Comments on: I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party

By: moph

moph — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 15:38:01 +0000

You are absolutely wrong. It’s Paul jumping from lower harmony then to high harmony on the bridge. But it’s okay, not everyone is good at hearing who’s singing what.

By: Kalle

Kalle — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 11:16:25 +0000

John wrote his fair share of standards too. Ringo, Paul, George and John are all loved, dead or alive. It’s unnecessary to deify the last two over the first two.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 06:40:34 +0000

Teddy Salad is exactly right… that’s what martyrdom does. And I don’t see why John harmonizing with himself is a big deal… Paul did the same thing on All My Loving the year before. Also, Little Child is not John double-tracked… it was co-written so it’s Paul and John singing in union. And one last thing– Travis may be the only person on the planet that believes John Lennon had an inferiority complex.

By: Bolthead

Bolthead — Fri, 25 May 2018 14:23:31 +0000

“Has anyone ever asked Paul?”
Not certain how useful that would be…he seems to recall that “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” was written for Ringo and that Ringo sang lead on the track.
Clearly, Ringo isn’t involved in any way (that I can hear) on the vocals for the song.
The details here have faded into obscurity, although…it’s clearly a (mostly) Lennon composition with Lennon dominant on the vocals.
Whatever…it’s yet another example of Lennon’s amazing songwriting skills and particular brilliance in crafting impressive bridges (or “middle eights” if you prefer) in so many of his early originals.

By: Teddy Salad

Teddy Salad — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 21:38:06 +0000

I don’t wish to be maudlin, but you cannot discount that some of the reason “the cult of Lennon just grew and grew” was precisely because of his tragic death.

By: richard raskin

richard raskin — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 22:46:53 +0000

George using the Rickenbacker 12 on this one? Listen to it

By: John

John — Sat, 30 Sep 2017 22:58:31 +0000

Has anyone ever asked Paul?

By: Ms. Lane

Ms. Lane — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 19:18:36 +0000

Yes! Thank you for reminding me.

By: Jimmy Brown

Jimmy Brown — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 13:25:13 +0000

How could Everett be wrong and you be right. He listened to the 4-track session and has the notes.

By: Donny

Donny — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 00:06:14 +0000

John sings with himself, a self-duet on the verses (listen to the first “I think I’ll take a walk…”); John and Paul sing the “though tonight she’s made me sad…” bits; John, Paul, & George sing on the “ooohhhs”. Interesting way to utilize their voices on this track!

By: Travis

Travis — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 16:09:11 +0000

He did this on several early tracks. Man he really dominated the band in those days, had two perfectly competent singers next to him (one great!) but decided, “Nah, I’ll sound best with just me”. I’m sure if he could hit those high notes in the AWESOME bridge (fave part) he would’ve kept on harmonizing with himself. “Little Child” is another example of this, and I always thought “You Really Got A Hold On Me” was John-and-John again, but this site informs me that’s George on the lower register.

Btw, that quote was fascinating in two respects from the main article at the top – one that John admitted Paul showed him a lot on guitar, which I believe, but that he also says Paul wrote more stuff in the early days – obviously not true. I think John had an overall inferiority-complex about the Beatles after the fact, thinking it was mostly “Paul’s band”, whilst I think Paul kind of thought it was always John’s band. I wish someone could have explained how brilliant, melodically and in really every way, John’s compositions were in the Beatles, at least a match for Paul’s, on ballads as well as rockers. Another tragedy of his death is he never got to fully accept how much people loved him probably the most of all the Beatles, “Yesterday” or not. As time went into the 80’s and especially the ’90s the cult of Lennon just grew and grew, whereas Paul got diminished as people got tired of some of his standards and starting digging on John’s more emotional/intellectual/unusual stuff.

Back to this song, I think it’s highly underrated. Having listening to all Beatles constantly since I was about 8 (on my own, surely heard it much earlier via parents), this song always stuck out as one of my very favorites.

By: A Montreal Paul

A Montreal Paul — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 18:00:23 +0000

I can’t imagine Ringo singing this- the melody would be too much for his vocal range. So I imagine that is why he didn’t sing it.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 21:19:54 +0000

This song is one of the really high highlights of Beatles for Sale, in my opinion. I love the way the guitar intro seems to sort of tumble forward with such energy, like someone suddenly pushing you down a fairground slide. The rest of the song is great, but the bridge has more energy, angst, and authenticity than anything else… it’s as though John is sort of the song’s protagonist trying to express his disappointment without completely losing face, and then Paul is the song’s protagonist just letting all the pain and true feelings out. Perhaps John’s vocal represents the face that we see at the party, and Paul’s vocal represents the face we’d see when he’s gone out for the walk that is alluded to, angry tears stinging at his eyes as he stalks down dark sidewalks.

One of the greatest of their middle eights, and man – that is some great company to be in.

By: ale miotto

ale miotto — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 22:00:20 +0000

i think listening again and again:
VERSES: firts part: john: high voice – paul: low voice (there no john´s double tracking)
OOOOOH: john: vocals – paul & george: oooohhh
CHORUS: john: low voice – paul: high voice

By: KGSnow

KGSnow — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 03:06:07 +0000

I always thought John was slipping in a fast “In fact” – as in “In fact, I think I’ll take a walk and look for her.” Since this single first came out, I’ve heard it that way. I never once thought he was saying “If I” by mistake.

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 11:17:16 +0000

Definitely more of a John Lennon song and thematically fits a long side”No Reply” and “I’m a Loser”, both also off “Beatles For Sale”. “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” is a great song and another example of why this album is so underrated. As great as the “A Hard Days Night” album was, John Lennon in particular had moved on under the influence of Bob Dylan and the greater candidness that would become his hallmark post 1968. So what if a number of the songs on “Beatles For Sale” are covers. I love those songs and less than 6 months earlier The Beatles had released “A Hard Days Night” an album totally made up of Lennon-McCartney songs. I am pleased John Lennon took the lead on this, that is nothing against Ringo. Just as many years later Lennon did the same with “Nobody Told Me” and the results were fantastic. Originally this was also intended for Ringo.

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:13:18 +0000

Great track off “Beatles For Sale”. This is definitely more of a John Lennon song.Thematically it fits in with “No Reply”, “I’m a Loser”, it is him singing lead, (even though it was originally written for Ringo). I am glad John Lennon sung this himself and that is nothing against Ringo. Just as many years later he did the same with “Nobody Told Me” and that was a great out come as well. Songs like “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” show why “Beatles For Sale” is underrated. As good as the”A Hard Days Night” album was, John Lennon in particular was moving forward under the influence of Bob Dylan and the greater candidness that was to ultimately to become his hallmark post 1968.So what if they used covers on “Beatles For Sale”. I love those songs and less than 6 months earlier had produced an album entirely made up of Lennon-McCartney songs, “A Hard Days Night”.

By: JT

JT — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 19:14:49 +0000

The song was never played in concert.

By: bobbyclementine

bobbyclementine — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 03:15:57 +0000

that’s brilliant. listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D1apwd0Yk8

By: TS

TS — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 17:52:35 +0000

Love this album and this song. Along with “Baby’s In Black”, two of their most unique, under-rated tracks. Very adept at mixing emotions, the joyful with the melancholy, and great harmonies. This whole album has a bittersweet feel and texture like no other, with the possible exception of the White Album (though that’s more like outright depression)