Jimmy Scott

About

From beatlesebooks.com:

[Jimmy Scott’s] full name was Jimmy Anonmuogharan Scott Emuakpor, who was born in Sapele, Nigeria and moved to England in the 50’s, playing in many bands (such as Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames) and with various musicians (such as backing Stevie Wonder on his British 1965 tour). Paul reportedly first met Jimmy at the Bag O’Nails club in Soho, London. “He was a great friend of mine,” Paul stated in 1986, adding: “In the Sixties we used to meet in a lot of clubs and spent many a happy hour chatting until closing time. He had a great positive attitude to life and was a pleasure to work with.”

Paul McCartney named the song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” after an expression frequently used by Jimmy Scott. From Wikipedia:

The tag line “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah” was an expression used by Nigerian conga player Jimmy Scott-Emuakpor, an acquaintance of McCartney. According to Scott’s widow, as part of his stage act with his band Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Scott would call out “Ob la di”, to which the audience would respond “Ob la da”, and he would then conclude: “Life goes on.”

Following the release of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” in November 1968, Scott tried to claim a writer’s credit for the use of his catchphrase. McCartney said that the phrase was “just an expression”, whereas Scott argued that it was not a common expression and was used exclusively by the Scott-Emuakpor family. McCartney was angry that the British press sided with Scott over the issue. According to researchers Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt, in their study of the tapes from the Beatles’ filmed rehearsals at Twickenham Film Studios in January 1969, McCartney complained bitterly to his bandmates about Scott’s claim that he “stole” the phrase. Later in 1969, while in Brixton Prison awaiting trial for failing to pay maintenance to his ex-wife, Scott sent a request to the Beatles asking them to pay his legal bills. McCartney agreed to pay the amount on the condition that Scott abandon his attempt to receive a co-writer’s credit.

During the recording of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da“ in July 1968, Jimmy Scott was invited to play congas on the track. But the version on which he played was scrapped in favour of a full remake of the song.

It seems the 2008 song “Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight” also was named after an expression from Scott:

A fella who used to hang around the clubs used to say Jamaican accent , “OB-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on,” and he got annoyed when I did a song of it, ’cause he wanted a cut. I said, “Come on, Jimmy, it’s just an expression. If you’d written the song, you could have had to cut.” He also used to say, “Nothin’s too much, just outa sight.” He was just one of those guys who had great expressions, you know.

Paul McCartney – Interview with Playboy, 1984

After 1969 and his trial, Jimmy Scott continued a career in music. From beatlesebooks.com:

Jimmy Scott continued a career in music, being a featured musician on The Rolling Stones album “Beggars Banquet” as well as working with touring bands such as Bad Manners and his own Ob-la-di Ob-la-da Band. He also gave African music and drumming workshops in east London in the 70’s in association with the Pyramid Arts project. Tragically, in 1986, he caught pneumonia while on an American tour with the group Bad Manners. Fellow band member Doug Trendle explains: “When he got back to Britain he was strip-searched at the airport because he was Nigerian. They left him naked for two hours. The next day he was taken into hospital and he died. Nobody is too sure how old he was because he lied about his age when he got his first British passport. He was supposed to be around 64.”

Last updated on August 4, 2021