Sir Paul McCartney is one of the most successful and beloved musicians of all time, and also one of the most famous celebrity animal rights activists.
So it’s no surprise that sometimes, his love for songwriting and animals come together in the best ways — including one classic Beatles tune that might sound like a traditional love song, but is actually about Paul’s pet dog!
Paul’s sheepdog
1965 was a major year for The Beatles. Continuing their reign as the biggest music act in the world, they released hit albums Help! and Rubber Soul while embarking on their first US tour.
It was also a major personal year for Paul, who purchased a new home on Cavendish Avenue in London, where he would compose some of the Beatles’ greatest songs.
And to keep him company, he also bought an Old English Sheepdog puppy whom he named Martha.
Martha became one of his most beloved companions, bringing out a joyous side of him his bandmates had never seen before.
“She was a dear pet of mine,” McCartney once said, per the Liverpool Echo. “I remember John being amazed to see me being so loving to an animal. He said, ‘I’ve never seen you like that before.’ I’ve since thought, you know, he wouldn’t have.”
“It’s only when you’re cuddling around with a dog that you’re in that mode, and she was a very cuddly dog.”
“Martha My Dear”
And Paul’s love for his dog is immortalized in a Beatles tune he named after her: “Martha My Dear.”
The memorable tune was part of the Beatles’ landmark self-titled 1968 album, better known as The White Album. At first listen, it’s easy to mistake it for being a love song about a human woman named Martha: “Martha, my love, don’t forget me.”
But Paul has confirmed that “Martha My Dear” was in fact inspired by his sheepdog. And if you look closer at the lyrics, it starts to make sense:
Hold your head up, you silly girl
Look what you’ve done
When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you
Silly girl
In his book The Lyrics, McCartney said he wrote the song while challenging himself to write a complex piano composition, challenging his skills.
“While I was blocking out words – you just mouth out sounds and some things come – I found the words ‘Martha My Dear,'” he wrote.
“The funny thing is, at the time almost no one listening to the song knew that Martha was a dog.” (He also wrote the song was partly inspired by a relative who was having an affair, but we prefer to think of it as just a song about his dog.)
Martha’s legacy
Martha lived to be 15 years old and passed away in 1981. Throughout her life, she was a loyal companion to Paul McCartney during a time of significant creative and personal change. This period included the release of the Beatles’ most influential records, the band’s tumultuous breakup, the start of his solo career, his marriage to Linda McCartney, and the assassination of John Lennon.
Even after Martha passed away, her legacy continued: one of Martha’s puppies, named Arrow, appeared with Paul on the cover of his 1993 album Paul is Live.
And Martha isn’t the only one of McCartney’s dogs with a song named for them: Paul also had a Labrador Retriever named Jet, who inspired the hit 1974 Wings song of the same name. Jet was reportedly the “runt of a litter” birthed by his dog, and was named for his jet-black fur.
“She proceeded to walk into the garage and have this litter. Seven little black puppies, perfect little black Labradors, and she’s not black, she’s tan,” McCartney said. “So we worked out it must have been a black Labrador.”
It’s likely that Paul’s love for his own pets helped inspire his decades of animal advocacy. Paul went vegetarian in 1975 and has been vegan since 2007. He has been a vocal critic of slaughterhouses and the meat industry.
His late wife Linda was also an animal advocate throughout her life, and their daughter Stella McCartney is a prominent fashion designer who uses ethical and animal-free materials in her designs.
And Paul’s love for dogs continues to this day: in 2023, he and his wife Nancy Shevell adopted a shelter dog named Rover from animal rescue nonprofit The Labelle Foundation.
Loyal dog Martha definitely made a big impression on Paul McCartney, and is forever immortalized in the classic song “Martha My Dear.”
Please share this story if you were surprised by this Beatles fact! 🎶
