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[2 of 3]

I've been looking around on Youtube watching artists from days of yore. It's been interesting to see who has dropped the classic songs keys to fit their older voices. So far the only artists that have(rarely) dropped it are McCartney and Peter Gabriel. I thought for sure Gabriel had with all the latest material with an orchestra and all that jazz..but nope..same key. Sting does it a bit to the older Police songs..I mean..can't really blame him for Roxanne...wouldn't want him to hurt himself.  Fleetwood Mac has(as discussed  here before) Springsteen seems to be in the original key still. I've checked a few Elton John songs and they seem to be in the same key too. Have you noticed anyone else sticking to the original keys?

[Mervap]

Ringo has....and his keys weren't that high to start with. 

[kylenz]

Billy Joel believe it or not.. still the same keys.. check out his recent 2014 concerts on YouTube.. 

[kylenz]

And Bruce Springsteen did a cover of Van Halen's 'Jump' the other day, in a HIGHER key than the original! Yeah! That blew me away. The thing sounded a bit off-the-cuff and probably needed more rehearsal, but it was pretty good.

[2 of 3]

I just noticed that U2 has dropped the key too.

[kylenz]

Ringo has....and his keys weren't that high to start with. 

Yeah, Photograph never was that high anyway, yet he dropped it at the Grammys!

[2 of 3]

I think I remember reading, quite a few years ago now, that Jimmy Page used to speed up Robert Plant's vocals in the studio....so I guess he didn't really sing the original songs in the key they were released. Not sure that is true....but I recall the story. I would guess that not every song was like that though.

[Mervap]

It wouldn't be too hard to believe that is true....

[2 of 3]

Did the Beatles ever do that? I mean...I know they slowed down Johns voice for Strawberry Fields..but were any of the vocals ever amped up?

[Mervap]

The one that I remember for sure is "When I'm 64". "She Loves You" always kinda sounded like they did that.

[kylenz]

Did the Beatles ever do that? I mean...I know they slowed down Johns voice for Strawberry Fields..but were any of the vocals ever amped up?

The one that always comes to mind for me is the 'Oompah, oompah, stick it in your jumper' and  'everybody's got one, everybody's got one' in I Am The Walrus! But I can't think of any examples where they didn't alter the pitch for any reason other than for effect. Although on Side 2 of Abbey Road there are some (beautifully) high backing vocals on tracks like Because, Sun King, The End etc, I wonder if a little bit of 'cheating' was used to help them get up that high? They sound sublime though. 

[2 of 3]

Those are really good examples Kyle.  I'd like to keep on believing there was no trickery involved though...you know...just because.   

[Mervap]

REO Speedwagon does on some tunes, but it didn't seem to hurt the energy all that much....