Deconstruct The Beatles song ‘Twist and Shout’ through isolated audio
It’s February 11th, 1963, and The Beatles are exhausted. They’ve spent all day recording practically every song in their current live act for what will be their debut album, Please Please Me. It’s been over 12 hours with few breaks, and now it’s time to wrap up the day. John Lennon has been suffering from a cold and has just enough of a voice to let loose on one last high-energy rocker: a version of The Top Notes’ ‘Twist and Shout’.
Despite having been at it for the better part of an entire day, The Beatles rally together all of their energy for one last lively performance. The band leaves it all on the floor, unleashing a torrent of screams and enthusiastic hits to give the album a rousing closer. Each man steps up to contribute some of his best work that would appear on the album.
First up is Ringo Starr, who brings an impressive swing to the rollicking rock and roll number. Starr’s beat is relatively simple, hanging tight to the ride cymbal, bass drum, and snare with little variation. Each time he wants to blast into another section, a quick snare fill of tom roll unfurls. Then, in the vocal breakdown, Starr continues to build with his bandmates until the explosive final verses can be felt and not just heard.
McCartney’s bassline is a severely underrated aspect of the track. Featuring melodic movement that gives the song its signature drive, McCartney makes it clear that his roots are in guitar. Still, his bass is anchoring the entire piece, with subtle changes throughout his runs to add just the right amount of variety to the song. Although his early bass playing can occasionally fall into rudimentary ruts, there is none of that going on in ‘Twist and Shout’.
Next up are the guitars from Lennon and Geroge Harrison. For the majority of ‘Twist and Shout’, Lennon and Harrison both play rhythm, with Harrison’s ascending riffs sticking out as the more prominent of the two. Before the first vocal breakdown, Harrison adds a country-influenced run that adds just a bit of colour to the action. As the pair thrash away at the climactic A chord, technique suddenly gives way to pure excitement.
Finally, it’s time for the vocals. Lennon is nearly tearing his throat apart in one of the most iconic rock vocal performances of all time. All the while, McCartney and Harrison add pitch-perfect harmonies behind him. All of the vocals were sung while the band was recording the backing track (and in one take, no less!), so there was no room for error. All three vocalists find their perfect tones, fitting into each other perfectly in the ascending vocal breakdown that eventually fully cracks up into euphoric screams.
Even though McCartney and Harrison give some stunning vocal performances, ‘Twist and Shout’ truly is the John Lennon show. At different points in the track, Lennon audibly coughs and groans once the track ends, clearly having screamed the very last bit of voice into oblivion. Lennon claimed that it took weeks for his voice to recover from the performance, but it was absolutely worth it once you hear how primal and astounding his lead vocals are.
Check out the isolate tracks for ‘Twist and Shout’ down below.
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