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Beatles - Martha My Dear Song Meanings

This song is about Paul's dog, an Old English Sheepdog named Martha.

Submitted by: capitalist
Added: 2006-01-25 20:41:17     Rating:

Yes, but... The sheepdog is John: "my love/You have always been my inspiration...."

John was Paul's "[platonic]love," who was always Paul's inspiration.

"Hold your head up, you silly girl [John]
See what you've done [greatness and crap too]
When you find yourself in the thick of it [controversy? emotional/dependency problems?]
Help yourself to a little bit
Of what's all around you [your talent? your friends, first among them me, Paul? both and/or other things John took for granted or failed to appreciate?]
Silly girl. [Stupid!]"

Anyway, how could those lines apply to an actual dog?

"Take a good look around you
Take a good look, you're bound to see
That you and me [sic: I] were meant to be
For eachother."

John kept threatening to leave the band. Paul is trying to convince him (subliminally) to change his attitude -- "Are you mad? We're Lennon-McCartney, for God's sake!" -- but not in so many words.

It didn't work (John apparently wasn't too bright).

Just a theory.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-03-04 23:33:40     Rating:

I also heard it was written by Paul, about his dog, except that what I heard was that the dog's name was not Martha, although I can't remember what it was. And the parts that don't exactly "fit", I always assumed were things Paul had added to make the song come together. So in essence (in my opinion) the song was about his dog, but not every part of the song.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-06-17 09:07:24     Rating:

Martha My Dear is actually about Paul's muse, the "voice in his head" that gave him his creative inspiration. He nicknamed his muse Martha.

He also had a sheepdog named Martha -- after his muse. He denied that the song was about the dog.

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