Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

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Overview

Background

Pattern analysis

Recording

Mix variants & recording techniques

Documented mix variants

• 1968 UK mono LP The Beatles (“White Album”) (22 November 1968, Apple [Parlophone] PMC 7067, side A track 4) — Released mono master = remix from take 23 across the 11/12/15 July mono-mixing sequence (Lewisohn pp. 142, 143). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick (3–15 July); 2E: Richard Lush. Lewisohn p. 143 verbatim on the final 15 July remix session: “ten more remixes were made and the song was finished.” The released mono master carries: the 8 July re-make basic (Lewisohn p. 141); the 8 July vocal & percussion overdubs onto take 13 (Lewisohn p. 141); the 9 July evening vocal-replacement + asides + handclaps + vocal-percussion reductions to take 22 (Lewisohn p. 141); the 11 July three-saxophone + octaved-bass overdubs onto take 23 (Lewisohn p. 142 + K/R p. 485); and the 15 July Paul-recorded lead-vocal replacement on take 23 (Lewisohn p. 143).
• 1968 UK stereo LP The Beatles (“White Album”) (22 November 1968, Apple [Parlophone] PCS 7067, side A track 4) — Released stereo master from take 23 with K/R p. 486 ADT treatment: “handclaps and vocals were treated with the effect, with the original signal panned hard to one side and the delayed ADT signal panned hard to the other in the stereo mixes” (verbatim) — the same panning approach applied to Dear Prudence, Birthday, and the brass on Savoy Truffle. The hard-L/R ADT panning is the single most audible mono/stereo difference on the released masters.
• 1968 US stereo LP The Beatles (25 November 1968, Apple SWBO 101, side A track 4) — Same stereo master forwarded to Capitol for the US double LP (stereo only; mono was officially being replaced in the US by 1968, per K/R p. 491 on the “White Album” mix programme).
• Mono Masters (9 September 2009, Apple, CD/LP) — The 1968 mono Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da remastered as part of the 2009 mono-box collection. Allan Rouse / Guy Massey remaster. Post-Lewisohn; documented in the 2009 box notes rather than in the primary-source canon; flagged here for completeness.
• The Beatles 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe (9 November 2018, Apple) — Giles Martin / Sam Okell stereo remix from the multitracks, with several earlier-take and rehearsal versions on the deluxe discs (including a take from the 5 July original-version session and earlier take 3 / take 5 material from the 8 July re-make). Post-Lewisohn; documented in the 2018 box notes; flagged here for completeness rather than independently characterised.

Recording techniques

• 3 July 1968 — original-version basic, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 140) — Studio Two, 8.00pm–3.15am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush. Recording: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (takes 1–7, SI onto take 3, SI onto take 7). Seven takes of the basic rhythm: Paul on acoustic guitar, Ringo on drums, Paul singing the lead vocal off microphone as a guide. Take 7 deemed “best”; a proper lead vocal and a second acoustic guitar were then overdubbed onto take 7. Paul then changed his preference mid-session: “Paul decided that it was take four which had the better basic rhythm so further improvements to take seven were abandoned and take four received the second acoustic guitar overdub too” (Lewisohn p. 140 verbatim). Vocals for take 4 were deferred to 4 July.
• 4 July 1968 — vocals onto take 4 + reduction to take 5 + further vocals, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 140) — Studio Two, 7.00pm–2.15am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush. Recording: SI onto take 4 + tape reduction take 4 into take 5 + SI onto take 5. Paul’s lead vocal + John and George’s high-register “la-las” backing onto take 4. Take 4 reduced into take 5 (not to be confused with the take 5 of 3 July) onto which another Paul McCartney lead vocal was superimposed.
• 5 July 1968 — session musicians + piccolo + abandoned overloaded-guitar bass, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 140) — Studio Two, 5.00pm–1.30am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush. SI onto take 5. Between 6.00 and 10.30pm three saxophones and one set of bongos were taped: Lewisohn p. 140 names the saxophonists as James Gray, Rex Morris and Cyril Reuben and the bongo player as J. Scott. Rex Morris remembers the song as “the reggae one” and notes “Yoko Ono was there at the session.” Between 10.30 and 11.45pm a piccolo was overdubbed (player unidentified); between 11.45pm and 1.00am the piccolo was wiped and replaced with an overloaded guitar overdub. Chris Thomas via Lewisohn p. 140 verbatim: “Paul was deliberately overloading the sound through the desk so that it sounded like a bass.” The entire 3–5 July sequence was rejected three days later for the 8 July re-make — per Lewisohn p. 141 the 8 July re-make is the first documented Beatles instance of recruiting session musicians (the 5 July sax + bongo trio) and then discarding the recording.
• 8 July 1968 — re-make takes 1–12, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 141 + K/R p. 485) — Studio Two, 5.00pm–3.00am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush. Recording: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da [re-make] (takes 1–12). Beatles playing live as a four-piece: Paul on fuzz bass, Ringo on drums, George on acoustic guitar, John on piano — per K/R “A Closer Look: 8 July 1968” verbatim take-12 four-track layout: Track 1 = Drums, Track 2 = Bass, Track 3 = Piano, Track 4 = Acoustic Guitar. The keyboard introduction that opens the released master came from Lennon’s aggravated piano-bash, per Richard Lush via Lewisohn p. 141 verbatim: “After about four or five nights doing ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ John Lennon came to the session really stoned, totally out of it on something or other, and he said ‘Alright, we’re gonna do Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’. He went straight to the piano and smashed the keys with an almighty amount of volume, twice the speed of how they’d done it before, and said ‘This is it! Come on!’ He was really aggravated. That was the version they ended up using.”
• 8 July 1968 (late) — tape reduction take 12 → take 13 + vocal & percussion overdubs, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 141 + K/R p. 485) — Reduction mix: all four tracks of take 12 bounced down to Track 1 of take 13, freeing Tracks 2, 3 and 4. Lead and backing vocals onto Tracks 3 and 4. Per Lewisohn p. 141 verbatim, “‘Latin American percussion’ (maracas and other assorted instruments) superimposed onto the newly vacated track two.” A rough mono remix was made of take 13 at the end of the session and taken away by Paul McCartney. Per K/R p. 485, “A bit of backing vocals were also recorded to Track 2 with the tape machine running slow so as to sound higher at proper speed (best heard at 1:10 in the song)” — the varispeed backing-vocal trick documented quantitatively on K/R p. 490 verbatim: “The vocals were recorded at roughly 42 cycles/sec, resulting in a rise of nearly three semitones.” This is the canonical Beatles example of vocals recorded at half-normal tape speed for upward pitch-shift at playback.
• 9 July 1968 (afternoon) — abandoned re-re-make, Studio Three (Lewisohn p. 141) — Studio Three, 4.00–9.00pm. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush. Recording: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da [re-re-make] (takes 20 and 21). Paul attempted a re-re-make — takes numbered 20 and 21 to leave a gap from the 8 July re-make’s 1–12 series — but abandoned after just two attempts. Lewisohn p. 141 notes the line-up on the afternoon takes is uncertain, with the drumming style “less like Ringo and more like Paul”; a Beatles Book contemporary report places Ringo arriving early for the evening session at Solomon King’s concurrent Abbey Road session, implying Ringo was not present in the afternoon. Per §1 the page records the abandonment per Lewisohn’s session sheet without independently characterising the re-re-make personnel.
• 9 July 1968 (evening) — vocal replacement + take 13 → take 22 reduction + handclaps & vocal percussion, Studio Three (Lewisohn p. 141) — Studio Three, 10.00pm–3.30am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush. Recording: SI onto take 13 + tape reduction take 13 into take 22 + SI onto take 22, plus a Revolution rehearsal (which was later wiped). The 8 July lead and backing vocals on Tracks 3 and 4 were wiped and replaced with new vocals carrying the album-recognisable comic asides: per Lewisohn p. 141 verbatim, “Listen on the record for John shouting ‘arm’ and George shouting ‘leg’ after Paul’s first ‘Desmond lets the children lend a hand’, then for George’s ‘foot’ after ‘Molly lets the children lend a hand’ in Paul’s deliberately twisted final verse.” Handclaps and vocal percussion were added after the take 13 → take 22 reduction mix.
• 11 July 1968 — SI onto take 22 + take 22 → take 23 reduction + saxophone overdub + octaved-bass double-track, Studio Three (Lewisohn p. 142 + K/R p. 485) — Studio Three, 7.00pm–3.45am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Phil McDonald. Recording: SI onto take 22; tape reduction take 22 into takes 23 and 24; SI onto take 23. Mono mixing: remixes 1 and 2 from take 23. Per Lewisohn p. 142, “‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ had three saxophones and bass guitar” by end of session. Per K/R p. 485 verbatim on the take 22 → take 23 reduction and subsequent overdub: “A third reduction mix freed up yet another track onto which Paul recorded a second bass performance, played an octave lower than the first for a unique double-tracked, octaved bass sound.” This is the released master’s low end — two bass tracks, one an octave below the other, both Paul’s.
• 12 July 1968 — mono remixes 10 and 11 + out-take chatter tape, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 142) — Studio Two. Mono mixing: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (remixes 10 and 11 from take 23). Lewisohn p. 142 verbatim on a preserved Beatles-requested out-takes tape: “Preserved from this session was the sound of Paul, Ringo and George in the studio two control room, announcing ‘remix ten’ for ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ with different inflexion and various accents.”
• 15 July 1968 — Paul re-recorded lead vocal + final mono remixes 12–21, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 143) — Studio Two, 3.30–8.00pm. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush. Recording: SI onto take 23 (Paul re-recorded the lead vocal). Mono mixing: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (remixes 12–21 from take 23). Lewisohn p. 143 verbatim: “Over the weekend they had clearly dwelt on the songs and decided that both required a little further improving… Paul wasn’t happy with ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ and he spent considerable time on this day re-recording his lead vocal. When he was done, ten more remixes were made and the song was finished.” This session is also the proximate cause of Richard Lush’s departure from Beatles sessions, per his own account via Lewisohn p. 143 verbatim — George Martin made a remark about how Paul should be “lilting onto the half-beat or whatever”; Paul snapped “Well you come down and sing it”; Lush told Martin “Look, I’ve had enough. I want to leave. I don’t want to know any more.” Geoff Emerick himself walked off the next day during the 16 July Cry Baby Cry session (Lewisohn p. 143) — not, as the inherited info-table on this page suggests, during an Ob-La-Di session.
• ADT panning treatment on the stereo master (K/R p. 486) — Per K/R p. 486 verbatim on the 1968 ADT pattern across The Beatles: “On ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, ‘Dear Prudence’, and ‘Birthday’, handclaps and vocals were treated with the effect, with the original signal panned hard to one side and the delayed ADT signal panned hard to the other in the stereo mixes… The same approach was taken with the brass on ‘Savoy Truffle’.” This is the single most audible mono/stereo difference on the released masters — the mono mix carries the original-signal + ADT-signal sum centred; the stereo mix splits them hard-L and hard-R.
• Varispeed backing-vocal at ≈42 cycles/sec (K/R p. 490) — Per K/R p. 490 verbatim from the 1968 Frequency Control / Varispeed section: “The use of Frequency Control while recording would virtually disappear in 1968. The most noticeable use of it was on a section of the backing vocals of ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’. This can best be heard at 1:10 into the song. The vocals were recorded at roughly 42 cycles/sec, resulting in a rise of nearly three semitones.” The K/R Frequency Control note locates the slow-tape varispeed in the 8 July take-13 backing-vocal overdub onto Track 2 (K/R p. 485) — the same trick Lewisohn does not enumerate but the K/R Closer Look entry on the 8 July session reconstructs from the take-13 multitrack layout.
• Four-track architecture forcing three successive reductions (Lewisohn pp. 141–142 + K/R p. 485) — The released master is take 23, which is the third reduction in the take 12 → take 13 → take 22 → take 23 chain. Each reduction freed three tracks for further overdub at the cost of one tape generation of loss. The Beatles’ first eight-track session (Trident, 31 July 1968, Hey Jude) sits sixteen days in the future at the time of the 15 July Ob-La-Di completion — the released master is a 4-track Studer J37 artefact, not an early 8-track artefact, despite belonging to the same album as several later 8-track tracks (While My Guitar Gently Weeps being the first EMI 8-track session, 3 September 1968).

Legacy & release history

Mono & stereo

• Both mono and stereo mixes were prepared; the UK mono White Album (PMC 7067/8) has many distinct edits, mixes and effects vs. the stereo (PCS 7067/8) — collectors prize the mono.

Documented alternate versions

• Anthology 3 (1996) — alternate take or demo
• Mono Masters (2009 box) — Allan Rouse / Guy Massey remaster
• White Album 50th Anniversary (2018) — Giles Martin stereo remix

Released on

• The Beatles (White Album) — LP, 22 November 1968

Cross-references

Other songs sharing themes (jimmy-scott-phrase, piano-bash, reggae-influence, divisive)

Other songs led by the same vocalist

Other songs from this era

jimmy-scott-phrasepiano-bashreggae-influencedivisive

Awards & recognition

Related songs