Oh! Darling

"Oh! Darling" is a song written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and recorded by The Beatles for their 1969 album Abbey Road. 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.

Background & Recording

During the writing process, the song's working title was "Oh! Darling (I'll Never Do You No Harm)". McCartney later said of recording the track, "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." He would only try the song once each day, if it was not right he would wait until the next day. In order to make sure he got every precious first take right, McCartney would practice the song in the bathtub. He once lamented that "five years ago I could have done this in one take".

McCartney first recorded a demo of "Oh! Darling" at Twickenham Studios on 16 January 1969 during the Get Back sessions without the other Beatles being present, as the Twickenham set they had been using was being dismantled due to their moving the sessions to Apple Corps' headquarters. After an early attempt at the song by the band on 27 January 1969, 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, substituting "I'm free at last" for a part of the lyric.

The basic track was recorded on 20 April 1969. There were many overdub sessions, including McCartney's attempts at the lead vocal. Engineer Geoff Emerick recalled that McCartney sang while the backing track played over speakers, instead of headphones, because he wanted to feel as though he was singing to a live audience.