Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

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Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
The Beatles
publication November 22, 1968
length 3 min 10 s
Genre (s) Pop , ska
Author (s) Lennon / McCartney
album The Beatles

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (meaning: 'It comes as it comes') is a song by the British rock band The Beatles . It was recorded in July 1968 and released on November 22 of the same year on the so-called White Album . The author is Paul McCartney ; but like all his Beatles compositions and those of John Lennon , he was attributed to the duo Lennon / McCartney under copyright law .

Lyrically and musically, the piece processed influences from Jamaican music, which was becoming increasingly popular in England at the time . The song tells the story of a couple, Desmond and Molly, who fall in love and get married. The name Desmond refers to Desmond Dekker , who landed the first worldwide reggae hit in 1969 as the rising Jamaican singer with The Israelites . The syncopated piano rhythm with its strong emphasis on beats two and four gives the piece a Caribbean flair, but given the rhythmically simple bass line, the song sounds more like ska than reggae. The piano was an idea by Lennon, in an earlier version a part with acoustic guitars (played by McCartney on his Martin guitar) was in the foreground.

Towards the end of the song you can hear the lyrics “Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face”. Originally this was a McCartney mistake, actually Molly should have been mentioned here (as in the earlier similar line of text). The other Beatles liked the job, however, and that's how it stayed.

Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da is a Nigerian saying from the Yoruba language and means something like “It comes as it comes”, in the chorus itself it is translated as “Life goes on”. McCartney had heard it from conga player Jimmy Scott. Scott later wanted royalties on the song and even filed a lawsuit over it, but he lost it. Still, McCartney helped Scott out of a financial fix. The two remained friends until Scott's death in 1985. Scott died of pneumonia, which became acute when he had to sleep naked in a British investigative cell on suspicion of drugs, coming from the USA .

In 1969 the track was the number one hit in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It was not released as a single in England, where the Scottish group The Marmalade also reached number 1 with a very faithful cover version . In the USA , the piece was only released as a single in 1976. Other cover versions come from the reggae band Inner Circle and from Desmond Dekker himself. Howard Carpendale was successful with a German version of the title .

An alternative version of the piece with the acoustic guitar part mentioned above appeared on the third part of the anthology in 1996 .

occupation

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Beatles Bible: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
  2. ↑ a b c d Oldies About: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
  3. ↑ Steve Turner: A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song , pp. 153 f.
  4. ↑ Hitparade.ch
  5. ↑ www.officialcharts.com: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da , Marmalade. Retrieved August 5, 2016.