‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’: The worst song Paul McCartney ever wrote
There is no denying that Paul McCartney is one of the most prolific songwriters ever to grace the earth with a tune. Whether we are talking about his work in The Beatles, as a solo artist, with Wings or collaborating with other artists, his creative integrity knows no bounds.
The result is that he has written around 700 songs. This is incredibly commendable; however, as much as some people may believe otherwise, Paul McCartney is only human. As such, he is prone to error in the same way that we all are, and the result is that a fair few of his songs fall short of the high standard that many have come to expect from him.
It begs the question, what is Paul McCartney’s worst offering? If you were to ask him, he would likely say it was ‘Bip Bop’, which isn’t a bad suggestion. ‘Bip Bop’ was a track that McCartney released with Wings, and it contains some of the most nonsensical and bland lyrics he has ever committed to paper. As soon as he wrote it, McCartney knew it wasn’t a track he wanted to release, but after his producer said he liked the track, he decided to put it out into the world.
“The lyrics are fucking awful,” said McCartney when discussing the track, “[Producer] Trevor Horn told me, ‘That’s one of my favourites’. I can’t hate it that much, can I? There must have been a reason I liked it in the first place.”
While this track is a poor effort, it isn’t the worst song Paul McCartney ever wrote. There must be some credit given to Wings and the music they managed to put out. McCartney was starting a band after being in the most successful and important band of all time. They took every step they could in order not to be compared to The Beatles, which meant creating songs far removed from what he had previously done with the Fab Four. Many of these songs worked, and some fell by the wayside, such as ‘Bip Bop’, but credit must be given to the attempted originality.
McCartney’s worst offering is when that originality is nowhere to be seen. There were periods when he was writing for The Beatles while stringing together melody without thinking about the song. These are the songs that drove a huge wedge in the band and arguably led to The Beatles breaking up.
One of the most damning indictments of this theory was ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, a song that was so bad McCartney was the only member of the band who wanted to record it. Despite his bandmates scorning the track, McCartney pushed for it to be released anyway, essentially asserting his authority over the rest of the band.
“John Lennon came to the session really stoned, totally out of it on something or other, and he said, ‘All right, we’re gonna do ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’,” recalled Richard Lush, the band’s engineer at the time. “He went straight to the piano and smashed the keys with an almighty amount of volume, twice the speed of how they’d done it before, and said, ‘This is it! Come on! He was really aggravated.”
This has to be Paul McCartney’s worst song, not just because of how bad it sounds but also because McCartney pushed for its release despite his bandmates voicing their disdain. It represents a rough time for The Beatles and is a key event that would eventually lead to the band splitting.
