9th March 1994 fwu@imsasun.imsa.edu (Fred Wu) says

> I can tell that the "She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, > Yeah..." was definitely sung by John. I don't know > if the taped broadcast I saw was the same as the > one Neal did, but John was definitely mouthing, if > not singing, those words. > Now whoever said "Yesterday" is hard to tell since > both John and Paul were obscured.

On the final record, it is John saying "Yesterday". I recognize the voice instantly as John. However, on the actual recorded take done live, it was John followed by Paul later. Paul's go didn't make it onto the finished record, just to add to the confusion.

After being told quite plainly in an E-mail by one contributor that I was "quite clearly wrong. Just look at the video of the broadcast and see - you can see John singing it. So it must be John's voice." (correct statement, illogical conclusion), and that "The record was made live during that session" (incorrect statement, not supported by evidence, although a popular misconception), I got hold of any bits of video I could lay my hands on with this broadcast on. Up until this point, I hadn't seen or heard any of the following, only the vinyl LP "Yellow Submarine".

The Compleat Beatles (Video)

0:15-0:21 - Paul can be seen and heard singing "Love Love Love" on the backing.

1:25-1:30 - vocals. John can also be heard (Paul is the higher harmony, John is the fixed note) but is quite clearly chewing gum. Is Paul miming here?

1:59-2:01 - Paul stops singing "Love is all you need", looks confused and slightly guilty. No change is audible in the soundtrack then. During the guitar solo, guitar becomes double tracked. Nowhere else have I heard this effect. Conclusion? Paul is miming again, and further :-

1: This is not being recorded entirely live (backing tracks?)

2: The soundtrack we hear has been altered at a later time.

2:33-2:40 - I nearly fell off my chair. John is indeed seen singing "SLYYYY". All set to knock this on the head and admit defeat, I noticed Paul singing it too. Certainly what we hear and see don't seem to match, and so as evidence that it is John, it is pretty weak. By the same reasoning, it is Paul singing it. In fact it's both of them. You can't tell who is miming, (one, both, or neither!). However on this soundtrack I was sure only one voice is audible, and every time I have heard this track elsewhere. No one yet had contradicted this by suggesting two voices, so we have some confusion here.

Mark Lewisohn - Recording Sessions (Book)

25th June - Orchestra Rehearse in the studio (Take 48-50), and for the BBC (51-53), then (54-58), 58 being the one made during the live broadcast.

"Take 58 was the all important broadcast version....the Beatles play to their own pre-recorded rhythm track of take 10. Only the vocals, bass guitar, the lead guitar solo in the middle eight, drums and the orchestra were added live" says Lewisohn.

The lead vocal certainly was added live, this is shown on various bootleg sources, as was the bass. I don't think the drums were added live, as they don't seem to match (sound/vision) on any video I've seen.

"Except for the burst of 'She Loves You' which was an off the cuff Lennonism (during rehearsals he had also been singing ..." says Lewisohn.

Admittedly it was probably a Lennon inspiration, but when it came down to recording the backing vocals, Paul initiated the singing. As Paul sang it on tape, he sang along on the video, but John decided he wanted a piece of the action. See later ...

"Later in the night we overdubbed a snare drum roll by Ringo ... and John re-did some of his vocal" (Onto Take 58)

"Funnily enough ... although John had added a new vocal, Ringo had added a drum roll, and we had done a new mix, few people realised the single was any different to the TV version of the song."

This re-doing of vocals seems to consist of just a double track of various parts of the song.

Unsurpassed Masters, Vol 3 (CD)

This is the TV broadcast actual soundtrack. It differs from the Compleat Beatles version mentioned above.

It starts (0-1.05) with what I take to be the original rhythm track, with lead and backing vocals. John's lead is very rough, slurred in places, a little out of tune in others, almost lazy. This certainly never made it to record or video. The "All together now, Everybody" sung by Paul is missing, and the tape is "killed" before we get to the part of interest, sadly.

1:07 - The "backing vocals" recorded, they stop the tape and fade to John singing in the studio. "Yes John, that will be quite enough for the backing vocals" says George Martin. John can be clearly heard shaking a tambourine which he uses in Take 58 and the section at 2:02 - 2:05, but this could not be heard at all on the section "just recorded". I think this may have been just playing up to the cameras, and that the backing vocal was already on tape from days before, as Lewisohn says.

1:52 - BBC Voice over says "It brings in a solo vocal from John and an orchestra." Also bass was recorded at this time, certainly. It wasn't present in the above backing tape, and toward the end Paul stops and restarts in a manner that would be very hard to mime. I think that is all that this recorded pass gave to the final song.

2:02 - 2:05 "She Loves You" outburst from John. A strange, nearly skiffle arrangement.

2:34 - With the song underway, there is no drum roll at the start, just a lot of tambourine shaking.

4:14-4:16 "Whoo" and "Hup" from Paul. This is present in the final single, panned slightly right of centre with one track of John's vocals. I think these vocals are the ones recorded at this pass. The double tracking in the final single to the left of centre is the late night additions to the track.

5:03 "All together Now" sung by Paul.

5:08 "Everybody" sung by Paul.

5:41-5:43 "Yehoo Yehaaaar" - could be anyone! Maybe Paul, then John in response.

5:49 "Yes-ter-day" sings John

5:56 "Wo yeah" sung during John singing. This has to be Paul.

5:58 "She Loves you/She'd love to" - Sounds identical to the "Wo yeah" sung earlier, which couldn't have been John.

6:10 - 6:18 Various "Woop" and "Yeah" by Paul.

6:18 - Not present in the final single, it has been faded out by now. For the same reason it is not on "Beatles Promo Videos" or "Compleat Beatles". Paul sings "Yes-ter-day".

In response, 6:21 "I've sung it ... is ahuhuhall you need" laughs John.

6:22 "Woh No!" jokes Paul, admitting his gross negligence.

This John/Paul dialogue indicates to me that they were both recording vocals at the time. Why Lennon mimed along to "SLYYYY" I don't know. However it does seem to also show that the "Yesterday" and "She Loves You" were, to some extent, preplanned events.

So Paul alone sung it, and that's where I thought it was all settled.

And for some time, it was.

It took the release of Yellow Submarine with 5.1 Doblies to get there, but you know where I said "By that logic, it's both of them, and no one has suggested that it's both voices". It seems that could be nearer the truth than I thought.

Immense thanks to walrus@gwmnet.com.br (Rafael Szot de Lima) for providing an audio clip , which is sourced from the Yellow Submarine 5.1 Remix. Someone has the technology to strip out the centre channel from this remix, which is quite a bit clearer than the stereo mix. It contains pretty much ONLY the vocals.

My final opinion on this, based on seeing the above video and hearing this little gem, is that it's :-

John: "Yesterday, Woh, Love is all you need, Love is all you need" Paul: "Woh yeah" John: "Love is all you need" (*) Paul: "Loves to yeah yeah yeah, She loves to yeah yeah yeah" John: <pause> "yeah, She loves to yeah yeah yeah" John "Love is all you" (cut off)

There is no time to breathe at the point marked (*). There's no way John could have sung the next line in one breath, considering the power of the voice that kicks in.

PAUL sings the "Loves to, yeah yeah", and then is joined by John, after he's had time to breathe.

They are both singing it.

Paul starts it, hence people believing it to be Paul. They are right.

John joins in, not loudly, not overwhelmingly, but in an extremely finely balanced mix, providing the "cracking voice" characteristic that everyone else hears as John in the latter part. They are right too.

The only real give away is the final "yeah" each time is ragged - it's not quite in time between the two of them. Also, there is a discrepancy between the quality of the voices. John sounds more "bass-present" than Paul, being nearer the mic, in the earlier exchanges. John's "Love Is All You Need", marked with a (*), is typically bass-present, the "Loves to" is NOT. It is further from the mic ...

It's Paul. Then, both of them.

Then I received the following from Tom "No Bozos" Welch confirming what I thought.

One of the 5 audio channels for AYNIL has the vocals way up front, and it becomes very clear who's singing what. Paul starts the "She Loves You" line and sings the first two words alone ("She Loves.."). John jumps in on the third word "You" and continues on with Paul. Once John starts singing, his voice dominates slightly in volume (I'm assuming being the lead singer of the song, his mic was louder than Paul's).

If you listen carefully to the end of the first line, as they both sing the third "yeah," You'll hear Paul's "yeah" hangs on a little longer than John's (or, maybe John sang the third "yeah" a little too quickly). There is absolutely no question in my mind, now, that this is both of them. Both are seen singing it in the video as well.

I highly recommend listening to the AYNIL 'vocal' channel of the YS DVD audio (the 5.1 audio channels are also found on two different bootleg CDs - "Kaleidoscope" and "5.1 Degrees Of Separation").

Finally the truth is uncovered, and Beatle fans will sleep more soundly at night ... apart from Jim Mills.

... but what's funny is, purely by ear, I have always thought it sounded slightly flat. My ear believes it is in fact Ringo! Is there any - any - possibility he could've been off-mic or nearby during the recording of those voices?

Again, this isn't based on anything other than my ear. It's not supported by any hard evidence, so it's not really ready as a real argument. But I am wondering if Ringo was ever considered as a possibility? Listen to it. Doesn't it sound as much like him as Paul or John?

All You Need Is ... References

CD - The Beatles - Unsurpassed Masters Volume 3 (1966-1967)

Track 10 - "All you need is love Take 58 (Live TV Broadcast)". 1989 Yellow Dog records.

Contents

Rehearsals, English BBC voice over and pre transmission chatter, the actual sound transmitted live by the BBC of the song, and more of the ending of the song which was faded out as the transmission ended. John's actual live vocal.

Video - The Compleat Beatles (MGM Released 1986)

Contents

Video of the above event, with a dubbed on sound track. Seems to contain a double tracked guitar solo, but otherwise the same soundtrack as the finished record. John's re-recorded vocals

Video - Beatles Promotional Films (Tape 2) (Bootleg).

Contents

Contains video of the actual broadcast, with BBC commentary overlaid by German commentary. John's actual vocal (I think this may have been taped from German television when it went out.)

Includes some rehearsals. I've no idea how widely available this video is, but it is probably out there, somewhere.

Book - The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (Mark Lewisohn).

Contents

P116,117,120,121 detail recording takes, mixing and various other notes and observations. This is an essential book for Beatles fans.