Anomalies B
Whole Song, most audible 0:00-0:10
Kick drum pedal squeaks yet again! Listen just after the "Sha la la la la!"
1:43
John or George does a "Sha la la la la" very quietly after the main one, as if there was going to be a run down into a new verse here. Just audible on mono version, clearer on stereo.
1:30
Bad edit in the words "Baby's in black". Best heard in the stereo version, right channel. The strummed guitar appears out of nowhere here, further enhancing the edit. Also, the maracas and bass jump up in level.
On the mono CD, this is corrected, but there is a stumble in the drumming at that point.
1:44
John and Paul harmony error.
1 says "And though he'll never come back..."
2 says "But though she'll never come back..."
1:51
A third voice trails a faint harmony in above the other two just for the words "dear, what can I do, baby's in ... feeling blue". Most audible on the word "black".
2:03
Right channel, at the very end there is a rattling of paper (after the tambourine stops).
0:03
Faint noises, possibly talking? (left channel).
Fixed in Yellow Submarine remastered.
0:26,0:28
Strange noise from one note caught on the guitar (low pitch) then the synth/Mellotron (high pitch) in the left channel.
0:48
Someone comes in early on vocals "Ho-How does it feel..."
0:53
Sounds like a bell, or possibly a glass being hit.
Fixed in Yellow Submarine remastered.
1:08-1:11
Offbeat clicks, left channel.
1:18-1:19
Paul plays the bass a bit late, lagging behind the beat.
2:20
Hissing noise, and talking off microphone.
2:30-2:58
This has been reported so many times, I have resisted including it because I have never been able to verify it. I think this is one of those urban legends that has just got out of hand, so I'm adding an entry to try and redress the balance.
According to popular myth, John definitely sings "Baby you're a rich fat Jew". According to the other popular myth, John definitely sings "Baby you're a rich fag Jew". According to another less popular myth, Paul is the culprit. These statements are supposedly directed at Brian Epstein. While I can well believe that this is not beyond John's sometimes cruel and scathing sense of humour, it is not the case on this recording.
It is not "very clear that he is saying it", nor is it true "because I read it in a book about the Beatles". The words are simply "Baby You're A Rich Man Too". It sounds more like "A Reech Ma Too" simply because of lack of diction. This is another case of reading too much into a lyric.
0:50
Vocal edit after the falsetto "Oooo".
1:59
Last note of the downward guitar riff is very dead (right channel), only the double-tracking helps to hide this.
0:09
Right channel, no-one's sure whether this is a voice saying "Guitar", or a guitar saying "Guitar". It's very odd.
0:31,0:48
Paul (drumming on this track) misses the snare, and provides an unintentional rimshot. This is best heard on the right channel, as another snare is dubbed onto the left side.
1:05
A cut, as "Ukraine" comes in. In the right channel, the word comes in a little early, and the cymbal too. This throws the beat off slightly. On the left, the airplane effect drops in level at this point. Maybe a short section of tape was cut out here, or this is a badly judged edit.
2:24-End
Many people have reported a range of various things said at the end here, especially at 2:39 "How's That?", "How Bout It?", "Ha ha!" etc. It's actually just "I'm Back!".
The other speech from 2:24 up to this point is Paul ad-libbing "Ah, let me tell you honey. Hey I'm back. I'm back in the USSR. Oh yeah, it's so good to be here. Yeah - back in the USSR".
0:00
First note's attack is clipped off, making it sound different.
Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite
0:54
Accidental hit of the ride cymbal. Also hinted as Ringo losing the drumming pattern and trying to catch up.
1:24
Tambourine and hi-hat combination percussion missed for the last-but-one beat (listen to the left channel, it drops in "impact" for the first beat of the pair).
1:28
Stray note, right channel, just after the piano crashing chords (bam-bam-bam-bam, bam-bam [honk]).
1:44
Someone either punched out or faded out the beginning of the line "Having been some days ..." leaving "...ving been" The full sentence can be heard in the version on Anthology.
2:26-2:27
Sounds like the main organ part goes out of tune (flat) here. Actually, this is an aural illusion, caused by the swirling organ, calliope and fairground effects tape in the background. This tape is not strictly tuned to the track, and it affects your judgement of the tuning of the main instruments.
0:14,0:17,0:21
Fairly audible noises from the lead guitar, the strings aren't quite muted, and are making scratching noises.
0:24
Bass guitar pans to the right and then centres again.
0:36
Stereo glitch, this is a fault in the master tape. Occurs on second note of guitar riff, and it wobbles the stereo field. Listening in OOPS, you should hear a brief "crunch" noise here, as the damage goes by.
0:46
A second tambourine rattles, under the existing tambourine pattern. This extra tambourine is in the widely spaced vocal track.
0:42-0:47
Whispering between vocalists. You can then hear Paul counting (screaming!) the bar numbers from 1 to 8, up to 0:56.
1:34,1:37
Reported as "female voices" mocking Paul for saying "Come on", and then saying "Birthday". Actually, this is all Paul. He says "Wooh!" (1:28), "C'mon" (1:31), [unintelligible, possibly edited] (1:33) and "Baby" (1:37 in a falsetto voice).
1:45
One of the guitars misses the first note of the riff.
1:46
Click, to the far left.
1:49
Shaker (cabasa?) rattles on into the "guitar only" section.
1:52
The first note of second phrase in this section is quite out of tune.
2:08-2:10 Listen!
Previous take's "dance" shows through, resulting in Paul ending up singing "Daaaannceee/oo/aaaance". Barely audible in mono mixes, there's too much other audio in the foreground.
2:12
Strange clonk, centred, almost like a cowbell.
2:37
Laughter after the drumming stops.
2:38-2:39
Tambourine rattle and two odd clicks at fade out.
0:00
Right at the very start of this track someone says "play" in a high pitched voice. Graeme Jamieson points out that this should be on the end of I'm So Tired, and is only here due to poor mastering when making the CD. It's in that "pre-gap" area of the track, where your CD player normally counts backwards into the start of the song. See the entry for "I'm So Tired".
Whole Track
Often misreported as "Paul's foot tapping" or "clicking", this is a mechanical metronome, which is used to time the song. Listening carefully, there is a "clip-clop" two tone sound to it. This is so that you can tell between the up and the down beats of the rhythm.
In the middle break where it stops, it is faded out over two beats (the song slows down, but the metronome can't). It's not switched off. Some people report it being switched back on, due to a click at 1:41, this is really a creak from the guitar.
Counting beats across this section in an audio editor shows that the metronome never stopped, never slowed, and didn't miss a beat, despite the fact that the guitar playing does slow down, break, and restart.
It was deliberately recorded, it's not leakage into the guitar mic (otherwise it couldn't be faded out for the ritard in the middle of the song).
0:34
Short high pitched tone, left channel.
1:24
One voice finishes "street" before the other one does. ("Streeet-eet").
2:20
Either a double tracking error, or Paul joins in singing just the two words "you be" in harmony.
2:22
Wooden click in vocal track (right channel).
3:09-3:11
Reported as voices under chorus.
This seems to be one of the many sections of reversed sound that are faded in and out. It's the whole track being played in reverse, and dipped in and out of the mix.
Whole Song
Ringo's bass drum pedal is squeaking most of the way through the song. (Quite audible at 0:29-0:30 where the backing is quieter).
What Goes On V3.09 © 2017 Mike Brown. Visit the website at http://wgo.signal11.org.uk for the latest version and contact details.
