Beatles - Martha My Dear Meaning

Song Released: 1968

Martha My Dear Lyrics

Martha my dear though I spend my days in conversation
Please
Remember me Martha my love
Don't forget me Martha my dear

Hold your head up you silly girl look what you've done
When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to...

1. anonymous

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   Jul 30th !⃝

   This song in Ebmajor is about Paul’s English sheepdog named Martha.
   However, Paul has dishonestly wrote in a revisionist book he authored that the song was about a black girl who is downtrodden & oppressed like a slave. For multiple decades song was about his dog and then around 2010. His book comes out and he completely changed the whole story. Like I said “dishonest”
   It wasn’t still is about his sheepdog
   Martha
2. anonymous

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   Oct 6th 2014 !⃝

   Paul loved his sheep dog 'Martha' so much that he consulted with Dr. Doolittle in order to be able to speak dog, hence the lyric 'so I spend my days in conversation' with Martha, of course. The lyric 'take a good look around you' referred to Martha's tendency to lick her nads too long and too often and Paul's fear that his dog was missing the goings on of the world because her head was always buried in her sheep dog fur while cleaning herself.
   OK, I'm calling BS on myself, on this one.
3. anonymous

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   May 20th 2014 !⃝

   This song is titled "Martha my dear" after Paul McCartney's dog, Martha, but the song is about a woman whom he was engaged with. She ended the engagement leading him to state, "take a good look around you that you and me were meant to be for each other". There can multiple interpretations of the song, but I would say my theory is concrete.
4. ny7yankee

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   Nov 20th 2008 !⃝

   This is about a woman. Not sure which one at the time. Martha was Paul's sheep dog in those days, and is the result of the title of the song.
5. anonymous

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   Jun 17th 2006 !⃝

   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.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. anonymous

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   Mar 4th 2006 !⃝

   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.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. capitalist

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   Jan 25th 2006 !⃝

   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.
8. ABomb

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   Oct 31st 2005 !⃝

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