Martha My Dear

(Lennon/McCartney)

Quick Facts

Composer	Paul
Lead Vocal	Paul
Recorded	Oct 1968
Length	2:28
Key	E♭
Noted Takes	1
Producer	George Martin
Engineer	Barry Sheffield

Originally released on

The Beatles (White Album)

Apple [Parlophone] — PMC 7067/8

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Story

"Martha My Dear" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was written solely by Paul McCartney, and was named after his Old English Sheepdog, Martha. [Wikipedia]

Martha My Dear is a song by The Beatles, written by McCartney and led on vocal by Paul McCartney. About Paul's Old English Sheepdog; Paul plays nearly every instrument. Within the catalogue, its piano thread connects it to Not a Second Time, You Like Me Too Much, Good Day Sunshine. Paul McCartney's piano-based composition was inspired by his sheepdog Martha, transformed into an elegant musical meditation blending domestic affection with sophisticated harmonic development. The track featured solo Paul vocal with orchestral string arrangement by George Martin, representing McCartney's classical-music aspirations within the pop-song context. The song exemplified the White Album's structural diversity and McCartney's refusal to be confined by rock-and-roll conventions. Martha My Dear exemplifies McCartney's sophisticated approach to intimate composition, appearing in Beatles discography indexes alongside other Paul originals. (Kozinn 1995, p.231)

The session work falls within the band's The White Album (1968) period, recorded 4 Oct 1968 at EMI Studios + Trident Studios (Soho). George Martin (with Chris Thomas covering) produced; Ken Scott (early), Geoff Emerick walked off — replaced engineered. For session-by-session detail, see Mark Lewisohn's account on p.159 of The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (excerpt below). Recorded at Trident Studios with Paul's vocal and piano establishing the song's foundation, followed by orchestral string overdubs conducted by George Martin. The arrangement's sophistication required careful microphone placement and precise level management during mixing. Paul's vocal phrasing emphasized the song's emotional restraint and musical maturity, with string accompaniment enhancing rather than overwhelming the delicate vocal presentation. Geoff Emerick witnessed Paul bring his sheepdog Martha to Studio Three at Trident, the very dog immortalized in Martha My Dear. (Emerick 2006, p.677) Martha My Dear showcases McCartney's multi-instrumental solo arrangement: double-tracked vocal, piano, bass, lead guitar, and orchestral strings. (MacDonald 1994, p.136)

Paul bring his sheepdog Martha to Studio Three.- Emerick / Studio anecdote, Emerick 2006, p.677

What's distinctive

One of 65 songs led primarily by Paul. Recorded approximately 28 of 34 into the The White Album (1968) sessions. Carries the unique tag ‘sheepdog’ — no other song shares it. Take count: 1 — the released master is take 1 (the Trident eight-track method), refined by overdubs across the 4–5 October sessions; the mono and stereo remixes were made “from take 1”.¹

Recording

Martha My Dear is the canonical primary-source example of a White Album track whose released master is two generations removed from the original multi-track, by Kehew/Ryan’s own framing. Of the four 1968 White Album tracks cut at Trident (Dear Prudence, Honey Pie, Martha My Dear, Savoy Truffle), only Martha My Dear and Honey Pie retained their Trident mono and stereo mixes onto the album, so “the Trident mixes of ‘Martha My Dear’ and ‘Honey Pie’ had to be ‘converted’ from NAB to CCIR at Abbey Road.” Dear Prudence and Savoy Truffle were re-mixed at Abbey Road on native CCIR machines and escaped the conversion.²
Excepting the orchestral overdub, the track may well have been a one-man Paul McCartney recording: “It is difficult to say for sure, even by referring to the master eight-track recording, but ‘Martha My Dear’ — excepting the strings and horns overdub — may well have been another one-man Paul McCartney recording,” with the 5 October Trident session adding “bass and electric guitars — both played by Paul.” Per §1 less-specific-when-uncertain, Lewisohn’s hedge (“may well have been”) is preserved — the master eight-track does not unambiguously enumerate each track’s performer.¹
That George Martin arrived at the 4 October session with a score already prepared and fourteen musicians booked lets Lewisohn deduce McCartney had supplied a home-recorded demo in advance for Martin to arrange from: “one must deduce that he had been given a home-recorded McCartney demo tape of the song in advance with which to devise his arrangement.” Lewisohn also debunks the persistent popular reading (see quote below): the song shares the sheepdog’s name but is not about the dog.¹

Equipment

Studio	Trident Studios, St Anne's Court, Soho (basic track + remixes, 4–5 Oct 1968); EMI Studio Two, Abbey Road (NAB→CCIR tape conversion, 7 Oct 1968)
Tape machine	Ampex AG-440 eight-track (Trident)²
Console	Sound Techniques 20-input / 8-output (Trident)²
Microphones	U47/U48, AKG C12, U67 introduced
Outboard / effects	EMI RS124, EMT 140 & 250 (Trident), Fairchild 660, ADT, tape flanging, fuzz, wah (Vox/CryBaby)
Guitars	Epiphone Casino, Fender Strat (Rocky), Gibson J-200 acoustic, Martin D-28, Fender Telecaster Bass
Amplifiers	Fender Twin Reverb, Fender Bassman, Vox UL730

Recording Timeline

4 October 1968 (Fri) — basic track (take 1), 14-musician orchestra + ADT vocal wipe, Trident Studios — 4.00pm–4.30am (a 12.5-hour single session). P: George Martin. E: Barry Sheffield. Recording: Martha My Dear (take 1), with a vocal line, piano and drums laid first as the basic track for the recruited musicians to follow. “Between 6.00 and 9.00pm seven musicians recorded their parts for ‘Honey Pie’; between 9.00pm and midnight 14 musicians did likewise for ‘Martha My Dear’.” The 14 were Bernard Miller, Dennis McConnell, Lou Sofier and Les Maddox (violins); Leo Birnbaum and Henry Myerscough (violas); Reginald Kilbey and Frederick Alexander (cellos); Leon Calvert, Stanley Reynolds and Ronnie Hughes (trumpets); Tony Tunstall (French horn); Ted Barker (trombone) and Alf Reece (tuba) — “Leon Calvert also contributed a flugelhorn part.” After midnight, “Paul wipe[d] the existing ‘Martha My Dear’ vocal track with a new one (later applied with ADT), adding handclaps at the same time.”¹
5 October 1968 (Sat) — Paul SI (bass + electric guitar) + mono and stereo remixes from take 1, Trident Studios — 6.00pm–1.00am. P: George Martin. E: Barry Sheffield. SI of “bass and electric guitars — both played by Paul — onto ‘Martha My Dear’.” Mono remix 1 and stereo remix 1 of Martha My Dear, both “from take 1,” were completed this session at Trident’s Sound Techniques eight-output console.¹
7 October 1968 (Mon) — EMI Studio Two tape copy; NAB→CCIR conversion, Abbey Road — 2.30pm–7.00am. P: George Martin. E: Ken Scott. 2E: Mike Sheady. “Tape copying: ‘Honey Pie’ (of remix mono 1 and of remix stereo 1); ‘Martha My Dear’ (of remix mono 1 and of remix stereo 1).” The copy was structurally required by the equalisation mismatch — the Trident mixes were “copied from the NAB equalisation system of recording preferred at Trident to the CCIR method favoured at EMI” for the banded LP master. (The session was otherwise dominated by a 67-take recording of Long Long Long.)^1,2
22 November 1968 (Fri) — UK LP release — The Beatles (double LP), Apple/Parlophone PMC 7067/8 (mono) / PCS 7067/8 (stereo), side B track 1: Martha My Dear.¹

What is certain is that ‘Martha My Dear’ was a one-man composition, a typical McCartney ballad, melodious and sentimental. Contrary to popular opinion, it was not about Paul’s sheepdog of the same name. He may have got the title from his canine friend but that was where the association ended.— Mark Lewisohn¹

Studio Notes

Trident’s Ampex 440 eight-track — the basic track (4 October) and all overdubs (4–5 October) were committed to Trident’s Ampex 440 eight-track. The Sheffield brothers had auditioned 3M’s M23 (the same model EMI acquired in 1968) but chose the Ampex, “certainly the most popular eight-track machine in America at the time,” which let the studio “rightfully claim to be ‘the first eight-track studio in London’.” EMI’s own 3M M23 had been installed at Abbey Road but the Beatles “were forbidden to use them until necessary modifications had been carried out” — the reason the group had first decamped to Trident for Hey Jude on 31 July 1968.²
Trident’s 20-input / 8-output Sound Techniques console — first eight-track desk in London — the sessions ran through Trident’s “Sound Techniques console, acquired in September of 1967. The 20-input, eight-output console was custom-made, as Trident was the first working eight-track studio in London.” Designer Geoff Frost: “Transformer input and output, so there were no DC or earth loops… I suspect our desks were popular because of, not only the low distortion, but also the gentle way they went into distortion when over-driven.” The 20 input channels had linear EMT faders while the eight group faders used “the distinctive Painton quadrant faders EMI used on their own desks” — the same console that tracked Hey Jude, Dear Prudence, Honey Pie and Savoy Truffle.²
Trident’s 1898 Bechstein grand piano — “Also available at Trident was an 1898 Bechstein grand piano, which had been hired from Jacques Samuels… The Trident Bechstein (admired for its superb sound) thus became the prominent ‘Hey Jude’ piano and subsequently appeared on numerous hits by other artists recorded at the studio, including Elton John’s ‘Your Song’… David Bowie’s ‘Changes’, and all early Queen recordings.” This is the same instrument played for Hey Jude and tracked on Honey Pie during the same 4 October session. Per §1 less-specific-when-uncertain, the specific session mics were “not written down,” so the Bechstein / Neumann U67 pairing is Trident’s documented default rather than a confirmed Martha My Dear mic-list.²
UA LA-2A compressors, EMT 140 plates, Tannoy / Lockwood monitoring — “The preferred compressors at the studio were Universal Audio LA-2As… There were two EMT 140 plates with remotes, as well as any required tape delays offered by the Ampex machines.” The post-midnight ADT-treated vocal would have routed through Trident’s house tape-delay rather than EMI’s in-house ADT. Trident’s monitors — “two Lockwood cabinets per side, with Tannoy ‘Red’ drivers inside” — were significantly brighter than Abbey Road’s Altecs, one documented reason the 5 October Trident stereo mix sounded different at Abbey Road and needed post-conversion attention.²

Releases

1968 UK mono — Apple/Parlophone PMC 7067/8 (22 November 1968) — The released-master mono is the 5 October 1968 mono remix 1 made at Trident from take 1, “converted” from NAB to CCIR equalisation at Abbey Road on or after 7 October. The released UK mono is therefore two generations removed from the Trident eight-track multi-track: (i) Trident eight-track → (ii) Trident 5 October mono remix 1 from take 1 (NAB, 1/4" tape) → (iii) Abbey Road CCIR re-recording onto a BTR machine.^1,2
1968 UK stereo — Apple/Parlophone PCS 7067/8 (22 November 1968) — The released-master stereo is the 5 October 1968 stereo remix 1 made at Trident from take 1, with the same NAB-to-CCIR conversion lineage as the mono; the 7 October EMI tape-copy session produced the CCIR-equalised master for the banded LP compilation.^1,2
1968 US mono and stereo — Apple/Capitol SWBO-101 (25 November 1968) — Continues the same Trident 5 October mono and stereo remix 1 lineages onto the US Capitol pressing; both UK and US issues derive from the same NAB-to-CCIR-converted master tapes.²
2009 Stereo Remasters (Apple/EMI, 9 September 2009) — Allan Rouse / Guy Massey / Steve Rooke remastering from the existing CCIR-equalised stereo master rather than a fresh derivation from the Trident eight-track. Per §1, this release sits outside the Lewisohn 1988 / K/R 2006 primary-source canon — provenance is documented in the 2009 box.
2018 The Beatles 50th Anniversary (Apple/UMe, 9 November 2018) — Giles Martin / Sam Okell remix returning to the Trident eight-track multi-track and re-deriving stereo, bypassing both the 5 October Trident stereo remix and the 7 October Abbey Road conversion. Per §1, this release sits outside the Lewisohn 1988 / K/R 2006 canon; the remix approach (analogue-tape return, demixing-assisted stem separation) is documented in the 2018 release notes.

Sources

Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), 159.
Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew, Recording the Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums (Houston: Curvebender Publishing, 2006), 332–35.

Frequently asked

Who wrote Martha My Dear?

“Martha My Dear” is credited to Paul McCartney (Lennon–McCartney).

Who sings lead on Martha My Dear?

The lead vocal on “Martha My Dear” is by Paul McCartney.

When was Martha My Dear recorded?

“Martha My Dear” was recorded 4–5 October 1968 at Trident Studios, London (take 1, plus overdubs and the Trident mono/stereo remixes); the Trident master was converted from NAB to CCIR equalisation at Abbey Road on 7 October 1968.^1,2

How many takes did Martha My Dear require?

One — Lewisohn's session log shows the released master as take 1 (the Trident eight-track method), with the mono and stereo remixes made “from take 1”.¹

On this page

Story

What's distinctive

Recording

Equipment

Recording Timeline

Studio Notes

Releases

Sources

Frequently asked