ljblueteak
Following the Yellow Brick Road
she/her, and over 21
4331 posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Last Seen Blogs
a-pan-lacking-a-plan
Happy Pride 3000
baconcolacan
Eddsworld in this day and age??
houch-school
HOUCHSCHOOL
thehuntyhunties
back at it again with them HxHs
Note
I'd be curious to hear your Ob-la-di Ob-la-da take lol
I claimed Ob-la-di Ob-la-da as a political song. No, I'm not kidding.
Obviously, Ob-la-di Ob-la-da isn't a protest song. It's a perky ska-style number about the happy, everyday life of an immigrant family. And it was released in 1968, when immigration had just become the most inflammatory topic in British politics.
In spring 1968, the UK government proposed a new Race Relations bill, making it illegal to refuse housing, employment, or public services to anyone on the grounds of race or national origin. It was a response to racism, particularly against recent immigrants, especially those from the Caribbean.
Cue a lot more racism, most notoriously from politician Enoch Powell, who gave what is still commonly referred to today as the "Rivers of blood" speech. Powell ranted about sending "the immigrant and immigrant-descended population" back to the countries they or their families had once come from. He was particularly freaked out by the idea that, having come to Britain, people would settle down and - horrors - have babies, eventually outnumbering the white population. Powell was sacked by his party the next day, but he sparked a horrible wave of racist protest and abuse.
All this was brewing over the summer, as The Beatles worked on the White Album, and on this song. What is Ob-la-di Ob-la-da about? It's an everyday love story. The ska style frames Desmond and Molly as Jamaican - which, in a British context, strongly suggests that they're immigrants. The song builds a happy ending out of exactly the things that racists like Powell were terrified that immigrants would do. They work, get married, and have children, who grow up and help with the family business. Life going on, happy ever after.
The Beatles were certainly aware of the tensions sparked by Powell, immigration and the Race Relations Act; they were still talking about it, and trying to write a protest song about it, in the Get Back sessions in January 1969. Ob-la-di Ob-la-da doesn't talk directly about any of that. Its subjects - work, home, children - are the sort of thing that 1970s rock journalists would put down as Paul's normie bourgeois sensibilities.
But normie is where most people live. The song presents Desmond and Molly as deeply relatable. It assumes that their happy ending is something everyone can root for and sing along with. That is not an apolitical act, particularly not in Britain in 1968.
youtube
And people did sing along, in their millions. Ob-la-di was staggeringly popular. The Beatles didn't release it as a single in the UK or the US (though it topped charts in Australia, Japan and Europe). There were multiple competing cover versions. One by the band Marmalade went to No 1 in Britain, and sold about a million copies. Paul's own favourite cover was by The Bedrocks, whose members were all first-generation immigrants from the Caribbean.
(Obviously, there are other questions here about race, music, and appropriation; The Beatles, and most of the artists doing cover versions, are white people singing black music. Hello, history of western popular music.)
As I said, this isn't a protest song. But it has been sung in protest. @beatleshistoryblog found this great footage from a Women's March in London in 1971. Just listen to the first seconds: la la la la life goes on.
youtube
83 notes
·
View notes
Text
Paul McCartney singing ‘And I Love Her’ in A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
Here you go @ljblueteak !
#paul mccartney#a hard day's night#!!!!!! Thanks so much @javelinbk!#It's perfect and you've made my week!
108 notes
·
View notes
Text
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr during rehearsals for The Beatles' first appearance on Ready, Steady, Go, 4th October 1963. Part 4 (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10)
267 notes
·
View notes
Text
Paul McCartney during the filming of A Hard Day's Night | March 1964
#paul mccartney#dying for a gif of Paul’s And I Love Her performance#If they exist please let me know!
313 notes
·
View notes
Text
I’ve just read the excerpts from Peggy Lipton’s book about Paul and this description of meeting him made me lol
“"Well, move on. Next person," said a dis-embodied voice from hell. I went to the next person who was George Harrison or whomever. I couldn't have cared less.”
Peggy is a Paul girl, she dgaf about anything else. I feel this. 💁🏻♀️
Paul excerpt synopsis: Throughout she’s horny for him in a relatable teenage girl way. She pines for him and plans how to meet him for a year. Then she GETS him for a 2 nighter (or let’s just say twice) and is devastated that it’s just sex to him and not going to be love.
A year later, the Beatles are back in LA and they get high and sleep together again but she’s sad (again) that it’s just sex to him. Also John’s pattern of being horrible to women that Paul is sleeping with continues with Peggy. 👀
Then 2 years later he gives her a booty call when he’s in LA and she sneaks out of the house she’s living in with her boyfriend to make it over to Paul’s bungalow (bc she wanted “to feel his kisses and burn in the very hot, unpredictable cauldron of love” 👀) .. but the road manager won’t let her in because “he’s sleeping” (with Linda). She can’t let it go so talks up the road manager who tells her they’re going to go sailing in the morning and invites her so she SITS ON THE STEPS OUTSIDE for 4 hours (from 4am-8am) until Paul comes out with Linda and then they run away from her. She writes in lipstick on a mirror in the bungalow “you’ve made your choice!”
Another version to add to the version of events pile. Why have one reality when you can have six or seven??
And then! 18 years later (lol) Paul’s doing the girl is mine single with Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones is producing and keeps asking her to come say hello, they (Paul and Linda) want to see her and she has full on breakdown, has to smoke a joint to be able to face him, thinks Quincy believes she’s not over him. She seems unsure, if she is.
Paul kisses her on the cheek and says “Oh hello Mrs Jones” and Linda says “it’s nice to see you again” and Peggy is panicking that she’s referencing seeing her standing there when they ran away from her. She’s overhwhelmed and cries her eyes out that night ..but she comes to like Linda and spends time with her and the kids ..and seems to have had some talks with her about Paul 👀.
Anyway, that’s it but it was a full meal. Thanks Peggy!
97 notes
·
View notes
Note
🎶✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (positivity is cool)🎶✨ - I got sent this so now I send it to you!
Thanks, @lenetaylor!
In no particular order, I've been listening to these a lot lately:
6 Inch, Beyoncé
II Hands II Heaven, Beyoncé
Things We Said Today, The Beatles
Venus and Mars, Paul McCartney
Good Times Coming/Feel the Sun, Paul McCartney
2 notes
·
View notes
Photo
“He won’t move.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry pet… Joe? Joe…. Joe, lad… ahh. Come on Joe, wake up! Come on, come on Joe, come on… Joe, come on son, wake up, wake up! How am I going to look Celine in the face after this Joe, please wake up. Come on, come on lad, it’s Vera.”
*Joe coughs and moves*
“It’s vera. Look at me. There’s a good lad. There’s a good lad.”
*Vera quickly rubs Joe’s head*
“Don’t let him move.”
~Vera S1Ep3: The Crow Trap
25 notes
·
View notes
Text
18K notes
·
View notes
Text
Jane Asher Photographed by Michael Ward circa 1963
222 notes
·
View notes
Text
just curious as they're always things i've never questioned just doing but people in my life are often surprised that i don't mind doing them alone
🔁 pls reblog for sample size
20K notes
·
View notes
Text
hope you all remembered to leave edibles and a margarita for sir paul mccartney last night!
82 notes
·
View notes
Photo
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 10 highlights from the 2015 induction ceremony
Paul McCartney Shouting “Oi!” During “American Idiot”
Green Day’s three songs were all pretty great (“When I Come Around” remains one of the five best songs written in the entirety of the ’90s), but there was a particularly charming moment during “American Idiot” when Armstrong encouraged the crowd to shout “Oi!,” a classic punk rock exclamation. They cut to the crowd, and while not a whole lot of people were actually participating, Paul McCartney was not only doing it, but he was also encouraging other people to do it, proving Paul McCartney should be invited to every party.
4K notes
·
View notes
Text
From Paul's Instagram April 16, 2024. Let It Be coming May 8!
120 notes
·
View notes