Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
| "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" | ||||||||||
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1968 French single cover
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| Single by The Beatles | ||||||||||
| from the album The Beatles | ||||||||||
| B-side | "I Will" (Philippines) "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (elsewhere) |
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| Released | 22 November 1968 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 3 July 1968, EMI Studios, London |
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| Genre | Pop,ska | |||||||||
| Length | 3:07 | |||||||||
| Label | Apple | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |||||||||
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| "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" | ||||
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| Single by The Beatles | ||||
| B-side | "Julia" | |||
| Released | 8 November 1976 (US) | |||
| Format | Vinyl record 7" | |||
| Label | Capitol 4347 | |||
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney | |||
| The Beatles US chronology | ||||
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| "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" | |
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| Single by The Marmalade | |
| B-side | "Chains" |
| Released | 1968 |
| Format | 7" vinyl record |
| Genre | Pop |
| Label | CBS |
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney |
| Producer(s) | Mike Smith |
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is a song by the Beatles from their 1968 album The Beatles (often called "the White Album"). Although credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was written solely by Paul McCartney. It was released as a single that same year in many countries, but not in their native United Kingdom, nor in the United States until 1976.
Paul McCartney wrote the song around the time that highlife and reggae were beginning to become popular in Britain. The starting lyric, "Desmond has a barrow in the market-place", was a reference to the first internationally renowned Jamaican ska and reggae performer Desmond Dekker who had just had a successful tour of the UK. The tag line "ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah" was an expression used by Nigerian conga player Jimmy Scott-Emuakpor, an acquaintance of McCartney.
The song is in the key of B-flat major and written in 4/4. The alternative version issued on Anthology 3 is in the key of A major.
In May 1968, following their return from studying Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh, India, the Beatles gathered at George Harrison's Esher home, in Surrey, to record demos for their upcoming project. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" was one of the twenty-seven demos recorded there. McCartney performed this demo solo, with only an acoustic guitar. He also double-tracked his vocal, which was not perfectly synchronised, creating an echoing effect.
The formal recording of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" involved several days of work, during which the Beatles experimented with different tempos and styles. At McCartney's insistence, the band remade the song twice in an effort to capture the version he was aiming for. According to studio engineer Geoff Emerick, John Lennon "openly and vocally detested" the song, calling it Paul's "granny music shit". Having left the studio during one of the sessions, Lennon then returned while under the influence of marijuana, went immediately to the piano and played the opening chords louder and faster than before. He claimed that was how the song should be played, and that is the version the Beatles ended up using.
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