The Beatles’ ska-inspired Ob La Di Ob La Da certified silver in the UK
The emerging sounds of ska and one of its exponents, Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker, were the inspiration behind the 1968 single Ob La Di Ob La Da by the Beatles.
Written by members John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the song was included on the band’s 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as The White Album).
Last Friday, the song was certified silver in the United Kingdom for sales and streaming equivalent of 200,000 units. The digital release was in 2010.
Ironically, while Ob La Di Ob La Da was a hit in multiple European countries in 1968 — #1 in Austria, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, West Germany and Switzerland, it was never released in the United Kingdom and the United States at that time.
Its US release was in 1976, where the song peaked at #46 on the Billboard Hot 100.
According to published reports, McCartney wrote the song when reggae was becoming popular in Britain. British author Ian MacDonald describes it as “McCartney’s rather approximate tribute to the Jamaican ska idiom. The character of Desmond in the lyrics, from the opening line “Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace”, was a reference to reggae singer Desmond Dekker, who had recently toured the UK.
Desmond’s name is referenced seven times throughout the song. Months earlier, along with the Aces, he toured the United Kingdom on the strength of the UK chart hits 007 Shanty Town and the chart topper Israelites, which was released in 1968.
Ob La Di Ob La Da was previously certified gold in New Zealand.
A 1968 version of the song by the group Marmalade topped charts in Austria, New Zealand, Norway and went as far as #2 in Switzerland.
The Beatles in London in 1968.
Desmond Dekker in the 1960s.
