Paul McCartney Recorded a Song Multiple Times to Annoy John Lennon, Said a Beatles Engineer

Recording The White Album brought the simmering problems between Paul McCartney and John Lennon to the surface. They bickered in the studio, made their dislike of each other’s songs clear, and even stormed out of recording sessions. Lennon made his hatred of McCartney’s song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” clear, mainly because McCartney was a perfectionist with it. An audio engineer working with the band wondered if McCartney purposely tried to irritate his bandmate. 

Paul McCartney may have tried to annoy John Lennon in the studio

According to engineer Geoff Emerick in his book Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, Lennon “openly and vocally detested” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” He rolled his eyes every time they rehearsed it, which was often. McCartney repeatedly made the band play the song in order to get it right. Each time, Lennon grew more frustrated. 

As Emerick watched this happen, he began to wonder if McCartney was purposely trying to annoy his bandmate. Lennon’s lack of respect frustrated him.

“Paul was something of a perfectionist by this point, but he also had to have been upset about the way John had been acting,” he wrote. “I couldn’t help but think that perhaps that had something to do with why he was so fussy about the recording of the song — maybe he did that just to annoy John, just to teach him a lesson.”

Paul McCartney accomplished this when John Lennon blew up at him

If McCartney had been aiming to annoy Lennon, it worked. After dedicating days in the studio to the song, he decided that he wanted to start over. Lennon blew up.

“So when Paul announced several nights later that he wanted to scrap everything that had been done so far and start the song again from scratch, John went ballistic,” Emerick wrote. “Ranting and raving, he headed out the door with Yoko [Ono] trailing closely behind, and we thought that we’d seen the last of him that evening.”

Ultimately, though, Lennon returned several hours later, announced he was “f***ing stoned,” and angrily showed McCartney how to play the opening piano chords. 

He still accepted his bandmate’s advice

For a moment, it seemed Lennon and McCartney might get into a physical fight. Lennon’s rudeness clearly irritated him.

“A very upset Paul got right in Lennon’s face,” Emerick wrote. “For a moment, I thought fists might fly.”

Ultimately, though, McCartney took a calming breath and decided to listen to what Lennon was saying. Emerick believed he liked that Lennon had put any thought into the song.

“‘Okay, then, John,’ he said in short, clipped words, staring his deranged bandmate straight in the eye,” Emerick wrote, “‘Let’s do it your way.’ As angry as he was, I think that deep down inside Paul was flattered that his longtime collaborator had given the song any thought at all … even though he had clearly done so while getting out of his skull.”