Most Beatle-aphiles have made the mistake of interpreting Paul McCartney’s song, “Martha My Dear” (White Album) as a message of love to Jane Asher whom he intended to marry in 1968. In 1997, however, McCartney revealed that it was his Old English Sheepdog that had been the inspiration behind the song. See Sir McCartney with Martha here.
McCartney had bought the sheepdog puppy (his first pet) in 1965 soon after buying his house on Cavendish Avenue in London. He named the pup, “Martha.”
In the 1997 biography of Paul McCartney by Barry Miles, “Many Years from Now,” McCartney was quoted as saying, “When I taught myself piano I liked to see how far I could go, and this started life almost as a piece you’d learn as a piano lesson. It’s quite hard for me to play, it’s a two-handed thing, like a little set piece. In fact I remember one or two people being surprised that I’d played it because it’s slightly above my level or competence really, but I wrote it as that, something a bit more complex for me to play. Then while I was blocking out words – you just mouth out sounds and some things come – I found the words ‘Martha my dear’.
“It’s a communication of some sort of affection but in a slightly abstract way – ‘You silly girl, look what you’ve done,’ all that sort of stuff. These songs grow. Whereas it would appear to anybody else to be a song to a girl called Martha, it’s actually a dog, and our relationship was platonic, believe me.”
“Martha My Dear” was recorded over two days at Trident Studios in Soho, London, which had eight-track facilities. McCartney was the only Beatle to appear on the track. He began the song on October 4th in 1968 by recording vocals, piano and drums first, then later, between 6 and 9 PM, fourteen session musicians added brass and string parts. From midnight to 4.30 AM, McCartney re-recorded his lead vocals and adding handclaps at the same time. The next day he completed the song with the addition of bass and lead guitar parts.
Here’s one more bit of trivia: Stuart Goddard, whose mum used to clean Paul McCartney’s apartment in St. John’s Wood, sometimes took “Martha” for walks. Goddard would grow up to be Adam Ant.
Listen to this terrific song here.
Image of Paul McCartney & George Harrison from 1964 is shared from Wikicommons and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands