Doug Mauldin wrote:

> Perhaps the answer to my question is that there was
> a half-step shift in each the organ and the recording.

It's a fairly academic question, I'll admit, but enquiring minds have
to ask!  Robbie commented:

>[ Some American made instruments are also transposing. ...
>[ Few listeners are aware of the difference.

I have believed, on the basis of my guess, that the offset of a half
tone was to keep the wear and tear on the mechanism more balanced.

It doesn't bother my wife's singing, as you say, but it makes it lots
harder for me to play along with a fretted instrument, as the fingering
and chording seems different.

Will Herzog