Personnel:
Cliff Wilson: Guitars, Bass, Harpsichord, Synths, Vocals
Hannah Wilson Rebrovick: Vocals
Maeli Goren: Vocals
Brad Wilson: Vocals
Judy Wilson Enuco: Vocals
Joe Rebrovick: Vocals
Louise Wilson: Vocals
Paul Enuco: Vocals
Why this song is on the album:
This was a song that some of us just assumed would be on the album. Hannah, Brad and I all sang in a cappella groups at Princeton, and Louise did at Conn College. This song, driven by its wonderful three-part harmonies, has a very natural appeal in these quarters.
Performance notes:
This is one of the few songs where I made more than a token effort to make the instruments sound like the Beatles.
The Beatles used a Hohner electric harpsichord as the principal instrument, and samples of that very model are available commercially. So I snapped that up; later, we scooped out the low end of the sound in the mix, to match very closely the sound the Beatles got. The other instruments follow more or less what the Beatles did, too.
Vocally, this song proved more of a challenge than I expected, because the parts are really high. McCartney’s part goes up to a B, which is hard to sing prettily for even a high first tenor, so we put our sopranos on that part. The other parts are high, too. I used to be a legit first tenor, and though I have lost a step of range, I was surprised that the middle part was a bit of a stretch for me. Louise, an alto, chose to sing the bottom part!
If we ever sing this in an arch, I think we’ll take it down a step.
How it’s different from the Beatles’ version:
The Beatles used nine vocal tracks – Paul, John and George (top to bottom) each singing his part three times. We also used nine tracks: Hannah and Maeli on top; Brad, Judy and me in the middle; Louise, Joe, Paul and me (again) on the bottom. Having nine distinct voices, including three female voices, gives it a different flavor.
Fun facts:
Lennon’s composition was inspired by hearing Yoko Ono, who was classically trained (!), play the Moonlight Sonata. He had her “play it backwards”.
The Beatles recorded the instrumental tracks before the vocal arrangement was done.
This is the last of 179 songs credited as joint Lennon-McCartney compositions.
CCW