The Beatles – Oh! Darling

Given that Pink Floyd have recently done a backflip on their historic lawsuit against their record label in order to stop the single downloads of songs, it seems like the death of the album really is upon us. That’s a shame not only for current musicians and bands, who must be feeling extra pressure to cram all their ideas into one song (heard how many guest verses their are on Kanye’s ‘Monster’?), but also for the heroes of days gone by, whose incredible handiwork will now suffer as a result of being split up into single tracks. It’s not like we can whine, we do present a song, rather than an album, a day. But I’ve always been a firm believer in the true spirit of great records as the ones you need to play from start to finish. Today’s selection comes from one of those such albums, The Beatles’ second last hurrah, Abbey Road. Given that the majority of my day was spent putting stickers on British-themed shirts in a dimly lit showroom, having this album blaring from some decidedly vintage looking speakers was definitely a highlight. Though not as well known as opener ‘Come Together’, ‘Oh! Darling’ has always been a quiet favourite of mine. It was also one of the most successfully covered in the Beatles-themed film ‘Across The Universe’, which both brother Z and I highly recommend you watch multiple times. But anyway…

This song is special because Paul McCartney absolutely loses it- on purpose. Rumour has it he didn’t like his voice sounding so clean, so he limited recording this track to once a day, in an effort to sound as haggard and road-weary as possible. Personally, I think he got in a few fights with John (they weren’t exactly seeing eye to eye at this point), drank some hard liqour and went out on the town every lunchtime. Hearing him scream ‘When you told me/You didn’t need me anymore’ is up there with my favourite Beatles recorded moments of all time, including the string arrangements of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and the horns of ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’, another track when you can hear McCartney deliberately hitting high notes and almost missing them. Nonetheless, ‘Oh! Darling’ is as pretty as it is raw, a real bluesy ballad in 6/8 time with the true essence of rock’n'roll shining through in the guitar part. Just listen to that bass line move, strain your ears for the Harrison/Lennon backing vocals and let superior songwriting wash all over you. The fact that this track is sandwiched between two equally strange songs, the murder-pop of ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ and the Ringo-penned psychedelia of ‘Octopus’s Garden’ not only serves the purpose of helping it stick out more but also provides a proper album listening experience, where anything could (and does) happen next.

Lennon, as always, had the last word. “‘Oh! Darling’,” he told Playboy, “was a great one of Paul’s that he didn’t sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better—it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he’s going to sing it.” Charming, but I really can’t imagine hearing this song with Lennon on lead. It really strikes me as a typically Paul-esque song, not too think-y, straight from the heart. Do people call each other darling anymore? Are albums even made as albums anymore? These and many other questions are what I ponder as I peel, stick and fold. Thank God for the Beatles. Even when they were fighting, they were more comforting than Jesus.

The Beatles – Oh! Darling