Talk:A Day in the Life

2nd or 3rd verse?

I believe the line "I'd love to turn you on" is first sung after the third verse not the second, so in the section entitled "Musical Structure and Development/Basic Track" I would propose changing the first line of the 2nd paragraph to "As a link between the end of the third verse...". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Drewbigs (talk • contribs) 15:41, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

Atlantic magazine source

Check it out... Atlantic article by Nicholas Dawidoff from May 2017. Reprinted by getpocket.com with permission. Binksternet (talk) 08:23, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

Not Only THX Deep Note

Piano Chord at the end of the song is inspiring Macintosh startup chime (confirmed by Apple's former sounds designer, Jim Reekes) and PlayStation 2 boot chime (unconfirmed, but pure coincidence) Beezanteeum (talk) 02:20, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

John Lennon, not Paul McCartney, sings the "Ahh's" after the middle section where Paul sings

The article says Paul McCartney sings the "Ahh's" after the middle section of the song. Paul just sings the part that begins with "Woke up, fell out of bed\Dragged a comb across my head" and ends up with "Made my way upstairs and had a smoke\Somebody spoke and I went into a dream". The "Ahh's" one hears after that is the main singer of the song, namely John Lennon. Can the article be change to reflect this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dkf12 (talk • contribs) 04:38, 5 October 2021 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. You may change the article yourself; just make sure you cite your change with a reputable and authoritative source which is able to discount the existing highly reputable and authoritative citation, which supports McCartney being the vocalist. --Sixsevenfive (talk) 07:38, 6 October 2021 (UTC)

I won't change the article until I find an authoritative source. 2600:1700:CBA0:4470:3507:D6B1:36B6:79C (talk) 16:41, 10 October 2021 (UTC)

There is a school of thought that holds that the answer is unresolved. But the source we use quotes Abbey Road engineer Sam Okell, who maintains it's McCartney:

“Paul’s main vocal track is in stereo, because we gave it some spread with the Waves S1 Stereo Imaging plug-in, so it has a different sound than John’s lead. We also split off two little bits to be able to pan them left and right. His fourth vocal track is the ‘aaah’ section, and below it is an ‘Aah delay’ aux track. Further down are the three first-generation vocal tracks, out of which we pulled the non-singing material, like a bit of piano, the alarm clock, and Mal Evans doing the orchestra bar count.”

As he seems to have had access to the original tracks, he would seem to be the best source we've got. (McCartney doesn't recall.) Barte (talk) 19:04, 19 October 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for that, Barte. I hadn't realised this point had received such attention over the years.

I suggest we include mention, via the Globe and Mail piece you link to, of the differing views; although several of Emerick's recollections of Beatles sessions have been shot down by biographers or been proved to be incorrect over the years, it probably is worth saying that he credited the "aah" section to Lennon as did David Crosby, who was there at the time when the Beatles completed the track (and who's mentioned a few times in our article). To my ears, it's definitely McCartney singing, but like one or two of the individuals quoted by the Globe and Mail writer, I first had to get past the assumption that it must be Lennon. Once you actually listen to it without that assumption, I think it's clear it's McCartney's voice. (Not that a personal opinion from one of us has any bearing, I know ...) JG66 (talk) 02:51, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

For what it’s worth, Giles Martin said on Twitter in 2017 that it’s John with a heavily reverbed Paul harmonizing. This can be a real Rorschach test with people. Everyone seems very certain in their opinion, but I haven’t actually seen a reliable secondary source say one way or the other who is singing. Tkbrett (✉) 04:23, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

How about removing McCartney from the sentence (e.g.: "This transition consists of vocalised "aah"s, reinforcing the dream aspect...") with a footnote covering the controversy? I think the Giles Martin tweet is referenceable, as well. Barte (talk) 05:09, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

I'll be honest I always thought it was John, but that could be because, if I recall correctly, The Beatles: Rock Band showed John signing that part, although that game did get quite a few things wrong (i.e. Ringo playing drums on "Back in the USSR")... Like Tkbrett said I think Giles' opinion is important (since he had access to all the original tracks when remixing it). To me it'd be important to distinguish. – zmbro _(talk) 13:38, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

I gave this a try, noting parenthetically that the matter is unresolved and using the existing cite plus the two mentioned in this discussion. (For the record, I also always thought it was John.)Barte (talk) 14:25, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

The Sound On Sound source now appears to have been inadvertently omitted; I will therefore reinstate it.--Sixsevenfive (talk) 09:43, 26 October 2021 (UTC)

McCartney has in recent time noted Elvis Presley's influence on the song

It's even in Day Trippin magazine.[1] Speakfor23 (talk) 18:57, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Day Trippin' is a blog hosted on WordPress.com, not a reliable source (WP:PRS). Tkbrett (✉) 19:44, 12 January 2024 (UTC)