Anomalies S
0:05,0:06
Clicks, centre and slightly to right.
0:10-0:19
Left channel (guitar, hi-hat) loses high end treble and ends up dulled. It reappears suddenly at 0:19. This is also reported as the whole song going up in volume at 0:19.
0:27
Right channel, click.
0:35-0:36
A couple of hand claps or finger clicks, and a "Chh!" vocal noise. Sometimes heard as a voice saying "Check it".
0:41
Paul treads on the "rest" moment with one stray bass note (compared to the same riff from the opening of the track). He plays over George's "Coool ..."
0:55
A voice, right channel, sings "oo-ooo!" way in the background.
1:11, 1:20-1:22
After the brass stops, and before "You might not feel..." there are assorted purring and cooing noises in the right channel.
1:27
Accidental tambourine hit.
0:01
Click, centre, sounds like static discharge.
0:04-0:06
Someone half-heartedly slaps out the rhythm for a moment.
0:06
Thump, left side.
0:40
Very high pitched tone (around 13.5kHz) in the first "you laid it down for all to". It's low in level, and hard to catch without good headphones. Sticks through in pauses between words.
1:00
A click, and an errant "Oh!", which sounds like it's in the backing vocals.
1:11
Edit in the middle of the words "Sex/y Sadie". John's vocal becomes harsher here, and there's a click.
1:13
"Wa wa wa" cut off harshly (right channel).
1:15
Finger snaps/clicks.
1:18,2:42
Pitch of piano (whole track?) noticeably flattens.
1:33,1:42,1:46
Click/Noisy scratch in vocal track.
1:36
Misplaced bass note, left channel.
1:49-1:51
Finger snaps/clicks.
2:05
Some kind of noise moves from the right channel to just left of centre. This is in the "backing vocals" track, which are being ADT'd, hence the sound moves from the live vocal position (right) to the output of the ADT machine (panned a little left, lower volume).
2:20
John lets out a "Waaaah", centre, mixed in with the keyboard sound.
2:30,2:53
You can hear John mumbling "Sexy Sadie".
2:46,2:52
Glass-like tinkling, after the tambourine.
3:02
Very odd sound, like a dull drumbeat, on first beat of bar.
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
0:09-0:10
"Roll over boys / Roll over Maurice", heavily reverbed, just before the music starts (sounds like Paul's voice).
Many thanks to Dirk from Germany for this gem, reproduced verbatim
"I read your page with great interest but I think on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" at 0:09/0:10 a man shouts the German words "Zieh die Hose aus!" which means something like "Take off your trouser!".
mccartney@sms.at (Oliver) also says
Dirk from Germany is totally right. In Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band it really means "Zieh die Hose aus!" - "Take Off Your Pants!". I can understand it, because I am from Austria. I have heard this song for at least 1000 times, but I never heard this shout until I read your wonderful site.
Which is unfortunate, because Ricky Miranda, writes to say
I have come to believe that it is ''y a du monde en haut'' which is French for ''there are people upstairs''
Marc Van Wassenhoven also says
Hi, I`m from Montreal, Quebec, Canada ... you can hear in real French with the Quebec accent ( y a du monde en haut) meaning ``there`s people upstair`` (upstair could mean heaven, referring to Paul`s death) ... Some of my friends (French) have listened to that part and they all agree that it`s in French with the Quebec accent.
0:26
Drum beat under the word "play" is cut short, a possible edit?
0:54-0:55
Lead guitar begins a little early (sounds like a tubular bell in the end of the brass section!). Then, Paul lets out a yell "YEow!": faint and grainy, but audible.
1:35
The word "us" is spoken in a low voice somewhat separate from the harmonies (Ringo might be doing a low harmony, and got one word out of time?)
1:36
Shake and a bump. Sounds like maracas, and either blowing into the mic, or hitting the mic.
1:46
Left channel, the clapping fades down and straight back up. I think this may have been because there was not enough stock recording of clapping to fill the space required. Fixed in Yellow Submarine remastered.
1:52
Some kind of edit (more obvious with OOPS) in right channel, during "Shears, uh [edit] and Sergeant".
1:56
Right channel - The guitar ends very abruptly, as if edited off.
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
0:02-0:03 Listen!
In the introduction, John says something like "Look up, Byeee". An increase in hum is heard just before this as the faders open.
On mono versions, just before the band start, there is more talking, including what sounds like John saying "People City", just after the cluck.
0:10-0:15 Listen!
Talking. These words occur pretty much on the kick drum double beats, most audible in OOPS.
1: "Plectrum" or "Playthrough" from Paul, on the snare beat.
2: "What?" from John.
3: "Blister" or "Twister" or "This one" from Paul.
4: "Aaah!" acknowledgement from John.
5: Paul sings something high pitched, sounds like "Pussy cat".
1:15-1:17
After Paul's "Wooo", John says "Paul, could you hold my guitar for me?" Also, a voice seems to sing a faint "Ser-geant Pep-per's BAND!" finishing on the final chord. Heard using OOPS.
Also Paul heard really going mad singing. On mono versions this is heard better, "We'll be back" or "We're the band", "the greatest band of all time".
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
0:00
John says "We'll listen to that now, hehehe. Oh look out! Sh ...", probably in reference to the previous track (Polythene Pam). This has also been misreported as "You can come out now!"
Every chorus
Sounds like "She loves you, She'd love to, She loves you", as opposed to the official lyrics!
If these are the lyrics being sung, it's just their naughty little joke. "She'd love to, and you know that can't be bad, wink wink ...."
Of course, it's not documented like that because those aren't the official lyrics. Compare with "Sie Liebt Dich" - I'm sure Paul and John knew that "Dich" is not pronounced as "Dick" but the boys are clearly singing "Sie Leibt Dick". "Ja! Ja! Ja!" ...
0:12
A quick drop in the cymbal sound, maybe an edit or tape damage.
0:37,1:15
As the guitar plays one of the transitions, the hi-hat loses its high-end. Sounds like it could be a repeat edit, like at 0:12.
1:02
Another edit, leading to phasing of the hi-hat sound as "glaaaad" ends, just before "wooooooo".
1:22-1:30, 1:32
Bad edit right after the line "I think it's only fair" ... even the cymbals sound different. The drop-in ends after the line "Because she loves you", but before "and you know".
Reported as not audible in Capitol Remix, but is reported audible on Red Album, so some doubt as to which mixes this is found in. Definitely audible on mono CD (Past Masters).
Danny Caccavo says
I examined this on a workstation, and I think that somebody (after the initial release) mangled or stretched the tape, and copied a piece from a 45 (record) and edited it in. The insert piece has audible clicks in it when analysed at slow speed. Since the Capitol version doesn't have this, this might be an explanation.
Dave Prokopy says
The great number of edits is understandable ... they were still working on 2-track recording, primarily an instrumental on one and usually live vocals on the other. The only way to overdub was to make a copy while adding a new element. This meant an extra layer of hiss ... to minimise this, George Martin would make a copy with the overdubs added, and then edit JUST the overdubbed sections into the mono mix of the basic recording. Therefore only the overdubbed sections would have the extra hiss, not the whole song.
It sounds like Martin had the boys overdub an extra set of "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" ... those three words sound a lot fuller ... the downside is that this created a ton of extra edits.
Subsequent versions are cleaned up, with more obvious edits digitally tightened.
As an interesting aside to the released version, Gerry Williamson says
I possess a reel to reel tape of [She Loves You] which was recorded at the Playhouse Theatre on 30-07-63 and taped during transmission [ ... ] The BBC confirmed it is the only known copy in existence (1 hour and 12 minutes of the 2 hour long show).
In the first few lines of "She Loves You", The Beatles leave out the words "And you know" from "That can't be bad". Both BBC and EMI stated that these words would not have been edited out from the original tape.
1:37
Sounds like the vocal gets interrupted "... what I've said" <I want the ...> "I said no no no..." (right channel).
An interesting structural anomaly comes from R.A.Dare @ qmw.ac.uk, who says
It has to do with the timing of the changes in drum patterns, if I can label the patterns as follows:
Pattern 1: 0'00" - 0'50" Pattern 2: 0'50" - 0'57" Pattern 3: 0'57" - 1'11" Pattern 1: 1'11" - 1'33" Pattern 2: 1'33" - 1'38" Pattern 3: 1'38" - 1'53"
The second time pattern 3 comes in is at about 1'38", but it should not be until about 1'40":
... i said no no no you're wrong, When I was a boy...
^ ^
2nd(1'38") 1st(0'57")
Ringo seems eager and starts one bar early during "no no no"... he doesn't lose the tempo here, so it sounds ok, but I think it's an error, just not obvious.
0:46,1:03,1:24,1:31
Right channel flakes out, taking the shaker and piano out.
1:23
Paul gets a huge plosive on "Puh-resents".
1:25
Rhythm guitar drops out for one beat (playing style, not a tape fault, he missed the chord).
1:32-1:33
Guitarist playing the "up" beat strokes misses a chord change.
I IV I My love don't give me presents I IV I I know that she's no peasant I* IV Only ever has to give me ....
Where I* should be the IV chord. The rest of the group change, but he doesn't!
Apparently bootlegs of early takes show the guitarist having real difficulty with the chords on an ongoing basis, leading to several mistakes.
1:41
Loud click, centred.
2:43
Click during the word "fooling" (Left channel).
2:53-2:54
When the chord changes up to D, the piano stays on G for 2 beats of that bar.
0:06
Heard with OOPS, squeaking and clicking noises from the strings section under the word "Wednesday".
0:14-0:15
Deep breath from Paul.
0:11-0:17,1:23,1:28,1:29:2:45
(Left channel) Clicking from the bodies of the instruments in the strings section (creaking of wood, bows on necks etc.).
1:17,2:31
Whole track, especially vocal, seems to come back a little late as if there was a join here. At 1:17 there is the click of an edit.
Whole track
The ride cymbal sound phases oddly in the right channel, maybe from headphone leakage in the vocal track, and Lennon moving back and forth on the microphone. Especially audible at 0:29-0:33.
0:07,0:10,0:25
Click sounds, the first two are a vocal, lip smacking / gum chewing noises.
0:45,1:02,2:27,2:45
Piano is out of sync with the backing (comes in early, usually). This is an overdub by George Martin at a later stage.
1:14-1:17
Piano on the right channel stops abruptly and recommences for no apparent reason, allegedly this is connected with the boy / care edit below.
1:15
One voice sings "Now you've got a boyfriend down the street".
It sounds like the other voice sings "gurr" as in "girlfriend", and seems to stumble over the "down the street" part.
In fact, from hearing the Decca Audition tapes, John sings "now you don't care a dime for me" at that point. Listening to the initial sound, it's not a "gurr", but "curr" ... as in the Liverpool way of pronouncing "care". The "down the street" stumble is in fact the "dime for me" part of the lyric.
0:11
One drum beat hits the rim or stick instead of the drum head.
0:52
Click, off to the right.
1:41
Click, centred.
2:42-2:47
Listen, very low in the mix, George starts to play a little 4 note riff which causes him to miss his proper start point, and so the real line fades in a little late!
0:59
Perhaps the most famous Beatles edit ever. In fact, it is actually two edits. The famous one is between take 7 and take 26. Take 7 was slower and a whole note lower in key. The two were edited together right between the words "cause I'm" and "going to". The lesser known edit occurs right before the words "Let me take you down". It's also less noticeable (0:55.5) as a slight blip out in the Mellotron
The main edit (0:59) can be heard clearly by listening to the drums and Mellotron on the left channel. The drums go very dead, and the Mellotron stops. At the same time on the right, the orchestra appears from nowhere.
1:17, 2:03
Counting from one to four (centre, whispered).
1:22
Swordmandel (Swarmandela) fill is flubbed at the end. This mistake should / could have been mixed out! There is a "ting" remaining at the end, out of place. It's suggested that maybe the plectrum was dropped into the instrument.
1:23
Laughter, left side, maybe connected to the above.
1:51
Mellotron droned note blips erratically as it cuts out.
2:43-2:44
Nasty click from one of the cellos, during the quick run up (right channel).
3:00-3:09
3:00 - Sounds like the guitar gets unplugged (right, after first flourish).
3:06 - Soft click, like a switch.
3:07 - Click, like static discharge.
3:08 - Slight drop in level.
3:09 - Soft pop, the guitar returns with the next flourish.
3:18-3:23
First a single squeak, then lots of them, sounds a lot like a saw. Could be a comb and paper being played.
3:27-4:05
Left channel, lots of talking - sounds like directions of sorts. From bootlegs, this seems to be "that's terrific", "here comes the 'weeoo' " (referring to the droning guitar and brass note?).
3:57, 4:03
John mutters the famous "Cranberry Sauce" twice, allegedly followed by "My mother made it for me." Paul is dead fanatics insist that what John really says is "I Buried Paul," but that somehow doesn't go with "My mother made it for me." Note that "My mother..." cannot be heard on any released version
Max Mismetti says :-
"There's no such thing as "My mother made it for me" it's just the "Calm down Ringo..."
The song fades out in all cases before the end of the second Cranberry Sauce." The German release of Magical Mystery Tour fades out later than other releases (and so, therefore, does the CD), but still too soon to hear the "My mother..." statement.
Listening to the bootleg versions, they carry both "cranberrys", plus lots of shouting from John to Ringo, "What are you playing it?", "Alright, calm down Ringo" (Anthology 2, Back Track)
Frank Daniels is sure that he hears "I'm very hoarse" instead of the claimed "Cranberry Sauce" (German Version). This is another popular interpretation, however, it's not that!
He also mentions the famous Strawberry Fields Morse code.
Legend has it that this is the letters "J.L.". This is most certainly not "JL", and is in fact rather poor Morse code, if it is meant to be that. (Like the cover to Help, which doesn't say "Help" in semaphore, despite popular rumour). Marty Blaise says
"I'm an amateur radio operator and at one time I could copy the code at 20 words per minute. The closest thing that I can guess is that the first letter is a K ... my guess is it's a bunch of beeps with no meaning, just someone having fun."
I've listened to this sound more recently, and compared it to the sound of the higher notes on the Mellotron "Flute" setting. It's a high note being tapped on the Mellotron keyboard, and really doesn't equate to anything sensible in Morse. It's music, so let it be.
For those who want to find the "Morse" it is at 0:15-0:20 in the released version (left channel). In bootlegs of other takes, it repeats at other places in the song, always after "cause I'm going to...", and always sounding slightly different.
0:12
Soft click (centre).
0:28
Hiss reduces considerably where the "crickets" sound effect tape ends.
0:32
Click (left).
What Goes On V3.09 © 2017 Mike Brown. Visit the website at http://wgo.signal11.org.uk for the latest version and contact details.
