Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 20, 26 April; 17, 18, 22 July; 11 August 1969
Producers: George Martin, Chris Thomas
Engineers: Jeff Jarratt, Phil McDonald
Released: 26 September 1969 (UK), 1 October 1969 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, backing vocals, guitar, bass
John Lennon: backing vocals, piano
George Harrison: backing vocals, guitar
Ringo Starr: drums
Available on:
Abbey Road
Anthology 3
This retro-style rocker, written by Paul McCartney, was originally attempted by The Beatles during the Get Back sessions, but was eventually released as an album track on Abbey Road.
Having been some years since he deployed the larynx-shredding rock 'n' roll stylings of I'm Down and Long Tall Sally (1968's Helter Skelter is a notable exception), McCartney broke his voice back in carefully.
Living in Cavendish Avenue, just two streets away from Abbey Road, Paul McCartney got in the habit of arriving before the other Beatles to record his vocals for the song.
Paul came in several days running to do the lead vocal on Oh! Darling. He'd come in, sing it and say, 'No, that's not it, I'll try it again tomorrow.' He only tried it once per day, I suppose he wanted to capture a certain rawness which could only be done once before the voice changed. I remember him saying, 'Five years ago I could have done this in a flash,' referring, I suppose, to the days of Long Tall Sally and Kansas City.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
In 1969 McCartney thought his voice was too clear to do the song justice, and claimed he "wanted it to sound as though I'd been performing it on stage all week".
I mainly remember wanting to get the vocal right, wanting to get it good, and I ended up trying each morning as I came into the recording session. I tried it with a hand mike, and I tried it with a standing mike, I tried it every which way, and finally got the vocal I was reasonably happy with. It's a bit of a belter, and if it comes off a little bit lukewarm, then you've missed the whole point. It was unusual for me, I would normally try all the goes at a vocal in one day.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
John Lennon rated the song highly, though he was characteristically guarded in his praise.
Oh! Darling 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.
Playboy, 1980
In the studio
The Beatles first rehearsed Oh! Darling on 27 January 1969, during a Get Back session at the Apple Studio in London's Savile Row. With Billy Preston on keyboards, the somewhat ragged recording turns into an improvised jam, ending with John Lennon's announcement that "I've just heard that Yoko's divorce [from Tony Cox] has just gone through. Free at last!"
As preserved on Anthology 3, Lennon then sang, to the tune of Oh! Darling:
I'm free
This morning
Baby told the lawyer it's OK
Believe me when I tell you
I'll never do you no harm
The Beatles began recording the song properly at Abbey Road on 20 April. They recorded 26 takes of the rhythm track, with McCartney on bass and guide vocals, Lennon on piano, Starr on drums and Harrison on guitar. They also overdubbed a Hammond organ part, which was later wiped.
On 26 April McCartney made his first attempt at a lead vocal, though this was unused. He returned to it on 17 July, beginning a series of single-take attempts in the early afternoon. The final version was recorded on 23 July.
The three-part doo-wop vocal harmonies were taped on 11 August, with which Oh! Darling was complete.
Related articles:
- Recording: Oh! Darling, Octopus's Garden
- Recording, mixing: I Want You (She's So Heavy), Oh! Darling
- Recording: Oh! Darling, Octopus's Garden
- Recording: Oh! Darling, Come Together, The End
- Mixing: Oh! Darling
This was McCartney's greatest rocker, and one of the Beatles greatest too.
IMO, Macca made the right call by coaxing the best performance he possibly could out of himself. This is arguably his best ever rock vocal performance - at least on a song that he, himself, had written.
Lennon's conditional praise was mere jealousy. He knew Paul had finally nailed it...
Completely agree. One or two others are nearly up there (I'm Down, Maybe I'm Amazed) but this is by far the best raw rock vocal on his own compoisition. Yes, John might have done it justice, but that remark that he thought he "should" have sung it did ring of jealousy. Still, one verse as a duet would have been pretty impressive (although IMO Paul generally harmonised with a John lead vocal a little better than John harmonised with a Paul lead vocal: John was better singing in counterpoint to a Paul lead). Anyway, Oh Darling is one of my ten favourites.
Completely agree. One or two others are nearly up there (I'm Down, Maybe I'm Amazed) but this is by far the best raw rock vocal on his own compoisition.
What about
Monkberry Moon Delight ? Woman, oh why ?
In my opinion, his voice conveys emotional anguish better here than in the other material: highly musical yet utterly raw. We're all allowed to have a favourite – this happens to be mine.
IMO John would have done it better. John was far superior as a rocker than Sir Mac.
IMO your words sounded prejudiced and sarcastic
though I'm curious enough to wish to hear John's verson too
I would have loved to hear John sing this. Not that it isn't great with Paul's performance, but... imagine the fire of 'Yer Blues' applied to this song. Yikes!
Are we sure this is John on piano? I have always heard it as paul?
It would have been so awesome if John would have sang this. I mean I love paul but his voice is always kind of an imitation of little richard, elvis etc. John's voice is always john, always authentic and soulful.
@Julio:
According to Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew's masterful 2006 book "Recording the Beatles," work on this song got underway April 20, 1969, and though "... it has been previously suggested that John played piano and Paul played bass, a closer look may point toward a reversal of those roles. Not only did Paul play piano during performances of the song at Apple (Apple Studios were the Beatles' own recording facilities; however, the actual, final version of the song was recorded at EMI London, now known as "Abbey Road") while John played bass, but computer isolation of the Abbey Road version reveals leakage of the guide vocal by Paul (inaudible in the final mix) on the piano track."
And, it wouldn't surprise me at all if McCartney came in early or stayed late to overdub a different bass track after the fact, as he had a tendency to do in those later days.
And for what it's worth, I don't think Lennon could have even come close to the vocal performance McCartney turned in for this song. Just my two cents.
Trivia: Photographer Iain Macmillan captured the group walking across the crosswalk outside on Abbey Road on August 8 for one of the more iconic album covers in the history of popular music. McCartney was back inside working on more tracks for "Oh! Darling" by himself three hours later. On August 11 (almost four months after starting work on the song), final backing vocals were tracked, and this performance would mark John Lennon's last-ever living contribution to a Beatles recording.
Interesting.
What did the book said about the guitars?, because Lewisohn said Paul overdub a lead guitar part, but Everett said it was wiped. And what about vocals on "Come together"?
I don't hear any synthesizers at all. You should correct this. By the way, great site. Keep working!
I guess this is another reason why I never really liked Lennon the person - his comment reeks of pompous jealosy! As a group they were great...all 4 were essential to the mix but credit where it's due, Lennon could never have handled this as well as Mac - Paul at his very best!
Your bias (you don't like Lennon the person) sinks your opinion.
This is probably your only comment here on Beatles Bible and what do you offer? Negativity.
I agree with sequence8 that Lennon could not have matched Paul's vocal performance here. This is Paul singing at the top of HIS range. John's range was not nearly as good as Paul's. While John probably could have hit the verse notes, tho it might have been a strain, there is no way at all that he could have even hit the chorus notes, let alone sing them well as Paul does.
I'm very proud that John played the piano on this song which is written by McCartney. There are so many Lennon song on which paul plays the piano. It's good to know that there are counterexamples. And his performance is really good.
please see sequence8 comment above quoting the book on beatle recordings. Paul plays piano not John. Glad you think Paul's piano playing was great.
I love the Beatles to a nearly irrational degree. (Some might say I should omit the word "nearly.") One of the things I admire about their musicianship is the wild diversity of the roles they played. Each could step in and do a terrific job in a new musical role. I love reading these arguments about George vs. Paul on bass and George vs. Paul vs. John on lead. Or Paul vs. Ringo on dreams. And so on. I think most of these arguments are a little nutty--for I think that each Beatle grew into a perfect fit with their default instrument and role--but the very fact one can have such discussions with real evidence provided on each side reveals just how brilliant each of these guys was.
This site is really way too much fun. I have spent WAY too much time on it, learning tons, and discovering that there are people out there as nutty about the Beatles as I am. I really appreciate the knowledge and passion so many contributors have. Very impressive! This, however, is my first post.
This compliment was not for Paul. John liked this song very much. He was a bit angry that Paul wanted to sing it. So it's nearly impossible that he didn't play an instrument on this track.
In the books of McDonald and Lewisohn it is listed that John played the piano. I would say that these books are reliable sources.
1 book maybe not so reliable but both proves Lennon on piano
Lennon could have sung this just as Paul could have sung john's solo verses on This Boy
I could be way off base but I am coming to the conclusion that practically every McCartney song on Abbey Road is actually about the Beatles break up.
Oh! Darling, I believe is written from Paul to John (and no, I am not reviving the John/Paul gay thing) - however I do believe these two were close enough to write "at" each other this way.
Just my thoughts, I could be wrong.
Undoubtably this is one of Paul's best vocal performances. It's really impressive how he sings those high notes during the middle eight with such a power. Nevertheless I would have loved to hear John's version. In terms of vocal range he could have managed it. A good example would be "Twist and Shout". Very powerful vocals.
Look, I love John, but I'm confident that he could not have sung those high notes Paul sings during the middle eight. "Twist and Shout" IS a good example - John is straining to hit those notes, which are much lower than the ones at issue in "Oh! Darling", which Paul still sings with more force. Granted, John was singing through a heavy cold on "Twist", but he never sang anything as high as Paul did in "Oh! Darling", and I think that he could not have done it because it would have been beyond his range.
Yes, I know that "Twist&Shout" is lower than that part in "Oh!Darling". But have you ever heard that one can train his voice and extend his vocal range? In this song Paul gives a fine example of belting high notes. He always wanted to show that he is a tenor. Well, John didn't want to.
A good example for John's belting is "I'm so Tired". In this song he hits C#5 in full voice. Very impressive! So with a bit trainig he could have done this. He was a fine singer. Even Paul needed much time to sing that part in that way. He had difficulties to switch not into falsetto. It wasn't a normal performance for him. He needed much time for doing that.
Come on, man. It's apparent you love John Lennon but you can't overlook the facts... There are many examples of John not being able to reach, let alone sustain, notes in his own songs such as "A Hard Day's Night", "If I Fell", and "No Reply", which ultimately relegated Paul to sing them. The higher notes in Oh Darling's chorus/bridge are on par (actually, two steps higher in pitch) with the "I saw the light..." segment in "No Reply", for which there are bootlegs of John attempting the main vocal line to no avail.
I'm not belittling John's abilities as a singer because he surely had a great, unique voice in his own right. I'm merely illustrating that his vocal range was undoubtedly limited and validating the argument that he would not have been able to sing Oh Darling in it's original key of A... Regardless of all this, I'm glad we can all agree that this is a great performance by Paul, but in my opinion nothing can beat his vocal on Golden Slumbers.
But his voice was different in 1969 as in 1964 (when all 3 songs list are from). It just makes for an interesting idea, if nothing else.
No one will assume that I'm more a John than a Paul fan, but I have to say (if I didn't already) that it hurts a bit to hear Paul nearly dying trying to find the right vocals for the song on "Anthology", while John just wails along and sounds better without even trying.
I agree with anyone who says this is more a John song.
Still an impressive performance by Paul.
A classic! The Paul voice is beautiful!Big song! Full of feeling.
I was just thinking in the possibility of John singing his version of this song....
I'm listening to it right now..
Paul was THE ONE, no one could have done it better
Paul does a great Little Richard, a great Elvis, great 1930's pop singer, blues singer etc. John does a great John. That is why he would have done a great job with this song. Think about the genuine intensity of Yer Blues in comparison to Helter Skelter where Paul although he does a phenominal job on vocal seems to be imitating someone with a more aggressive vocal style.
Hi all!
This is one of my favorite Paul's songs at all. But there are something that intrigues me... Does anybody know which guitar George used to play this song and how he did the last notes?? Does he used the bridge strings? maybe the headstock strings?? Anybody know some about it?
First, love Paul's vocals. What some peeps are simply saying is that McCartney's singing (on this song and many others) often comes across as a bit pretensious. He often sings as if he is trying REALLY hard to impress. Nothing wrong with it - it's Macca! Singers who sing from their soul (Aretha, Otis, Ray, and, yes, Lennon) sound as if they have no care, no awareness of anyone or anything. They 'lay it all out.' It's true.
There's a video on YouTube of pauls isolated vocals for this... Nobody can listen to that and tell me John could have done it better. I'd still LOVE to hear johns version though.
Here's a little take of Oh Darling! with only Paul singing and playing piano. It could be that Paul played piano on this, as the piano sounds a lot like it does on the track. However, I'd say it's still likely that Lennon played piano, as many books have cited. It's just some chords, not too difficult play.