Why Don't We Do It in the Road?

The White Album

**"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"** (labled as **"Why don't we do it in the road?"** on the track listing) is a song released by the English rock band The Beatles, and is the twenty-fourth track of their self-titled ninth album, *The Beatles* (also known as "*the White Album*)" (1968). McCartney was inspired to write this song after witnessing two monkeys having sex in the middle of the road in India. He described it as a liberating sight. Recorded during the late stages of work on the White Album, the song was a spontaneous recording by Paul McCartney with assistance from Ringo Starr over the course of two days. The song was recorded while John Lennon and George Harrison were working on other songs. Lennon later described McCartney’s decision as hurtful, explaining that it represented the fragmented way in which the group’s members had taken to recording songs in 1968. When confronted, McCartney pointed out that Lennon behaved in the same way with “*Julia*” and “*Revolution 9*.”

## Lyrics

[Chorus]

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road

No one will be watching us, why don't we do it in the road?

[Chorus]

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road?

No one will be watching us, why don't we do it in the road?

[Chorus]

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road?

Why don't we do it, do it in the road?

Why don't we do it in the road?

No one will be watching us, why don't we do it in the road?

## Personnel

* Paul McCartney – vocals, thumped acoustic guitar, piano, electric guitar, bass, handclaps
* Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps

## Info

* Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr recorded this without the other Beatles. It was one of the first Beatles songs recorded without the whole group present, something they would do more often as their relationships deteriorated.
* John Lennon said this was one of Paul's best songs. He may have been joking.
* The song contains only two lines of lyrics, and they are probably about sexual tension.
* Apparently, McCartney got the idea for this while he was watching a pair of monkeys conducting business: "I was up on a flat roof meditating and I'd see a troupe of monkeys walking along and the male just hopped onto her back and gave her one, as they say in the vernacular. Within two or three seconds he hopped off again, and looked around as if to say, 'it wasn't me,' and she looked around as if there had been some kind of mild disturbance but thought, huh, I must have imagined it. And I thought, bloody hell, that puts it all into a cocked hat, that's how simple the act of procreation is, this bloody monkey just hopping on and off. There is an urge, they do it, and it's done with. It's that simple." McCartney was in India at the time.
* The song was a very John Lennon kind of song; John was very upset Paul did not include him in the recording of this.
* The Beatles had stopped touring by the time they released this song, and Paul McCartney didn't play it live until October 8, 2016 when he performed it at the Desert Trip festival with Neil Young.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Beatles\_discography
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Beatles\_(album)
3. ↑ http://www.beatlesebooks.com/do-it-in-the-road
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/why-dont-we-do-it-in-the-road/
5. ↑ https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/song/why-dont-we-do-it-in-the-road/
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://genius.com/The-beatles-why-dont-we-do-it-in-the-road-lyrics
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/why-dont-we-do-it-in-the-road
8. ↑ https://www.thebeatles.com/why-dont-we-do-it-road