7. John And George Mock Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da In The Song Itself
There is of course no end to the love of The Beatles and their music, but some of their more out-there works aren't immune to criticism. One of the most widely derided songs from their discography is Paul's pseudo-reggae Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, which has placed in several "Worst Song Ever" lists (although you do feel that's only because of its presence alongside the rest of the Beatles' oeuvre - it's an interesting song at the very least). It's not just latter-day assessments that have worn Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da's reputation though - some of the band themselves disliked it from the very start. John was particularly vocal about his hatred of the song, at one point storming out of the recording, and there's traces of that irritation in the finished album-version. On top of various studio directions hidden underneath the music, at various points John and George pipe in just after Paul's finished a line to mock the lyrics; after both cases of "Lets the children lend a hand", you can hear them shouting out "arm", "leg" and "foot". The ribbing continued on the second-half of The White Album - in amongst all the nonsensical lyrics of Savoy Truffle, Harrison included the line "We all know Ob-La-Di-Bla-Da", another dig at the controversial song. It's a rather humorous in-joke, but also goes to show how, as time went on, The Beatles' internal relationships were less than harmonious. Something Let It Be, the band's fourth film, would attest to. If, you know, Paul and Ringo would agree to rerelease it.
