Paul McCartney’s Moped Accident and the Drunk Doctor That Inspired the Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon”

The Beatles have some one-of-a-kind songs in their catalog. However, one of the tunes that is unlike any of the others is their storybook Western ballad “Rocky Raccoon.” Seemingly the culmination of many experiences Paul McCartney underwent, the tune is a spoof on the songwriting tradition as it implements subversive lyrics and tropes bound to get a laugh from listeners.

Regardless of the tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the song is a melancholic ballad about unrequited love. Though, when taken at face value it seems like a psychedelic take on one of America’s most decorated genres. All things aside, the inspiration behind this song has nothing to do with Westerns or Raccoon skin-wearing outlaws. Rather, it all derives from a crashed moped and the drunk doctor who sewed McCartney back together.

Paul McCartney’s 1965 Moped Accident

On a routine ride between his father’s and his cousin Betty’s house, McCartney fell off his moped and busted his lip open. Subsequently, he made it to Betty’s, they then called for medical help, and the doctor “arrived stinking of gin,” said McCartney.

McCartney also recalls that after the doctor threaded the needle the first time, he then said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I have to do that again,” per The Lyrics 1956 to Present. Following the botched stitching, McCartney had a bump on his lip for a long while, and is what caused him to grow his infamous mustache.

This event was surely quite a pain for McCartney, however, if it wasn’t for this accident and the drunk doctor McCartney never would have gotten the inspiration for the song. Stating in his book, “That’s where I think this ‘stinking of gin’ image came from – from this little painful memory.” How McCartney pulls “Rocky Raccoon” from this experience shows the true inner workings of an imaginative writer at their best.

A Western—Why Not?

The moped accident proves there was really no genuine motivation to make the song a Western ballad. Rather, McCartney just had a lot of fun with the idea and ran with it. After all, not everything has to be some deeply profound inspiration that hits you in the face like a semi. “I just tried to keep it amusing, really; it’s me writing a play, a little one-act play giving them most of the dialogue,” said McCartney in The Lyrics 1956 to Present.

So, there you go folks, one of the most unique Beatles songs was inspired by a trashed doctor and Paul McCartney’s lyrical self-indulgence. That being so, would we want it any other way?

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