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Released in 1968

Martha My Dear

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on December 30, 2021

Album This song officially appears on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1968

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1968, when Paul McCartney was 26 years old)

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Other Beatles songs where Paul McCartney is the only Beatle playing

Related interviews

Related articles

From Wikipedia:

“Martha My Dear” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 eponymous double album The Beatles (also known as the “White Album”). Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was written solely by Paul McCartney about his Old English Sheepdog, Martha. It has been covered by numerous artists, including Slade, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Phish, and Les Boréades de Montréal.

Style and form

The song incorporates elements from pop rock music; it also features a music hall-inspired piano line that recurs throughout the piece, as well as a brass section. The song modulates through several keys.[page needed]

The song is notated mainly in the key of E♭ major, showing up embellished chords with jazzy sprinkled dissonances. The verse is a syncopated replicate of the first melodic section adding two extra beats, a technique similar to that used later by McCartney in “Two of Us“. Though the bridge is in the key of F major, the manner in which it abruptly sets in and exits makes it sound more out-of-the-way than it really is. […]

“Martha My Dear” was recorded over two days on October 4 and 5, 1968 at Trident Studios in London. The basic track was recorded on the first day with Paul McCartney on piano and lead vocals, George Harrison on electric guitar and Ringo Starr on drums. John Lennon was absent from this session. Later in the evening, fourteen session musicians recorded a brass and strings arrangement. Then McCartney re-recorded his lead vocal track and added handclaps. He then double-tracked both the vocals and the handclaps. On October 5, he overdubbed his bass part, and the song was mixed in mono and stereo.

You see, I just start singing some words with a tune, you know what I mean. I don’t ever write a song thinking, ‘Now I’ll write a song about…’ I do sometimes, but mainly I don’t. Mainly I’m just doing a tune and then some words come into my head, you know. And these happened to be ‘Martha My Dear, though I spend my days in conversation.’ It doesn’t mean anything, you know, but those just happened to come to my head. So that’s what this song is about… it is about my dog. I don’t mean it, you know. I don’t ever try to make a serious social comment, you know. So you can read anything you like into it, but really it’s just a song. It’s me singing to my dog. (laughs)

Paul McCartney, from interview with Radio Luxembourg, 1968

Because my mum and dad both worked and were out all day, and my brother Mike and I were at school, there was no one to look after a dog. I remember one time we heard tell of puppies being given away in the next street, so we legged it round the corner, where, sure enough, there was a litter of puppies. We took a very cute little puppy home, but my mother told us we couldn’t keep it. We were crestfallen. Totally crushed.

When I grew up and was in the Beatles, I had a house of my own in London. More than that, I actually had a housekeeper looking after the house. The time was ripe to get a dog. I had always liked the look of Old English sheepdogs, so I went along to a place in Milton Keynes, about an hour north of London, and selected this little dog. I named her Martha. I just adored her. One of the unlikely side effects was that John became very sympathetic towards me. When he came round and saw me playing with Martha, I could tell that he liked her. John was a very guarded person, which was partly where all his wit came from. He’d had a very difficult upbringing, what with his father leaving home, his uncle dying, and his mother getting killed in a traffic accident. By the time I knew him, he could be very sarcastic. Not that I couldn’t be too. It was my own way of dealing with my mother’s death, I expect. We were both quite into the witty put-down. But seeing me with Martha, with my guard down, all of a sudden he started warming to me. And so he let his guard down too.

Paul McCartney – From Paul McCartney on his lyrics: ‘Eroticism was a driving force behind everything I wrote’ | Times2 | The Times – From “The Lyrics”, 2021

Paul McCartney in "Many Years From Now", by Barry Miles:

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 quite hard for me to play, it’s a two-handed thing, like a little set piece. In fact I remember one or two people being surprised that I’d played it because it’s slightly above my level or competence really, but I wrote it as that, something a bit more complex for me to play. Then while I was blocking out words – you just mouth out sounds and some things come – I found the words ‘Martha my dear’. […]

[Martha] was a dear pet of mine. I remember John being amazed to see me being so loving to an animal. He said, ‘I’ve never seen you like that before.’ I’ve since thought, you know, he wouldn’t have. It’s only when you’re cuddling around with a dog that you’re in that mode, and she was a very cuddly dog. […]

It’s a communication of some sort of affection but in a slightly abstract way – ‘You silly girl, look what you’ve done,’ all that sort of stuff. These songs grow. Whereas it would appear to anybody else to be a song to a girl called Martha, it’s actually a dog, and our relationship was platonic, believe me.

Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now • Barry Miles

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From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] mono 5 Oct 1968 at Trident.
UK: Apple PMC 7067 white album 1968.

[b] stereo 5 Oct 1968 at Trident.
UK: Apple PCS 7067 white album 1968.
US: Apple SWBO 101 white album 1968.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46443 2 white album 1987.

This has a lot of tape hiss.

Paul McCartney and his sheep dog Martha – from Fuck yeah, Martha the Sheepdog! (tumblr.com)
From Paul McCartney on his lyrics: ‘Eroticism was a driving force behind everything I wrote’ | Times2 | The Times – McCartney with Martha, 1969 © PAUL MCCARTNEY/PHOTOGRAPHER: LINDA MCCARTNEY
From Paul McCartney Photos – Paul McCartney Beatles Life in Pictures (esquire.com) – Of course McCartney would have a dog with hair as shaggy and cool as his. Here, he’s snapped hanging out with his pooch, named Martha, in June 1967.

Lyrics

Martha my dear

Though I spend my days in conversation

Please remember me

Martha my love don't forget me

Martha my dear

Hold your head up you silly girl

Look what you've done

When you find yourself in the thick of it

Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you

Silly girl take a good look around you

Take a good look you're bound to see

That you and me were meant to be

For each other silly girl

Hold your hand out you silly girl

See what you've done

When you find yourself in the thick of it

Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you

You silly girl

Variations

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “Martha My Dear”

Live performances

“Martha My Dear” has been played in 2 soundchecks.

Going further

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present

"Martha My Dear" is one of the songs featured in the book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present," published in 2021. The book explores Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, his time with the Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. It pairs the lyrics of 154 of his songs with his first-person commentary on the circumstances of their creation, the inspirations behind them, and his current thoughts on them.

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Paul McCartney writing

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