Over the last few years of reading rec.music.beatles, I have witnessed countless threads on whether John or Ringo said "I've got blisters on my fingers,"  endured seemingly endless debate over backwards messages,  and been simultaneously impressed and bored by in-depth musical analysis.   Trivia is taken to new levels as the denizens of rmb hash over the type of guitar used on which version of which take of which recording session of which song of the Beatles and their solo careers.   But little ol' me, totally lacking in musical training, has heard something which -  amazingly - has escaped the endless analysis/commentary of the rmb folks.  A little sound that is heard in the middle of "Hi Hi Hi".

Click on the CD player to download a .wav file or on the Winamp player to download an MP3 file, and listen carefully.  

(Taken from "Wings Greatest")

.wav                                      .MP3

What do you hear right after " . . . get you ready for my bodygun/polygon"?

Momentarily setting aside the debate over whether he says "polygon" or "body gun,"  there is a definite whirring, churning kind of a sound.  What is it?  Let's see . . . a malfunction of the recording equipment? . . . a little chain saw? . . . some new musical instrument? . . .  his stomach growling?    Well, at the risk of sealing my reputation as a being a fan only interested in the Beatles sex lives, I would like to present my theory:  I believe that it is the sound of a vibrator.  (And I ain't talking foot massager here folks!)  

Now then, why do I think it is a vibrator?   Well, skipping lightly over the fact that I do have a passing knowledge of what they sound like, let's just consider the whole song.

Although this song was banned from play on the BBC because of it's drug references, the focus of the song seems to me to be more on sex than pot.  But, in the refrain, Paul does say very clearly they are going to get "high, high, high."   I know that the title is "Hi Hi Hi" but I firmly believe the spelling was altered after the fact , presumably to reduce the obviousness of the drug reference.  (If it really was a drug reference.  An argument could be made that he was referring to getting high on making love rather than drugs.  I don't buy it, but one could argue that!)  Saying "We're gonna get hello, hello, hello" makes no sense at all.   I do find that some of Paul's songs tend not to make a whole lot of sense to me, but it is because whole sections seem to go off in different directions, not because he inserts single words that make no sense.  In fact, "Hi Hi HI" is one of my favorite Macca songs because the whole song DOES hang together.  It is all about getting  high and having sex (or high on sex), no little side trips off to another topic.   He picks his lady up at the train station and takes her home and makes love to her.  "I'm gonna do it to you" is a pretty clear statement, and the break right after that is a musical rendition of the sighs of lovers as things heat up.  The song ends with what can only be described as a climax set to music.  

Right before the odd little sound effect is heard, he tells her, "I want you to lie on the bed, get you ready for my polygon."   The printed lyrics say "polygon" but I have always heard "body gun".   Body gun makes perfect sense in the context of the song, polygon does not.   And how many of us heard "polygon" when we first heard the song?  I really doubt anyone would have thought to claim the word to be "polygon" if the lyrics had not told them that is what it supposedly is!   But Paul has denied in several interviews that it was ever "body gun" and says that when asked about it, he thought body gun was a better word and wished he had thought of it!  Going back to the .wav file, I isolated just the word "poly" and then the "l" sound.  I did the same with the word "ready" and the "d" sound there.  With that I can fairly well distinguish between the obvious "d" in "ready" and the "l" and have to concede that he is not saying "body gun".  

That annoying little fact takes half the fun out of this whole bit of nonsense.  "Body gun" and the sound of a vibrator are such a perfect combination!  But, even though we are stuck with Paul singing "polygon" ("I'll bet he was THINKING 'body gun,' she pouted.) we are still listening to a very odd sound immediately thereafter.  

Back to that odd little sound.   The whirring and buzzing sounds to me exactly that of another type of "body gun," a vibrator.   ( If you have no knowledge of how a vibrator sounds, you'll have to experiment a little on your own.  Let me provide just one hint for anyone conducting such an experiment:  The sound we hear is not that of a vibrator simply being turned on . . .)    Is there some musical instrument or something commonly found in a recording studio that even sounds like that?   Actually, I wouldn't be all that surprised if the sound was created using something other than a vibrator, but would still maintain it was used specifically to create the sound of a vibrator!    

Some people prefer my suggestion that it is the sound of an electric drill (a small, rechargeable, battery operated one from the sound of it) being used to drive in a screw.   Sort of an auditory  pun on "screwing."   I readily concede that this is a tad more likely for a guy to think up even though I don't see Paul as the "Tim Taylor the Tool Man" kind of a guy, chain saw toting fellow though he may be.   But I also happen to know that some men consider vibrators to be a nifty bedroom tool for a little variety in pleasing their lady.  (Now there's an idea for an episode of Home Improvement!!)  Anyway, I like the vibrator idea, but have to admit that I think a drill is just as likely an explanation.  Either way, that little sound adds a bit of a laugh to "Hi Hi Hi."      

 As usual, I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this!  

Update!

One reader of this page, Steve  Hanam, responded with this information: "The sound you hear is a vibration without a doubt. The vibration however comes from the pick of the lead guitar player "running" (really scaping) his thin plastic device against the heavy wounded E string."

That was the most logical explanation of how the sound was produced that I had heard.  Not having any musical skills myself, I was very interested in the opinions of someone who knows what a  "wounded E string" is, so I asked Steve for his opinion on why the sound was added.   Was there any intent to mimic the sound of a vibrator at that particular point in the song or was it just coincidence? It was a sound I had never noted in other songs and I also asked if he knew of other musicians who have intentionally used it.

Steve replied: "Yes, other musicians use it rather frequently; in the Beatles era it would be people like Hendrix, whom Paul believes to be the best guitar player he ever heard, Jimmy Page, and to a lessor extent (and later) Eric Clapton. It may however, from the short duration of the sound, have been a noise that was unintentional and simply not "mixed" out. As to intentions- well, I would not limit anyone to any single intention for any event, so I'd have to say since I do not know him, who the hell knows. One can only speculate. As a writer of fiction, you know that speculation is the name of the game. If you listen well to the recording, the sound appears to be out of beat with the time (4/4) so that may point to the mistake we are talking about. On the other hand, Paul and John were masters of off time takes, switching time signatures for one or two measures and then back to the regular beat. It is what made the band and each of the composers so extraordinary."

I think Steve's explanation of how that vibrating sound was made is probably right on -- I never could quite envision Paul bringing a vibrator into a recording session!  As Steve points out, why it was done, or at least why it wasn't edited out, gives the naughty-minded among us ample space to speculate!

since 01/02/03