The Beatles - Describing their Voices and Vocals

For at least half a decade now, I've been quite interested in comparing voices of the individual members of The Beatles. What makes them similar, what makes them different, and what makes them comparable. Below are my descriptions on some of the similarities and differences between the vocals of The Beatles that I've taken note of. Enjoy! :D

John Lennon
John Lennon's vocal is quite different from Paul McCartney's once I learned to tell the differences in their voices, but it was some time before I learned to tell the difference after I read about which Beatle sang on which songs. John's voice is often quite scratchy, for lack of a better term. I read somewhere that someone described his voice as being bright and sharp, with a certain nasality, which seems fairly accurate. Some time after I learned which Beatle sang lead on which song, I was able to easily distinguish John's voice from Paul's voice. When John was singing lead, I found it fairly easy to identify his voice, although since I still had trouble with identifying George Harrison's voice for quite some time afterwards, there were times where I mistook his voice for John's voice, but when it really was John's voice I could tell it was him singing.

My Beatles book Ten Years That Shook The World credits Paul McCartney as the singer of "Every Little Thing" but when I first heard the song, I was like "No that's definitely John's voice". I checked the song's page on the Wikipedia which stated that it was indeed John singing. That Beatles book of mine is quite accurate mostly but there were several mistakes in it, such as which Beatle sang which song. "Eight Days a Week" is also incorrectly credited to Paul as the lead singer in the book, while John was the one that sang it. Even before I found out which Beatle sang on which song, I somehow guessed that John would have done the lower harmonies in large part, while Paul generally took the higher harmonies, and it seems that I was right. Even so, it was some time before I found that John's vocal range was lower than Paul's, although I knew that it wasn't higher.

John's vocal changed a bit from the early 60's to the late 60's. Not sure if it's just because he matured or whether he just sang differently, but something changed in his voice, however slightly. There is much confusion as to whether John is a baritone or a tenor. I personally classify him as a low tenor. I recently read somewhere on a site where someone said that there is confusion about his voice and they described him not being able to reach the highest notes of the tenor range, at least not very well; the same with not being able to reach the lowest notes of the baritone range, not very well. Since I usually consider higher notes over lower notes, and since he generally sings in the tenor range, then I consider him a low tenor, but if his voice was any deeper then I would consider him to be a baritone. I must admit I was very surprised when I learned that some people considered John to be a baritone but George to be a tenor since I always found George's voice to be deeper than John's but only slightly. This is also the case when they are talking.

I found John's voice to be slightly higher and more brassy. And then there's some people that claim that John had more powerful low notes than George did. These claims may be true, they may not be true, but if they are true, I'm not sure whether that makes much of a difference, since I find John's voice to be more powerful than George's in general, especially since George's solo music saw a lot of songs in the folk rock genre, whereas John's music was more in the pop rock / experimental rock genre, with the occasional riff based blues-rock songs. So his style was more rock oriented than George's was. Paul did the lead vocals during the bridge of "A Hard Day's Night", and the second "Any Time at All" in each chorus in "Any Time at All" because John apparently couldn't reach the notes. I'm pretty sure John could have reached them, although it may have caused a bit of strain to do, hence why Paul sang on those parts. For those people who won't allow themselves to consider John as a tenor, I could always compromise and say that he's a baritenor.

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney's vocal is quite different from John Lennon's once I learned to tell the differences in their voices, but it was some time before I learned to tell the difference after I read about which Beatle sang on which songs. In the later 60's onwards I'd say that his voice became more easy to pick out. It's ironic because even though Paul is often perceived to be the member of the group who wrote the most ballads, which is true, he was actually the first member of The Beatles that I recognised to write some of The Beatles' heavier stuff. Despite writing more ballads, Paul did write "Helter Skelter" which is the heaviest song The Beatles ever recorded.

But yeah, I'd have to agree that Paul's voice is very smooth in comparison to John's scratchier sounding vocal. Even before I learned which member of the band sang on which songs, I somehow guessed correctly that Paul was the one who sang the higher harmonies while John sang the lower harmonies. But sometime after I learned which Beatle sang lead on which song, I found that Paul's vocal range was indeed the highest of the four. I knew his vocal range wasn't deeper than John's but it was sometime before I'd discovered for myself that his vocal range was naturally higher, and not just because he chose to sing higher, since Paul did have some low notes. According to what some people have said, he had the widest range of the four which seems plausible.

I can definitely agree with what someone else stated on a site that Paul's voice is warm and round. I don't get how some people say that he sounds more like John when he does heavier stuff, because Paul did heavier stuff as well. They may just have been referring to the music, not the voice, but still. I read somewhere that Paul was able to change the sound of his voice at will, and could mimic other singers. Not sure if it was his intention but on "Can't Buy Me Love", he made it seem like John could have been doing the backing vocals. I was surprised when I learned that it was all him. I consider Paul to be a mid-range tenor. I know some people consider him to be a high tenor, but I disagree. I can hear him strain on certain songs like "Say, Say, Say". The way I see it, if Paul was a high tenor, he wouldn't have had to strain on certain high notes when singing certain words like "Baby".

George Harrison
George Harrison's vocal was the vocal that I had the most trouble with identifying. Because a lot of The Beatles songs that he sings the lead vocal on, I thought he sounded very much like John Lennon. But overtime I was able to pick out some differences in their voices. I find George's voice to be very smooth in comparison to John's. I find John's voice to be rather scratchy, for lack of a better term. George's voice normally lacks the scratchiness that John's voice has. If you were to get two CD's, one with scratches, and one with no scratch, John's voice would be the CD with scratches, and George's voice would be the CD with no scratches.

George's voice is usually softer than John's, although I read somewhere that someone had stated that his voice is usually brighter than Paul McCartney's, and I'd have to say that I agree with that. They also stated that he had a strong Liverpool accent, which is also something that I can agree with. Also George doesn't tend to scream on some of the rockier songs he sings like John and Paul do. From the early 60's to the late 60's, George's vocal style is probably the one that's changed the most out of The Beatles. His voice sounds younger than John's voice to me, which could be partly because he is younger. George's voice is also slightly deeper than John's which is particularly evident in the earlier 60's since George didn't frequently work his way into high harmonies the way John did.

He is what I consider to be a high baritone, while I consider John to be a low tenor. But if George's vocal was any higher and if John's vocal was any deeper, then I would consider George to be a low tenor, and John to be a high baritone. In the early 60's on songs such as "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", "Chains", "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (w/ John Lennon), "Devil in Her Heart", "Don't Bother Me", and "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You", George can be found singing comfortably within the baritone range. In the late 60's on songs such as "Piggies", "For You Blue", "Something", and "Here Comes the Sun", "I Me Mine" in 1970, and on a lot of his solo work, George adopted a tenor range vocal, but it's clear to me that he is a natural baritone. And when the four members of The Beatles are speaking, not singing, it's evident that he has the second deepest voice of the four. I wonder what would have become of his solo music had he not adopted a higher register in the late 60's onwards.

Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr's vocal was always the easiest one to identify for me, since he always sang in a low register, whereas John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison sang songs in a higher register, sometimes higher than the registers they were naturally suited to sing. I consider John, Paul, and George to be a low tenor, mid-range tenor, and high baritone respectively, though George often sang within the tenor range in the late 60's onwards. With Ringo, I consider him to be a mid-range baritone. Between The Beatles songs that he sang on, the song he probably sang the highest on was "I Wanna Be Your Man". Despite having the deepest voice of The Beatles, I find Ringo's vocal to be quite warm, rather like Paul's in a way. They probably wouldn't have sounded too different if their vocal ranges weren't so different. I read somewhere that Ringo used to sing in a Liverpool accent while he was a member of The Beatles, which definitely sounds plausible.