The White Album 50 Project: "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"

At first hearing, the Beatles' White Album song "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is a carefree pop song about a boy who meets a pretty girl, proposes to the pretty girl, and marries her, and they live happily ever after with their children.  But there's a lot of stuff going on here that wouldn't be happening if this weren't a Beatles track. 

"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (illustrated above by artist Victor Moscoso) was Paul McCartney's effort to incorporate reggae in the Beatles' sound, and while it's the first time the Beatles first explored this uniquely Jamaican pop form, it wasn't their first foray in Jamaican music per se; John Lennon incorporated a middle eight in 1964's "I Call Your Name" that drew heavily from ska.  The characters in "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" are Jamaican, with Desmond tending a pushcart in a London market and Molly as a beautiful calypso singer who steals Desmond's heart.  But unlike John's purer, harder approach to Jamaican music, Paul fused a reggae beat to a breezy, upbeat style typical of the English music-hall sound.  When American actor/singer Joel Grey - who actually covered "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" on an album of rock and folk-rock covers - described this song as "a kind of crazy, West Indian vaudeville turn," he turned out to be pretty accurate.

The Beatles recorded two different arrangements of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," the first one a more conservative version in an A major key.  John grew to hate the song, finding the love story too cutesy-pie and the music the sort of sound that "grannies" would love.  Ironically, he helped Paul improve the song; a few days after the A major version had been completed, a stoned John walked in to the studio, banged out the song's piano introduction in a B major key as hard as he could, and declared that this was the way it should be played.  That version was the one that made it on the White Album.  In their book "The Worst Rock and Roll Records Of All Time," Jimmy Guterman and Owen O'Donnell dismissed "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" as "a substandard Beatles tune redeemed only by its energy."  One can argue whether or not the song is substandard, but there's little doubt that the less energetic, more mannered A major version, issued on Anthology 3 in 1996, is, despite having its charms, clearly the inferior take.  The version that made it on the White Album is a fun recording that will find even the song's critics singing along.  (And John probably liked the song more than he was willing to admit, as his laughter and ad-libs on both versions suggest.)

But anyone who thought "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is just another one of Paul's silly love songs obviously never noticed the cheekiness of Paul's approach to it.  Paul sings about Desmond and Molly with a campy vocal style that suggests a demented compère in a sleazy London nightclub - no wonder Joel Grey, who famously played the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret, loves this song - and Paul nods and winks through each verse.  And then there's that twist at the end.  At first we hear that Desmond runs the pushcart with the kids and Molly still sings with her band, but as the song reaches its conclusion and the final verse is repeated, Molly runs the pushcart with the kids and Desmond makes himself up as a woman and takes Molly's place in the band.  A reference to transvestism - two years before the Kinks' "Lola" (and Ray Davies is no slouch himself in the realm of cheek and camp).  Paul claimed it was a mistake that he kept in because John, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all liked it.  I don't think so.  He doesn't slip over the names when he sings them in the wrong order.  He doesn't stumble awkwardly through this final verse.  He sounds like he knows what he's doing.  No, the rejected A-major version doesn't have the same lyrical twist, but I've always suspected that Paul planned from the start to reverse the roles on what he figured would be his definitive vocal take.  (The hostility toward Paul from John and George over this song must have led Paul to take out his frustration with getting his vocal right on George Martin; when the Beatles' producer suggested to Paul that he sing "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" with a lilt in his voice, Paul replied, "Well, you come down and f**kin' sing it!")

And the title?  Paul got that from a friend of his named Jimmy Scott (below), a Nigerian conga player based in London who contributed percussion to the first recording of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."

Scott would use "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" as a common catchphrase, which is said to mean "life goes on" - the key lyric of the song - in the language of his African ethnic group, the Yoruba.  Scott sued Paul, claiming to have invented the phrase himself, and he wanted a cut from "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" because of it.  Paul thought that this was ridiculous, but he did agree to help Scott with his legal fees in an unrelated case, at which point Scott dropped the suit.

Life goes on.

And if you want some fun . . .

Joel Grey aside, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" was covered by the Scottish pop group Marmalade (below). Their festive version topped the British pop charts in 1969.  (This cover retains the transvestism reference.)  Marmalade are best known in the United States for their much less festive song "Reflections Of My Life."