Who Played the Piano on Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da?
I’m sure by now that most of us are well aware of who The Beatles are and how they made us all sing and dance to their music. Well, what we may not be all aware of is the story and controversies behind one of their greatest hits Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.
Rumors has it that the song was about cross dressing and drugs and that during the time this song was being written and recorded, The Beatles weren’t in proper sync with each other. John Lennon has been openly expressing his annoyance with the music so while the song was an instant hit, the controversies it has with it also created its own hit-of-the-town-talk.
So what does the song really mean? Where did it originally came from? With the upbeat mix of instruments used, one can’t help but wonder: who played the drums, the percussions, the bass, and for piano enthusiasts, who played the piano on Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da?
Originally, McCartney got the idea of the song from a friend who keeps saying “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, bra!” And in contrast to what the reviews were claiming, the song wasn’t about cross dressing and drugs. It turned out that “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” means nothing nasty but “life goes on” in Nigerian.
The song took quite a long time to be finalized because the members can’t decide as to how the beat should be played. Then there came a time when Lennon was said to be high on marijuana and as it turned out, he was the one who played the piano on Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da in a much louder and faster beat. That’s when they decided to use that same beat since the members liked it better. During the recording, McCartney accidentally sang “Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face” instead of “Molly”. This really created a buzz from the public thinking it was such a gay song when in fact, the members just really opted not to change it for the song to have the desired effect and guess what? That’s just what they got!
So while Paul was the primary composer and vocalist, Ringo and George did the drums, the bongos, the percussions, the bass and the hand claps. John, on the other hand did the backing vocals and yes, the one who played the piano in Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da faster and louder. If not for John, then perhaps, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’s beat wouldn’t be that great that it couldn’t create a frenzy of dancing party people out of us all!