Comments on: Little Child

By: Onder

Onder — Sat, 30 Sep 2017 11:47:35 +0000

There is a misunderstandig at how this song was recorded, there is really no proper guitar part. Little Child and I Wanna Be Your Man are the only song with vocals not done live but overdubbed later after the rhythm track had been laid down. Which indicates that Ringo was considered as singer for the song but it was John and Paul who overdubbed the vocals in the end, as we can hear on the final recording.
The basic live track was Ringo on drums, Paul on piano, John on harmonica (also singing “so come on come on come on” bit) and George playing “bass part”, probably just on his guitar’s bass strings. There is no other guitar in the song. This basic track can be heard in the left channel of the stereo mix. The only exception is the solo where sound engineer panned the harmonica to the right to have control over it during the mixing stage. The solo reveals that the harmonica was done live as there is huge amount of drums leakage onto the harmonica’s mic.
Ringo might have tried his vocals but probably didn’t feel the song. So John and Paul overdubbed the vocals. They sing in unison except for the ” I’m so sad and lonely” bit where John sings the upper part and Paul the harmony below. They also split for some ad libs during fade out.

By: giova942

giova942 — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 04:57:43 +0000

It’s not panning, they are two different overdubs.

By: John Leper

John Leper — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 23:03:13 +0000

Did George actually play on this song? I can’t hear much guitar on it.

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Thu, 26 May 2016 11:18:37 +0000

I love this song and John and Paul’s duet. Johns harmonica playing adds so much to this song. It is just such a catchy and infectious number.

By: Only a nowhere girl

Only a nowhere girl — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 21:24:42 +0000

I agree with Julian. The “I” of “I’m so sad and lonely” sounds quite a bit like Paul, but the “lonely”, to me, makes it very clear that it’s Paul.

By: bobbytee

bobbytee — Wed, 27 May 2015 16:38:56 +0000

Sam, I agree completely on the sarcasm! Sounds so much like John being silly. I recall a photo of young John which he sent back to his Aunt Mimi from Hamburg, and he wrote on it, “My ‘come hither’ look” or some such silliness. I feel like this line was sung in the same tone. I hear John doing that here and there on the early stuff. Like in She Loves You, when he sings “apologize to her-rer…” I feel like he’s being sarcastic on those lines. And I love it!

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 12 May 2015 21:59:15 +0000

Definitely an under-rated song. It’s hilarious if you interpret “I’m so sad and lonely” as being sarcastic. The singer is wooing a young woman on the dance-floor, saying “I’m so sad and lonely” with a big playful grin on his face.

By: Richard Boene

Richard Boene — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 21:42:14 +0000

I have to disagree. I couldn’t make McCartney’s voice out for a while either but after I listened intently to the vocals several times (particularly on the stereo mix) I came to the conclusion that they did indeed duet on this song. True Lennon’s voice is a little more prominent but I could here McCartney’s phrasing come through every once in a while.

By: Richard Boene

Richard Boene — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 21:36:43 +0000

I concur. It’s too raw and raunchy for fluff.

By: Julian

Julian — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 19:28:14 +0000

I think it’s John harmonising with himself. It has that distinctive nasal timbre of his voice. The only time I clearly hear Paul is his “Oh Yeah!” at the end.

By: Musketeer Gripweed (kezron9)

Musketeer Gripweed (kezron9) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 14:52:34 +0000

Not sure how your listening to it. I am just listening to it on youtube 2009 stereo remaster and definitely hear Paul taking the higher notes. I hear him best at the “I’m so sad and lonely” part.

By: Gary Geiger

Gary Geiger — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 00:40:14 +0000

Forgettable fluff? I don’t think so!

By: Baggio

Baggio — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 04:51:34 +0000

This song and “Every Little Thing” often raise debates on their lead singer(s) – whether it was John alone double tracked or in duet with Paul.

According to my ears, Paul is singing duet with John on “Every Little Thing”, but not on this song.
I can’t hear Paul at all other than on the “oh yeah” at the end of the song.

I love this song by the way – even if it’s more of a “work” song, it’s catchy, exciting and one of my favourites on With The Beatles.

By: Jay Lannen

Jay Lannen — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:59:04 +0000

There were only two instances in the song where I was sure I could hear McCartney singing. They were during the “come on come on,” parts and the “oh yeahs” at the very end. Other than that it mostly sounded like Lennon double-tracked. Anybody have any further insight into this?

By: carlos gutman

carlos gutman — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:31:58 +0000

I wonder if in the parts “If you want…” and “When you’re by my side…” it’s John singing solo overdubbing his vocals.

By: David

David — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 13:12:07 +0000

It’s not Ringo singing, it’s John and Paul duetting! I wonder if Joe knows when it was switched from being a Ringo song.
This has always been a favourite of mine from With The Beatles – it’s full of raw energy. To this day (I was 7 in 1963), I remember reading Tony Barrow’s sleeve notes, saying something like, “While Paul was adding the piano part, John was standing by another mike playing the harmonica,” and feeling privileged to have been given some information about how this wonderful music was created. And it’s a feeling I still get today, partly thanks to this brilliant website!

By: 2much4mymirror

2much4mymirror — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 07:01:00 +0000

Forgettable fluff though it is, I always enjoy this one. Paul’s piano chugs along nicely and John blows harmonica “con brio” to borrow Paul’s phrase describing Ringo’s singing.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 04:52:06 +0000

Since it’s the first song to show audio panning, I think the harmonica is panning to the right during the instrumental break and pans back to the left afterwards.