Beatles Countdown #80: Martha My Dear

Apr 07

Doug1960s paul mccartney, the beatles No Comments

At #80 is yet another Paul song. If we take a look back at the songs we’ve covered so far, fifteen of them have been by Paul. Fifteen! Now sure, George & Ringo don’t have as much to add to the countdown and maybe we’ll see a lot of John later on, but for right now – Paul is dominating this list. But with songs like the one below, it’s easy to see why. From The White Album, here’s one of the highlights from the first disc: “Martha My Dear.”

“Martha My Dear” is a very catchy song in a music hall style that recounts the lover’s affection for the titular Martha. Now, who is Martha? Well, as we’ve seen in some songs already like Lovely Rita, the song doesn’t always have to be about someone, but here, we can gather some ideas about who the song is about. Since the song’s release, some have speculated that the song is about Paul McCartney’s ex-fiancée Jane Asher who Paul had just recently broken up with. Paul himself has said that some of the lyrics could have been written about her such as the line “…when you find yourself in the thick of it, help yourself to a bit of what is all around you.” However, while fans have speculated, Paul has come outright and stated who the song is about…though he’s said contradictory things. The first identity Paul has said is his sheepdog named Martha. In Many Years From Now, Paul stated that it was about his dog in a very affectionate kind of way. Martha was his first pet and according to John Lennon, Paul was very “cuddly” around the dog. Knowing this, it would be easy to view the song as that. Paul was gone a lot and didn’t want his dog to forget him and plus, “silly girl” seems to fit more to a mischievous dog than a bothersome ex. However, Paul has also stated that the song is about his muse. In A Hard Day’s Write, Paul stated that his dog was named after his muse, the voice in his head that helps him with his music, and that the song was about said muse. Looking at these possible scenarios, the song probably fits in most with his dog, but it could easily be a combination of any of them or perhaps all three. Only Paul really knows and I’m sure he’s forgotten by this point in his life.

The song itself, like I already mentioned, is built around a music hall piano line that probably would have been summed up by John Lennon as “granny music.” What’s interesting was that Paul was still a novice piano player and was originally a piano exercise for him instead of an actual song. Paul would state that it was above his skill at the time to play as he had to use both of his hands fluently and even people in the studio commented on how it seemed to be out of his skill range. Kind of interesting to see the song that helped Paul play piano as it wasn’t long before he played the instrument on iconic songs like “Let It Be” and “The Long And Winding Road.” Sure, not the most skillful pieces, but definitely iconic songs that I’m sure a good portion of piano players have learned at one point in their career. Like a small portion of other songs, this one doesn’t feature any other Beatle on it and is filled out by George Martin & fourteen session musicians. This probably was another casualty of the band’s gradual deterioration which had started with the sessions for this album. Sure, the band had released a few tracks with only one member before, but most of those were Indian pieces with only Harrison and Indian musicians on them. A big difference here. But with John’s “affinity” for this style of music, perhaps this jaunty piece was best off with just Paul and perfect for the album that many described as four solo albums in one.

Song: Martha My Dear
Album: The Beatles
Year: 1968

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