Oh! Darling

"Oh! Darling" is a song of The Beatles written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and is the fourth song on the Abbey Road album.

Background

McCartney later said, "When we were recording 'Oh! Darling' I came into the studios early every day for a week to sing it by myself because at first my voice was too clear. I wanted it to sound as though I'd been performing it on stage all week."

In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, John Lennon said, "'Oh! Darling' was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better—it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he's going to sing it."

George Harrison described the song as "a typical 1950s–'60s-period song because of its chord structure."

Let It Be session

After an early attempt at this song on 27 January 1969 during the Let It Be sessions, Lennon announced, "Just heard that Yoko's divorce has just gone through", after which he and the band burst into an improvised version of the song, singing "I'm free at last" instead of a part of the lyric.

Covers
Robin Gibb recorded "Oh! Darling" in 1977 for the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Released in 1978 as a single, it reached #15 on Billboard's Hot 100 in September.
Huey Lewis recorded a version for the 1995 Beatles tribute Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles.
George Benson also recorded a version for The Other Side of Abbey Road EP.
London also recorded a version for the Don't Cry Wolf album.
It also appears in the movie Across the Universe sung by the characters Sadie (Dana Fuchs) and Jojo (Martin Luther McCoy).
Etta Scollo recorded an Italian version in 1988
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones recorded a version for Live Art, with John Cowan providing the vocals
Sara Bareilles sang "Oh! Darling" in 2007 as the last song for her appearance on Channel 4's Live from Abbey Road. It featured only herself on lead vocals and her guitarist playing rhythm guitar.
Florence + the Machine play a live version on the second CD of the special box set edition of Lungs
Sum 41 did this song live during 2007/08.
Katelyn Epperly sung this song live on American Idol during the Top 24.

Personnel

Paul McCartney – vocal, backing vocals, bass, guitar
John Lennon – backing vocals, piano
George Harrison – backing vocals, guitar, synthesiser
Ringo Starr – drums
Personnel per Ian MacDonald

Notes

Other websites







Category:The Beatles songs
Category:1969 songs
Category:Blues rock songs
Category:Robin Gibb songs
Category:George Benson songs
Category:Huey Lewis and the News songs
Category:Sum 41 songs
Category:Florence and the Machine songs
Category:Sara Bareilles songs