Secondly, the guy’s name is not of Yoruba origin even though he might have grew up amongst the Yorubas. Obladi, oblada, has nothing to do with the Yoruba culture or language. He reportedly came into the studio under the influence of drugs, sat down at the piano and banged out the introduction on the keys. The line up was McCartney on fuzz bass, Lennon on piano, Harrison on acoustic guitar and Starr on drums, with the session taking place after the band attended a press screening of Yellow Submarine.īy this point Lennon had grown tired of recording the song. A dozen takes were recorded, with the group playing live. On 8 July, however, The Beatles scrapped the recordings to date and began a remake. This version of ‘Ob-La-Di’ can be heard on Anthology 3. A piccolo flute was also recorded, although this was wiped during the session and replaced by another guitar part by McCartney – deliberately recorded at a high level so it distorted and sounded like a bass. Three saxophones were taped, along with bongos played by Jimmy Scott. McCartney then recorded an additional lead vocal part. The next day he added lead vocals onto take four, together with backing vocals from John Lennon and George Harrison.
McCartney overdubbed vocals and more guitar onto take seven, before deciding take four was better and adding guitar to that too. On the first day the rhythm track was recorded, with Paul McCartney on acoustic guitar and Ringo Starr on drums. Recording began on Wednesday 3 July 1968, although the song was subsequently remade twice. The Beatles spent around 42 hours completing ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’. Harrison can also be heard saying the word “Foot” in the final verse, after McCartney sings “Molly lets the children lend a hand”.
The backing vocals were also full of fun asides: listen out for Lennon and George Harrison singing “Arm!” and “Leg!” after the line “Desmond lets the children lend a hand”. The line “Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face” was sung accidentally by McCartney and left in. If the recording process was fractious, The Beatles’ version sounds unusually high-spirited. Instead the Scottish group Marmalade took it to the top of the UK chart at Christmas 1968. McCartney’s hope was for the song to become a Beatles single, although this was vetoed by the others. McCartney’s insistence in re-recording the song a number of times with different arrangements didn’t help matters, and the process contributed to the fraught atmosphere that dominated many of the White Album sessions balance engineer Geoff Emerick quit the sessions the day after ‘Ob-La-Di’ was completed. John Lennon All We Are Saying, David Sheff