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But her experience on the European tour—the savage reviews she received for singing out of tune, and especially, the memory of the wag in Châteauvallon who, when Paul complained of a nonworking microphone, called out “give it to your missus”—inspired Paul to use the Mellotron as a fail-safe. “What he did was, he had a Mellotron with them with all their vocal harmony parts on it,” explained Brinsley Schwarz guitarist Ian Gomm. “So, you press a key and they go, ‘Ahh.’ On a bad night, he’d look at her and say, ‘Mellotron,’ and she’d mime to the recorded part. The other boys would be happy then, because she was in tune.
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