Who’s got ten fingers and is typing out a blog post about a song that will help you feel good on this Monday.
This chick!
When I was eleven years old, my maternal grandmother got one of those really cool Casio keyboards that had the built in songs on them. I’d seen these keyboards before, but I’d never actually played one. I wound up having it in my home for two years while I took piano lessons. After I stopped in eighth grade, my grandma took it back to her house. I think it went to my little cousin next, because she was learning piano.
Many years later, I wound up buying one of my own and started re-teaching myself piano. It is at my parents’ house, and I really need to bring it to my house, clean it off, and start playing again. I really enjoy piano.
I hated lessons.
I’ve always been a little too “march to the beat of my own drum.” Or piano.
Anyway, on my grandparents’ Casio, the preset songs included some fun tunes, including a song that I recognized from watching the TV show Life Goes On so many years ago (well, at that time, it had only been off the air for a few years).
Remember that show? It featured a young man with Down Syndrome in a major television role, which was a rarity at the time. Also featured on the show? A very catchy theme song that I didn’t find out until years later was a Beatles song.
Imagine that?
“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is a song featured on The Beatles’ 1960 White Album. The song was released in 1968 worldwide, with the exception of the United Kingdom and the United States, where it wasn’t released until 1976.
I’m just as puzzled as you are.
Though it is credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, it was actually written only by Paul McCartney. The song is about highlife and reggae music, which was becoming popular in Britain at the time. “Desmond” in the song is a reference to the first internationally renowned Jamaican ska and reggae performer, Desmond Dekker. The lyric “ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah” was an expression used by McCartney’s friend and Nigerian conga player, Jimmy Scott-Emuakpor. The song was recorded in July 1968.
No word on who “Molly” is, though. We just know she’s the singer in a band.
Upon its 1976 release in the United States, “Ob-la-di Ob-la-da” reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #39 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. However, it earned the top spot of “Worst Song” in a 2004 poll organized by Mars (yes, the candy company).
It’s a pretty fun song, and that’s really all there is too it. A song about a happy couple making music, raising their kids, and finding their happiness. Amidst breakup songs, this one at least gives us hope of a happy couple.
And if you want some fun, take Ob-la-di-bla-da.
Methinks that’s a drug reference…
Oh well.
Anyway, take a dose of this song, and see if it puts you in a good mood too!
Happy ever after in the marketplace?
Molly and Desmond certainly are!
It’s a cute song. Just don’t think about it too much.
Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da!
Have a great Monday, and enjoy the music!
I remember “Life Goes On” very well. It was a fantastic show. In fact, one of my friends has Down Syndrome … and I was actually in some classes with this person whenever I was in high school.
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