The Beatles - When I'm Sixty Four (original speed)

[dawkeye1]

It seems at the time many artists were writing songs about their past and childhood. I doff my hat to Paul to stay ahead of the game and write a song about his future. Clever so and so!

[dutchgoing]

Macca wrote this when he WAS 16 years old.

[MrTokyojoe150]

this song is the way they recorded the song a t first than george sped it up so paul can sound like hes 16 yearsold

[kainthevampireduck]

isn't it a bit TOO slow?.

anyway, about the comment that disagrees with the corrected speed term, I guess I agree with the 60s stuff they sped up on purpose, but, I'm curious about your opinion on the nasty speeding up they did with "real love". In fact, I hate how the producers or whoever did it, ruined the song :/ they sped it up TOO MUCH, waaaaaay out of "it still sounds like john" territory into "it sounds like chipmunks" zone.

[laineycrusoe]

@kainthevampireduck Well I suppose with 'Real Love', it sounds cheerful and optimistic in its final mix, but I do think when it's played in its original speed it sounds a lot more heartfelt and moving.

In case you're wondering, the producer of 'Real Love' was Jeff Lynne of ELO and Travelling Wilburys fame (of which George Harrison was also a member). He also produced 'Free as a Bird' as well as some of the solo Beatles material (e.g. George Harrison's 'Cloud 9' and 'Brainwashed').

[kainthevampireduck]

@laineycrusoe both FAAB and RL sound just like cloud 9, or, if I didn't know and you played "when we was fab" saying to me "this is another song by The Beatles for their anthology sessions", I'd believe it :)

[charlyW34]

Hi folks. Regarding the above comment by "seclusive", it should be noted that the only version of the album that involved "hands on" mixing by all four Beatles themselves was the original MONO mix. This was considered by them to be the "official mix". The stereo mix was done by EMI engineers without the Beatles input! (though one can assume they had final approval). The MONO mix has this cut and at least 2 others at this slower, more natural speed/pitch! Cheers

[HomoSovietikus]

ANY SPEED IS/ARE GREAT !

JUST BE IT A THE BEATLES !...

[MrTokyojoe150]

they sped pauls voice to make him sound like hes 16 again cause he wrote this song when he was 16 and the producer wanted him to sound 16 again so here u go a lil tip

[19stanley46]

I don't know about this... I personally think the Beatles sound a lot better at the RELEASED speed... which is why I prefer the mono versions of both She's Leaving Home and Don't Pass Me by as they are both quicker than in stereo. Just my opinion...

[saguaroboy]

The pace of the original was just more, you know, 'acidy'. It matched the heart rate and goosed mood of the tripping...

[ShaggyOtis]

silly people they didnt change the speed of the song. just the pitch so paul would sound younger.

also its odd that the clarinets can play this low unless they had the low Eb key.

[Junk3t]

@ShaggyOtis Absolutely correct. Both Paul and George Martin discuss this very fact in Anthology. It was Paul who approached GM about wanting to sound more "youthful".

[Beatleboy62]

Silly Macca, we'll love your voice, no matter how old you are :)

[Rockstaralan]

Holy Bejeezus! I never would've known 'til now that this tune was sped up a half-tone from its original pitch! It's since become fact that "She's Leaving Home", on the mono version of "Pepper" was indeed sped up a half-tone, but left at normal pitch for the stereo version. Anyway, this is TON of fun to listen to!

[seclusive]

I kinda don't approve of the term "correct speed". It implies that the official version is somehow incorrect, and has now been fixed, which is misleading. The correct speed is the one the Beatles chose to release, for their own aesthetic reasons. A better term might be "natural speed." It's interesting as a novelty, to listen to once, but doesn't improve or amplify my experience of the released version. It's fun to hear, though.

[laineycrusoe]

@seclusive Hmm I see what you mean about the title. I'll change it round to something like 'natural' or 'original'.

[Stevesk0011]

@laineycrusoe i think the correct term would be...Original Recording Speed or something like that

[BEARARMZ]

@laineycrusoe the original is in c#m .the slowed down version has to be in C, one step lower only.

[john10940]

@seclusive the version on the album was sped up to produce paul's voice at 16...at which he wrote the song and sang during the cavern days...Paul just wanted his voice to speed up so he can sound 16 again...this is the version they recorded but the sped up version is the one we all know and love.

[seclusive]

@john10940 I know that. You just have to listen to the released version for 30 seconds to realize it's been sped up, as were many Beatles tracks. In fact, laineycrusoe says as much in the description. The discussion was about whether or not laineycrusoe's original description of it as "correct speed" was really the appropriate term. It was changed to "original speed" which I think is much better.

[HarveyBacktheBeatles]

@seclusive Paul wanted it sped up to sound younger. Besides it works for the song. It is about age anyway.

[gwilson909]

I think it's been slowed down too much.

[richardkreb]

never knew about this, very interesting, just shows how much we dont really know about their geniousness. awesome song at any speed

[onemorefreebird]

I hope to make it to 64,I really like this song!

[natygirl468]

it says in the anthology that they spen up his voice because he wrote this when he was 16 so they sped it up alittle to sound like a 16 year olds

[kenfig]

@natygirl468 But in spite of the vocal intention the quicker speed makes it sound more jolly dont you think ?

[natygirl468]

@kenfig yeah i guess

[ALaudun]

Perfect ! You know, if you knew absolutely nothing about this song you could easily mistake it for a song out of the 1920s.

[nightcrawler511]

@ALaudun nothing sounded like this in the 20's but thts why the beatle sare the best ahead of there time