On the Beatles’ Paperback Writer, the background vocals are “Frère Jacques.”
I don’t listen to a lot of current music, but it’s hard to listen to the radio these days and not hear Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines. I liked the live performance he did on America’s Got Talent, but in the radio recording there’s a sample of Michael Jackson’s high-pitched “Woo” from Billy Jean. The problem is that it is not synced with the beat, so it’s all out of rhythm and drives me nuts.
What? I’ve heard this song a hundred bajillion times and have no idea what you mean by this. Who is singing “Frère Jacques” and where?
Listen to it (Skip to 1:00).
While McCartney starts singing “It’s a thousand pages, will you take a few…” the background vocals John and George are singing aren’t just indistinct sounds, they’re singing “Frère Jacques.”
I can’t listen at work but will later.
BTW, I always heard it as “It’s a thousand pages, give or take a few…”
FWIW, the first dozen or so Google hits for “Beatles lyrics it’s a thousand pages” say the next words are “give or take.”
Ha! I remember the obscure stuff, and forget the obvious stuff.
They’re not singing “Frère Jacques” they’re just harmonizing in the background.
Yes, they are.
I’m interested, but the first cite is Wikipedia, the second cite doesn’t play for me, and the third cite is a circular reference back to the SDMB.
For crying out loud. Here. That is a picture taken from my copy of Mark Lewisohn’s authoritative book The Beatles Recording Sessions.
Apologies for my skepticism.
Fascinating backdrop. Thank you. And again, apologies, but you know how this Internet thing works sometimes.
Cheers.
I’ve always been a fan of Robert Plant’s Big Log. Still am. But I can’t listen to it on headphones, as the clapping on the offbeats sticks out too much.
There are several tracks of The Beach Boys’, most notably “Barbara Ann,” where it sounds like they invited their friends into the studio during recording and forgot to tell them “Oh, by the way, we’re trying to lay down a track – could you keep it down?”
“Purple Haze” has Jimi Hendrix muttering something during the instrumental break. RIght about 1:33-1:35 he whispers something that sounds like “Son of Sam, Son of Sam.” :dubious: Supposedly this is what gave the serial killer David Berkowitz… I’m sure you know where I’m going with this.
This annoys me so much that I started my own threadabout it. Heh. Yes, that song drives me nuts too because of that sound, and I can’t escape that song because it’s played everywhere.