Oh! Darling

"Oh! Darling" is a song of The Beatles composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and appearing as the fourth song on the Abbey Road album in 1969. Its working title was "Oh! Darling (I'll Never Do You No Harm)" McCartney later said of recording the track, "When we were recording 'Oh! Darling' I came into the studios early every day for a week to sing it by myself because at first my voice was too clear. I wanted it to sound as though I'd been performing it on stage all week." He would only try the song once each day, if it was not right he would wait until the next day. In order to make sure he got every precious first take right, McCartney would practice the song in the bathtub. He once lamented that "five years ago I could have done this in one take" In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, John Lennon said, "'Oh! Darling' was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better—it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he's going to sing it." George Harrison described the song as "a typical 1950s–'60s-period song because of its chord structure."Oh! Darling" appears to have drawn heavily on the New Orleans rhythm and blues sound popularised during the 1950s and early 1960s by African-American musicians like Fats Domino; it also seems to have drawn on the Louisiana swamp blues sound found in songs like Slim Harpo's "Raining In My Heart." Furthermore, it may have drawn on the related Louisiana genre known today as swamp pop, whose distinctive sound bears an uncanny resemblance to the basic structure of "Oh! Darling" — so much so that some in Louisiana originally thought the song had been recorded by a local musician. (When swamp pop musician John Fred met the Beatles in London in the 1960s, he was shocked to learn that "they were very familiar with Louisiana music.") Fittingly, swamp pop musician Jay Randall eventually covered "Oh! Darling" for the Lanor label of Church Point, Louisiana

[Verse 1] Oh! Darling, please believe me I'll never do you no harm Believe me when I tell you I'll never do you no harm [Verse 2] Oh! Darling, if you leave me I'll never make it alone Believe me when I beg you (Wooo!) Don't ever leave me alone [Bridge] When you told me, you didn't need me anymore Well, you know I nearly broke down and cried When you told me, that you didn't need me anymore Well, you know I nearly fell down and died [Verse 3] Oh! Darling, if you leave me I'll never make it alone Believe me when I tell you I'll never do you no harm (Believe me, darling!) [Bridge] When you told me (Woo!) you didn't need me anymore Well, you know I nearly broke down and cried When you told me you didn't need me anymore Well, you know I nearly fell down and died [Verse 4] Oh! Darling, please believe me I'll never let you down (Oh! Believe me, darling) Believe me when I tell you I'll never do you no harm