For the first half of the Beatles’ career, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were inseparable. They penned many songs together, and even if they weren’t true collaborations, they honored their frequent songwriting partner with a credit. They became an example to follow in the rock community. Unfortunately as the band’s relationship began to sour, Lennon and McCartney started to put some distance between them.
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It seemed to be a mutual, if unspoken, agreement, but one action McCartney took in the studio reportedly hurt Lennon. Find out which song rubbed the late, great Beatle the wrong way, below.
The Paul McCartney Penned Beatles Track That Hurt John Lennon
Why don’t we d-do it in the road? Mm
Why don’t we do it in the road? Ah
Why don’t we do it in the road? Mm
Why don’t we do it in the road? Mm
No one will be watching us
Why don’t we do it in the road?
“Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” is a jaunty, bluesy number featured on the Beatles’ “White Album.” McCartney recorded this entire song alone. He became a one man band, which would later serve him in his solo career.
McCartney got the idea for the simple lyrics after witnessing two monkeys in India. According to Macca “a male just hopped on to the back of this female and gave her one, as they say in the vernacular. Within two or three seconds he hopped off again.”
“That’s how simple the act of procreation is,” McCartney added. “We have horrendous problems with it, and yet animals don’t.”
Lennon loved this McCartney track. His bandmates found him humming it from time to time. But, buried beneath that reverence was a hurt. Lennon was confused as to why McCartney would exclude him from the recording process of “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?”
“He even recorded it by himself in another room,” Lennon once said. “That’s how it was getting in those days. We came in and he’d made the whole record. Him drumming. Him playing the piano. Him singing. But he couldn’t – he couldn’t – maybe he couldn’t make the break from The Beatles. I don’t know what it was, you know. I enjoyed the track. Still, I can’t speak for George, but I was always hurt when Paul would knock something off without involving us. But that’s just the way it was then.”
McCartney responded by pointing out that Lennon often recorded songs by himself as well.
“It wasn’t a deliberate thing,” McCartney said in response. “Anyway, [John] did the same with ‘Revolution 9’. He went off and made that without me. No one ever says that. John is the nice guy and I’m the b*****d. It gets repeated all the time.”
Despite the rift that it caused in the Lennon/McCartney partnership, we can see why it was so beloved amongst the group. Check out this track, below.
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
Why don’t we d-do it, do it in the road?
Why don’t we do it in the road?
No one will be watching us
Why don’t we do it in the road?
(Photo by Hans J. Hoffmann/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
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