Unusual harmonies - or are they? | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Into the Sky with Diamonds said
In “Words Of Love ” Paul sings the lower notes as seen here when he sings it by himself. (I’m used to Paul reaching for the sky on those impossible harmonies a la “Baby’s In Black ” or “Nowhere Man “)

Then these two Italians show how in “If I Fell ” Paul sings the melody that we all recognize while John sings something completely different. (Start at 1:00 or 1:30)

I’m not really sure what question you’re asking, but I’ll throw in some thoughts. As a singer in semi-professional choirs, chamber choirs and the occasional barbershop quartet, as well as having recorded backing harmonies for songs of my own, I’ve always been intrigued by the Beatles’ voice types, vocal ranges and harmony arrangements.

Paul sings the lower line on that Words Of Love cover because it’s the natural melody; it wouldn’t make any sense to sing the harmony line alone. In the Beatles’ version, he sings the higher line and John takes the lower. Listen to Buddy Holly’s original, and you’ll see the lower line is far more prominent. As for If I Fell , John wrote the song with the higher line as the main melody as proved by his acoustic demo- but even that demo shows that the melody is too high for his baritone range to sing comfortably, so he lent the main melody to Paul’s tenor and then I’m assuming worked out with Paul a lower harmony for himself to sing. Either way, it works tremendously well; the counterpoint between the two vocal lines is possibly the most adventurous harmony they’d penned since This Boy , and would have likely taken a lot of practice.

Paul has commonly interwoven different melodies (Dear Boy , Wanderlust, Silly Love Songs,…), but how often do the Beatles use less than straightforward (easy for me to say) 2- and 3-part harmonies? Frequently? Occasionally?

It varies; some songs follow a fairly simple harmonic formula, others (especially in the latter half of the band’s career) are very complex. Let’s take, as an early example, She Loves You . I’m no Alan Pollack, but I’ll attempt to put in simple terms what’s going on with that famous chord on the last “yeah” of the chorus. The song is in the key of G, suggesting that it would naturally resolve and end on a G chord, but instead the band end on a jazzy and adventurous G6. George’s harmony line is the key to adding the jazzy sixth to the chord: when he descends his “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” scale, he does not finish on a D as John does, which fits with Paul’s high G to create a finalising G chord: instead, when he has sung an E on the third “yeah”, he stays there for the fourth one. If you have a guitar and have some knowledge of basic chords, play a G chord in first position; now take your finger off the highest string and play it again and you’ve got the chord they’re hitting. The tone clash between John’s D and George’s E creates the G6, while Paul anchors the chord with the root note. Apparently George Martin hated it, but it was an early example of them experimenting with the possibilities offered by three-part vocal harmony.

A lot of the Beatles’ songs followed standard triadic three-part harmony, with John taking the main melody, Paul the higher (a third above John) and George below John, or sometimes in between John and Paul. Paul, being the group’s most natural tenor, took the highest line almost without exception. Songs and parts of songs that include strikingly non-standard harmonies, purposeful clashing or more complex tonality would include Yes It Is , I Want To Tell You , Paul and George’s backing in You Can’t Do That , the blast of “aaaahs” that sets off Sun King , Drive My Car , the middle chain of harmonies in Day Tripper , and probably some others that I can’t call off the top of my head.

RunForYourLife said
I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party is interesting. John sings the high and Paul sings low during the verses, but they switch and assume their normal roles during the chorus.

I’ve always heard it as George singing with John in the verses.