In “Tell Me Why”, A Hard Day’s Night album and film, 1964, John stands tall again with his vocals at the top of his register, sometimes on the verge of cracking. Even though the sting of bitterness is evident in his vocals, his performance vocally and on rhythm guitar (1962 Gibson J160E) has the overall effect of an effervescent and fun-loving toe-tapper. Paul brings everything he has to the song as he’s used to doing, supplying spot-on harmony vocals and smooth, appropriate walking bass lines (1963 Hofner 500/1) in the refrains that give the impression that there are more chord changes than there actually are. George’s lead and rhythm guitar work (1963 Gretsch Country Gentleman) is also stellar in that it punctuates the intricate chords of the song while he simultaneously provides a lower harmony vocal part, to create the rich Beatles three-part block harmonies that fans love to hear.Ringo also rises to the occasion with his triplet-based, tumbling drum fills throughout the song as well as a swing beat that has a booming resonance. For being a song with such a short life-span in their career, all four musicians give the performance of a lifetime.Another great work of George Martin on piano with his 1905 Steinway Vertegrand.
