When it comes to the Beatles vocals, there are a handful of certainties that proved true across their entire discography: John Lennon’s timbre is nasal and slightly unhinged, George Harrison sings sweetly, Ringo Starr’s vocals are always a bit goofy, and Paul McCartney screams. Macca’s screams were a staple throughout the Fab Four’s short-lived tenure together, adding blues flavor and plenty of grit to their otherwise straightforward rockers.
Here are some of the best Beatles songs that feature those signature, gravelly Paul McCartney screams.
Videos by American Songwriter
“I Saw Her Standing There”
We’ll start our list of Paul McCartney screams in a way that’s only appropriate for a musician: with a count-in. “I Saw Her Standing There” was the opening track to the band’s U.K. debut, Please Please Me, and their U.S. debut, Introducing… The Beatles. McCartney establishes the groove before anyone plays the first downbeat with his punchy count-in, one, two, three, FAH. It was the best possible introduction to what the Fab Four could do: deliver pop-sensible music with a bit of a rock ‘n’ roll edge, courtesy of their leather-clad days as nightclub house bands across Europe.
“Helter Skelter”
This “White Album” rager is perhaps one of the first songs most people would think of when they think of Paul McCartney screaming on a track. And indeed, loud and boisterous is exactly what he was going for at the time. According to McCartney in Anthology, “I read in Melody Maker that Pete Townshend [of the Who] had said: ‘We’ve just made the raunchiest, loudest, most ridiculous rock ‘n’ roll record you’ve ever heard.’ That got me going, just hearing him talk about it. So, I said to the guys, ‘I think we should do a song like that. Something really wild. And I wrote “Helter Skelter.””
“Hey Jude”
Another iconic Paul McCartney screamer, the Beatle’s vocals don’t reach shriek level until the very end of the song. “Hey Jude” has entered its climax with crowd vocals and wide, open instrumentation, and McCartney pushes it one inch further over the edge by improvising a series of yells and howls that he later described as “Cary Grant on heat,” based on his almost mid-Atlantic pronunciation of hey Joo-day, Joo-day, Joo-day, Joo-day, etc. It’s the perfect exclamation point to an already rousing song that started as a tribute to John Lennon’s first son with his wife, Cynthia Lennon, Julian Lennon. “Hey Jules” eventually became “Hey Jude,” and the rest is history.
“Kansas City / Hey Hey Hey Medley”
The Beatles’ “Kansas City / Hey, Hey, Hey” cover medley from their 1964 album, Beatles for Sale, is both an ode to the rock ‘n’ rollers that came before them and to the rock ‘n’ rollers they were in their Liverpudlian Cavern days. McCartney successfully embodied the spirit of Little Richard, which he said was “a wild, hoarse screaming thing” to Barry Miles in Many Years From Now. “You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it. You have to actually go outside yourself. It’s a funny little trick, and when you find it, it’s very interesting.”
“Oh! Darling”
“Oh! Darling” appears in the first half of the Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road album, displaying the full breadth of Paul McCartney’s stunning vocals, from sweet singing to full-throated screams. He even climbs into his falsetto, adding more emotion and intensity to the desperately in love blues track. When the time came for McCartney to lay down his vocal tracks, he was out of practice gutturally screaming. The band’s engineer, Alan Parsons, recalled McCartney tracking his vocals over several days, painstakingly trying to find the sweet spot between under- and overexerting his larynx.
“Why Don’t We Do It In The Road”
This short “White Album” track might be credited as the Beatles, but interestingly, only Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr perform on this particular song. John Lennon and George Harrison were busy working on something else when McCartney asked Starr if he’d like to record the under-two-minute number, much to the chagrin of their absent bandmates. Despite the fractured production style of “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road,” the song remains a gritty example of Paul McCartney’s ability to wail and scream like a 1940s Delta blues musician. (Though, we’d argue that Dana Fuchs gives McCartney a run for his money with her version in the 2007 film Across the Universe.)
“Golden Slumbers”
We started our list of Paul McCartney screams with a count-in, and we’ll end with a lullaby. “Golden Slumbers” appears toward the end of Abbey Road, serving as the third to last track if you don’t count the hidden track, “Her Majesty,” and the fourth to last track if you do. McCartney begins the lullaby sweetly, á la “Blackbird” or “Yesterday,” before taking on a more impassioned pitch for the lines, Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise. The way Ringo Starr leads McCartney in with his drum fill is just *chef’s kiss.* It’s easily the most relaxing screamed lullaby we’ve ever heard.
Photo by Daily Mirror/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images