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1.28pm
31 March 2008
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Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 9, 10 October 1968
Producer: Paul McCartney
Engineer: Ken Townsend
Released: 22 November 1968 (UK), 25 November 1968 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, piano, bass, handclaps
Ringo Starr: drums, handclaps
Available on:
The Beatles (White Album)
Anthology 3
Recorded during the late stages of work on the White Album , Why Don’t…
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11.31pm
6 May 2015
Offline This song must have set a record. It couldn’t have taken McCartney longer than five minutes to write and he surely recorded it in one take. John talked about how it was one of his favorite songs by Paul. Uh…I think he was saying that in jest. I think the same about Bob Dylan’s Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. It sounds as though Bob is making up a lot of the lyrics as he’s recording the song.
5.45am
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1 May 2011
Offline ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?’ was recorded in five takes, take four is on ‘Anthology 3 ‘.
No reason for John to lie especially as it was the kind of song and recording that would have appealed to him and he was hurt that Paul did it without him.
That’s Paul. He even recorded it by himself in another room. That’s how it was getting in those days. We came in and he’d made the whole record. Him drumming. Him playing the piano. Him singing. But he couldn’t – he couldn’t – maybe he couldn’t make the break from the Beatles. I don’t know what it was, you know. I enjoyed the track. Still, I can’t speak for George, but I was always hurt when Paul would knock something off without involving us. But that’s just the way it was then.(source)
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7.12pm
6 May 2015
Offline Ok, I stand corrected. Based on your quote, it sounds like John did honestly like the song. You have to be careful quoting John. After the Beatles broke up, he was trashing many of his Beatles songs in an interview in Rolling Stone. That was just how he felt at that particular moment, not how he felt on an ongoing basis. I believe he was trying to knock his Beatles songs down several pegs, being faced with the near impossible task of competing with them with his solo stuff on Plastic Ono Band, IMO. I’m sure the song has many fans. Every Beatles song does. To me it was a throwaway or knockoff song. They needed to get to 30 songs on the White Album to fulfill their contractual commitment, so they could negotiate a better deal. The comment about it being done in one take was an exaggeration, the point being did it really matter which of the five takes were used for such a simple basic song?
1.46pm
14 June 2016
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I read somewhere that this song was actually about Paul wanting the band to record in Abbey Road Studios for their next record, because they would have more privacy.
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2.33pm
Reviewers
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1 May 2011
Offline William Shears Campbell said
I read somewhere that this song was actually about Paul wanting the band to record in Abbey Road Studios for their next record, because they would have more privacy.
Where did you read that @William Shears Campbell?
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
2.49pm
14 June 2016
Offline @meanmistermustard said
Where did you read that @William Shears Campbell?
I’m not sure, it may have been on the Wikipedia page. I read so many random Beatles things on the internet that I honestly don’t remember. That’s partially why I said it here, so that someone could confirm the accuracy of it.
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4.55am
9 March 2017
Offline I’ve been thinking about who did drums on this song, I originally thought it was Paul because if he played everything else, he mind as well be playing the drums and also Mal, who I’m guessing was there, says so himself. However, I’m starting to think that maybe Team Ringo is correct for a few reasons:
1. The drum solo at the beginning of the song is actually played by Paul on his Martin acoustic guitar.
2. It’s not just Ringo who claims that he did drums on this, Paul implies it himself.
There’s only one incident I can think of that John has mentioned publicly. It was when I went off with Ringo and did Why Don’t We Do It in the Road. It wasn’t a deliberate thing. John and George were tied up finishing something and me and Ringo were free, just hanging around, so I said to Ringo, ‘Let’s go and do this.”
3. John wasn’t there, so his claim is worthless compared to these other ones.
However, it seems wrong to disagree with what Mal wrote in 1968, although it is possible that he was there on the 9th when the vocals, acoustic guitar, and piano were being recorded but not the following day when the electric guitar, bass, drums, and handclaps were overdubbed. Also, if Paul’s fine with playing everything except for guitar on a song, like with Martha My Dear , then I think he would be fine with having Ringo play drums.
On another thought, is it possible that George played the electric guitar part, I mean he was there on 10 October 1968 when it was being recorded supervising the orchestra to Piggies , so it seems possible that he stopped by for a couple of minutes to play the electric guitar part, especially considering that the electric guitar sounds so basic (which means it was most likely either thought up very quickly or even on the fly) and the song is less than 2 minutes long, as well as the fact that it’s only John who complained about not being on the song. If I were George, I probably would’ve stopped by briefly and asked if I could have a go at it.
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12.26pm
26 January 2017
Offline Its Ringo. The story of the song has always been that Paul pulled Ringo aside and laid down the track.
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8.13pm
15 March 2017
Offline I always believed that Ringo played drums and Paul did everything else.
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8.20pm
9 March 2017
Offline I used to believe that it was Paul because if he’s going to play everything else, he mind as well be playing his own drum part but now that i know that the drum solo at the beginning of the song was played by Paul on his acoustic guitar and that Paul and Ringo have both stated that Ringo plays drums, it must be Ringo.
Also, does anybody hear an acoustic guitar on here, not counting the percussive hits.
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7.55pm
15 March 2017
Offline I listened to this song through headphones today and I couldn’t quite hear an acoustic guitar. That doesn’t mean it isn’t in the mix somewhere but I can mostly hear drums, piano, electric guitar, bass guitar, handclaps, and vocals.
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8.04pm
Moderators
27 November 2016
Offline Nope, I can’t hear any acoustic guitar at all (except for the intro) too.
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8.11am
Moderators
15 February 2015
Offline When I was little I thought Paul was daffy for wanting to do anything in the road. Didn’t he know he would get run over by cars? 
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8.24am
14 November 2017
Offline William Shears Campbell said
I read somewhere that this song was actually about Paul wanting the band to record in Abbey Road Studios for their next record, because they would have more privacy.
I seem to remember Paul confirming that the inspiration for this song came after he saw two monkeys having sex in the road when the Beatles were in Rishikesh. Can anyone confirm this? @Ron Nasty perhaps?
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10.53am
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20 August 2013
Offline ^ Read Joe’s page on the song. The link is at the top of this thread.
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8.30am
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20 August 2013
Offline Why don’t we duet in the road?
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9.56pm
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15 February 2015
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d u e t, you say 
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12.55am
30 April 2019
Offline Takes two to tango
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Ahhh Girl5.47pm
15 November 2018
Offline can a mod just rename this “The Innuendo Thread” and get it over with
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