Every artist will want to push themselves to create something unique every time they enter the studio. The Beatles could have spent the majority of their career making the same pop songs they were known for in their early years. But John Lennon and Paul McCartney dared to dream bigger on each album. They put together songs that could stand alone as timeless classics on projects like Revolver and Abbey Road. Although each song was a labor of love, Paul McCartney put a little more effort into one of his ballads.
The death of manager Brian Epstein dealt a devastating blow to the band as they settled into a studio-only existence for the second half of their career. The various disagreements over Apple Corps and their different creative directions first surfaced during the production of The White Album. It was a result of their inability to manage the business side of their career.
They were writing songs while on a meditation retreat in India. Each member of the group had a different vision for what their songs should be. Many members ended up being backing musicians on various tracks. John Lennon dabbled in art rock with songs like ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun‘. George Harrison found his stride as a songwriter with ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. McCartney was honing his craft as a balladeer.
Outside of the fierce rockers like ‘Helter Skelter’ and the guitar exercise ‘Blackbird’, McCartney would turn in some of the finest ballads of his career on the album. It included the jaunty song ‘Martha My Dear’. Paul McCartney wrote the song as a tribute to his beloved sheepdog at home. It was also a tribute to the kind of big band arrangements he grew up loving. He even sang in the higher end of his range to get the right affectation to his voice.
Even though McCartney could easily perform any of his songs, the difficult part came when he had to track the song for the first time. McCartney wrote the figure for ‘Martha My Dear’ knowing that it was beyond his capabilities.
When discussing the track, McCartney recalled how difficult it was for him to get every note correct. He said in Many Years From Now, “When I taught myself piano. I liked to see how far I could go. And this started life almost as a piece you’d learn as a piano lesson.” It’s a two-handed thing, like a little set piece, and it’s quite difficult for me to play. I recall one or two people being surprised that I’d played it because it’s a little above my level or competence.”
Aside from the raw dexterity required to play the song, it also has an unusual structure. Instead of the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure, the piece contains several movements that last only a few seconds before transitioning into the next section. It was almost like a pocket symphony McCartney composed on the spot.
The song became a favorite deep cut for many fans. But it would also be the source of Lennon’s disagreements with McCartney’s writing because he wrote the majority of it on his own without any help. Considering the emphasis placed on each band member finding their creative voice during these sessions, ‘Martha My Dear’ practically previews what McCartney would do on his first solo albums.
