[talkSAFT]

O Bla Di

Baffles me when I hear Beatles fans disparaging that song (you're not the first).  It was a homage to the ska sound which was just starting to make the airwaves in this country: "Desmond" is a nod to Desmond Dekker, and "Molly" was Millie Small of My Boy Lollipop fame.  I don't know of any other band who pre-empted them in copying that sound, so you can legitimately argue that Obla Di Obla Da is the first instance of blending British pop with Jamaican ska/reggae; a tradition which ended up influencing damn near every band worth listening to for the next forty-odd years

To be honest, Ska'd, I never listened too carefully to the words - I just thought it was their token silly song, which Paul managed to squeeze onto each album. Go back about 3 years earlier, though, and "She's a Woman" had the hint of Bluebeat about it, about the same time as Millie.

This morning my Top 3 are:-

Old Brown Shoe
Something
Within You Without You