The Beatles Songs - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Lyrics

The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The White Album
Released: 1968

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Lyrics

Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace
Molly is the singer in a band
Desmond says to Molly girl I like your face
And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand

[Chorus]
Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on
Ob la di ob la da life goes on bra
La la how the life goes on

Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler's store
Buys a twenty carat golden ring
Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door
And as he gives it to her she begins to sing

[Chorus]

In a couple of years they have built
A home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones

Happy ever after in the market place
Desmond lets the children lend a hand
Molly stays at home and does her pretty face
And in the evening she still sings it with the band

[Chorus]

In a couple of years they have built
A home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones

Happy ever after in the market place
Molly lets the children lend a hand
Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face
And in the evening he's a singer with the band

[Chorus]

And if you want some fun sing ob la di bla da

Writer/s: LENNON, JOHN / MCCARTNEY, PAUL
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Song Chart

The title comes from a Reggae band called Jimmy Scott and his Obla Di Obla Da Band. Says McCartney, "A fella who used to hang around the clubs used to say in a Jamaican accent, "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on," and he got annoyed when I did a song of it, 'cause he wanted a cut. I said, 'Come on, Jimmy, it's just an expression." (thanks, Chiara - West Vancouver, Canada)

When Jimmy Scott needed money for bail (he was jailed for missing alimony payments), McCartney had his friend Alistair Taylor put up the money in exchange for Scott dropping rights to the name. Taylor had to get the money from a friend, since no one in the Beatles camp carried much cash. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

Paul McCartney wrote this and The Beatles spent a great deal of time recording and overdubbing it. John, George, and Ringo became very annoyed. Harrison hinted at his frustration on "Savoy Truffle," which was recorded three months later. In the song he wrote; "But what is sweet now, turns so sour/ We all know Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/ But can you show me, where you are?"

John Lennon hated this song. He didn't like a lot of McCartney's later songs with The Beatles, feeling they were trite and meaningless. Ringo and George disliked this too and all three of them vetoed Paul's wish that this be released as a single.

This was a #1 hit in England for Marmalade in 1968. With this song, Marmalade became the first Scottish group to top the UK charts (leaving little doubt about their origin, they performed the song on Top Of The Pops wearing kilts). It also could be considered the first UK #1 to be done in a Reggae style. Marmalade's bassist Graham Knight recalls in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, "The Beatles' music publisher, Dick James, played us the acetate of The Beatles' Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da and we thought it was great. He said, 'You can have it, I won't give it to anyone else,' but of course he passed it to another 27 acts. We rush-recorded it in the middle of the night during a week of cabaret in the north-east. Our manager, who was in America at the time, kept sending us telegrams not to do it. He didn't think we should record a Beatles song. We expected it to do well, but we didn't think it would go to #1. We got no feedback from The Beatles at all. There had been so many covers by that time that I shouldn't think they'd have been very interested." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

The guitars were over-modulated on purpose to get the desired effect.

This was one of the first songs with a Reggae beat to have pop success.

Paul mistakenly sang "Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face." It was intended to be "Molly," but Paul decided to leave it in to create confusion.

John Lennon played the piano part on this song.

After doing a huge number of takes (around 60), Paul continued on trying to record this as a slow song. John was in the other room listening while doing drugs. After getting high, he was very frustrated to hear Paul record it slow so many times. He subsequently burst into the recording room, pushed Paul aside and got on the piano playing the song very fast and upbeat. The fast and happy recording on the infamous White Album is the result. (Thanks to Charles Barrows) (thanks, Bompsy - Madison, WI)

This was used as the theme to the TV series Life Goes On. It was sung by Patti LuPone and the rest of the cast.

The melody of this song was later used by The Offspring in their song "Why don't you get a job?" (thanks, Austin - Brooklyn Park, MN)

In December 1968, a version by The Bedrocks hit #20 in the UK.

The Beatles never performed this live, as they stopped touring in 1966, but Paul McCartney did play it live - eventually. He included it in his setlist for the first time on his 2010 "Up And Coming" tour.

The author Paul Saltzman, who was studying Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh, India with The Beatles in February 1968, published a photo book on his time with the band called The Beatles In India, where Saltzman recalled watching McCartney and Lennon collaborating on the song. Wrote Saltzman: "I looked over and under Paul's toe, under his sandal was a little torn piece of paper. And I look over and in his handwriting it's 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, bra/La-La how the life goes on.' And I'm sitting beside Ringo (Starr) - maybe five feet away from Paul - and they start singing it and really working with it. Only those words -- only John and Paul. Ringo was just quietly listening." (thanks, DeeTheWriter - Saint Petersburg, Russia Federation, for above 2)