I just wanted to share three small, personal BeatleGems of mine. Why? Because I love you, of course. And also because I have a giant ego the size of Macca's beard (circa 1969), and I think that anything I find enjoyable, you should too.
First, there's this bit of Taxman: right after the guitar solo and follow-up chorus, as the band comes gliding into the final verse, the lead guitar (handled by Paul, incidentally) makes this groovy little "yawning" sound before it lands on the beat. I have no idea how Macca got it to make that sound. But it's my favorite part of the whole song.
Second, I give you a little anomaly from If I Fell: it's John and Paul's second time through the bridge, but when Paul goes up for the high note ("I would be sad if our new love was in vain"), his voice cracks after a second or so. It almost sounds like he was choking off a laugh, or maybe just ran out of breath, or got something caught in his throat. Whatever it was, it's a very endearing moment for me, because up until this point in the song, everything had been studio-perfect. This few seconds makes it just a little more human for me, and I think the little clipped-off sound that Paul's throat makes is kind of cute.
Third, I offer a small cup of piping hot musical whoop, which I find to be quite contagious. In this clip from Dig a Pony, right before the band breaks into the instrumental/guitar solo, just as John and Paul are coming out of the tightly-harmonized "beeeeee-caauuse", Macca lets loose with a high-pitched "woooo!", and - pay attention, because this is the cool part - John tag-teams him with an immediate follow-up "awww!" It's so tight. It's so spontaneous. The voices overlap each other just right, just enough that it's hard to tell where one voice stops and the other voice starts. And that's Lennon and McCartney to me; tag-teaming, virtually indistinguishable from each other when they were working together, but always retaining their individual voices and personalities. This will always be my favorite moment in this song.
