The Paul McCartney song for The Beatles that John Lennon called “granny shit”
John Lennon and Paul McCartney were once inseparable, both musically and personally. They shared a unified perspective on the world and had an uncanny ability to complete each other’s ideas, crafting timeless songs together for The Beatles.
Naturally, as The Beatles became a musical monolith, their members began to establish their unique artistic visions. They were all influenced by the new experiences that came with their riches, whether this be cultural or the people they met along the way on their travels.
Lennon and McCartney were no longer wholly aligned in a musical capacity. However, the duo successfully mastered the art of compromise, which meant, on some occasions, contributing to songs written by the other that they didn’t particularly admire.
Throughout his career, Lennon didn’t have a filter and always shared his true feelings, no matter the subject. He was not one to sugarcoat his views and would disclose whatever thought entered his mind, especially concerning criticising The Beatles.
There was a vast array of tracks in their canon that Lennon later looked back upon with regret. Additionally, the singer-songwriter had a particular peculiar phrase that he used to describe ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, penned by McCartney, which he labelled “granny shit“.
Although McCartney and Lennon complimented each other intensely, this was largely due to their contrasting skill sets. While this attribute made them the perfect foil for each other, it also meant that it didn’t always click in the studio. As a result, there were plentiful songs that McCartney would write for The Beatles that appeared impossible to imagine coming from the pen of Lennon, and vice versa.
‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da‘ is unequivocally a McCartney construction in every sense. The track doesn’t take itself too seriously and boasts a nursery rhyme element, adding to its playful credentials. Despite being a song that can raise a smile from even the most cold-blooded soul, Lennon struggled to connect to the material.
Speaking about the innocent creative process behind ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, McCartney reminisced in the Anthology: “I had a friend called Jimmy Scott who was a Nigerian conga player, who I used to meet in the clubs in London. He had a few expressions, one of which was, ‘Ob la di ob la da, life goes on, bra’.
“I used to love this expression,” he continued. “He sounded like a philosopher to me. He was a great guy anyway and I said to him, ‘I really like that expression and I’m thinking of using it,’ and I sent him a cheque in recognition of that fact later because even though I had written the whole song and he didn’t help me, it was his expression”.
McCartney then described the track as “very me” and revealed that it was a fictional tale of a couple called Desmond and Molly. For Lennon, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ showcased a side of The Beatles that he didn’t appreciate. Reflecting years later with David Sheff, Lennon would distance himself from the track, stating, “I might have given him a couple of lyrics, but it’s his song, his lyric.”
Furthermore, biographer Geoff Emerick wrote in Here, There, and Everywhere that Lennon walked out of the recording studio during the song’s creation. “John went ballistic,” Emerick claimed. “Ranting and raving, he headed out the door, with Yoko trailing closely behind, and we thought that we’d seen the last of him that evening. But a few hours later he stormed back into the studio, clearly in a highly altered state of mind”.
However, McCartney maintains that Lennon liked the song despite all the evidence that suggests the opposite. In 2018, he appeared on The Howard Stern Show and looked befuddled when the radio host brought up John’s contempt for ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, which McCartney claimed was untrue.
Although Lennon described ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ as “granny shit”, McCartney knew him better than most, and his defiance suggests that his former songwriting partner had a fondness for the composition despite his remarks. While it’s a song that Lennon would never have written himself, the difference between him and McCartney’s creative tendencies is precisely what made The Beatles great.
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