# Beatles Lyric Question (I'm NOT Crazy!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 20, 2007, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933 "2007-02-20T05:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/1 "2007-02-20T05:22:18Z")
The Beatles’ song “Revolution” seems to use a mixing technique in certain lines that has Paul singing a single syllable in the middle of one of John’s lyrics. An example : John sings “You say you want a real solution,” and Paul also sings the “LU” syllable in the word “solution.” The above example may not be in the song (I don’t have access to it right now), but it should illustrate my point. I’ve heard the song hundreds of times. I’d bet a weeks pay that when John sings “You tell me that it’s evolution,” Paul chimes in with (or is overdubbed in with) “Jew” right in the middle of the word “evolution.” In other words, I hear: **"You tell me that it’s evil-jew-shun."** I’ve tried the song at all different volume levels, and I hear it every time. I LOVE the Beatles - they are my favorite musicians. I am not interested in bashing anyone or accusing anyone of antisemitism. People think I’m crazy. Does anyone else hear this? Joe ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/2 "2007-02-20T07:13:46Z")
Nope. And even if I did, it doesn’t make sense. What could evil-Jew-shun possibly mean? Unless of course, you think the Beatles were sufficiently immature to make up a nonsense word just so they could sneak ‘evil Jew’ into it, and so lacking in talent that they couldn’t come up with a better way to say it that would also make sense as a double entendre of some sort…and you clearly have a higher opinion of the Beatles than that. Sort of reminds me of the ‘Paul is dead’ meme that was going around for awhile, where if you played one of the _Abbey Road_ songs (I forget which one) backwards, Lennon’s voice could supposedly be heard saying ‘Paul is dead, Paul is dead.’ This was supposedly substantiated by the fact that Paul was barefoot on the album cover, and it was said that in England people are buried without shoes and socks. 😛 Like you said, maybe it was the mixing going on then, but people seem to be able to hear all sorts of odd things in Beatles music of that era. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/3 "2007-02-20T07:22:46Z")
OK, I went and dug up my copy of “Past Masters Volume Two” to listen to it. It sounds to me like Paul says “Joosh” instead of just “Jew”; as far as I know, “Joosh” is not a recognized ethnic slur, though I admit I’m not really current on such matters. (I don’t think it was an elision from the word “Jewish,” either.) As you heard, there’s definitely a “j” or “ch” sound at the beginning of Paul’s syllable, but I think there’s also a “sh” or “ch” at the end. Doesn’t sound at all like “evil-Jew-shun” to me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/4 "2007-02-20T07:23:02Z")
[QUOTE=wheresgeorge04] **“You tell me that it’s evil-jew-shun.”** … Does anyone else hear this? Joe [/QUOTE] Yeah, I hear it, actually. I mean, “evil-jew-shun” wouldn’t have occurred to me, but Paul does jump in there with a sound that seems to start with a “j” or “ch” sound, and ends with an “s” sound. So, jews, or juice, or chews, or maybe just the “lut” sound distorted somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/5 "2007-02-20T07:38:19Z")
Weren’t they doing a lot of insolent gum-chewing while they talked and sang during that period? Maybe Paul was just singing with his mouth full. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/6 "2007-02-20T07:44:58Z")
Oh fergawdsakes. Singers tend to do wierd things with words sometimes. All it means is that the singer was goofing around with a word. Really. Chill. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/7 "2007-02-20T07:49:51Z")
Paul’s voice is absent from _Revolution_. To get that chorused effect, John’s vocals were double-tracked (i.e. he recorded a second take of himself singing along with the first take). This tactic is common nowadays, but I believe the Beatles were among the first to really take advantage of it. The double-tracking is very sloppy in \*Revolution \* compared to other Beatles songs – the vocals don’t sync well and you can here several syllables (like the “jew”) that don’t seem to belong. I think this was done intentionally to give the song a loose, off-balance feel, and I’m willing to bet the “jew” or “choo” sound is just a nonsense syllable. The Beatles were big on experimenting with sound during this period. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/8 "2007-02-20T16:36:45Z")
if you pronounce evolution as evil lyoooo shun, as he does, and lurch into the lyoooo syllable with sufficient force it’s going to come out as jyooooo. ---
**Author:** ![zeno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zeno/32/15040_2.png) [@zeno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeno)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/9 "2007-02-20T16:43:03Z")
He was singing about how Brian Epstein and Dick James screwed him and Lennon out of publishing rights. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/10 "2007-02-20T16:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=Phantom Dennis] Paul’s voice is absent from _Revolution_. To get that chorused effect, John’s vocals were double-tracked (i.e. he recorded a second take of himself singing along with the first take). This tactic is common nowadays, but I believe the Beatles were among the first to really take advantage of it. The double-tracking is very sloppy in \*Revolution \* compared to other Beatles songs – the vocals don’t sync well and you can here several syllables (like the “jew”) that don’t seem to belong. I think this was done intentionally to give the song a loose, off-balance feel, and I’m willing to bet the “jew” or “choo” sound is just a nonsense syllable. The Beatles were big on experimenting with sound during this period. [/QUOTE] That’s right. This page may also be of interest: [http://www.pootle.demon.co.uk/common/anomaly-r.htm#rspmv](http://www.pootle.demon.co.uk/common/anomaly-r.htm#rspmv) ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/11 "2007-02-20T16:54:26Z")
I hear that every time. The “joo” sound is definitely there, but it’s almost certainly nothing more than an odd artifact of the double-tracking combined with John’s somewhat slurred vocal. It’s fun to listen for hidden messages and in-jokes in Beatles songs, but I can’t imagine that this was some deliberate comment on Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/12 "2007-02-20T17:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=Cabbage] That’s right. This page may also be of interest: [http://www.pootle.demon.co.uk/common/anomaly-r.htm#rspmv](http://www.pootle.demon.co.uk/common/anomaly-r.htm#rspmv) [/QUOTE] And specifically: > [@](#): > > 0:23 > Mistake in the vocals - sounds like “evol tution” due to second vocal. This is a double tracking error, the original line was faded out and fades in as “in-sti-tution, well you know”. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/13 "2007-02-20T17:22:17Z")
[QUOTE=zeno] He was singing about how Brian Epstein and Dick James screwed him and Lennon out of publishing rights. [/QUOTE] And the “rich fag Jew” conspiracy continues. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/14 "2007-02-20T17:32:35Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Oh fergawdsakes. Singers tend to do wierd things with words sometimes. All it means is that the singer was goofing around with a word. [/QUOTE] I used to sing “Rocky Raccoon” by myself and with a band. After hearing it about ten times, a friend asked me what “Gidjinz” meant. As in “Gidjinz” bible. ( The lyric is, “Only to find _Gideon’s_ Bible.”) I never really realized how much I was slurring the line, it was just a habit I developed after singing the song so many times. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/15 "2007-02-20T17:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=Phantom Dennis] Paul’s voice is absent from _Revolution_. To get that chorused effect, John’s vocals were double-tracked (i.e. he recorded a second take of himself singing along with the first take). This tactic is common nowadays, but I believe the Beatles were among the first to really take advantage of it. [/QUOTE] Just to nitpick. Double tracking vocals was an extremely common technique and dated back at least to the fifties. What the Beatles did was use an electronic device called [Automatic Double Tracking (ADT)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_double_tracking). > [@](#): > > During the 1950s it was discovered that doubletracking lead vocals in popular song recordings gave them a much stronger and more appealing sound (especially for singers with weak or light voices). First pairs of tape recorders were used, then later multitrack recording machines, to produce the effect. Until the invention of ADT it was necessary to record the vocal tracks twice; a process which was both tedious and exacting, and might require several takes and rewinds. > > ADT was invented specially for The Beatles on April 6, 1966 by Ken Townshend, a recording engineer employed at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios, mainly at the instigation of John Lennon. Lennon hated the tedium of doubletracking during sessions, and regularly expressed a desire for a technical alternative. The Beatles had started using ADT with the Revolver album, so it wasn’t even new for them. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/16 "2007-02-20T18:27:52Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] And specifically: [/QUOTE] Yeah, I always hear it as a “tu/too” rather than “Joo/Jew”. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-lyric-question-im-not-crazy/392933/17 "2007-02-20T23:24:12Z")
Glad to know I’m not completely insane. Nonsense syllable or something else, I hears what I hears. Joe