The Beatles song that sent John Lennon storming out of the studio

John Lennon and Paul McCartney are two of the most beloved figures to ever emerge from this city. From the early days of The Beatles, the duo formed a songwriting force that some regard as the greatest ever in popular music.

But as we all know, the harmony between these two creative geniuses didn't last. In a new article for Far Out Magazine, journalist Jack Whatley has looked into the recording of one particular McCartney track that made him so furious that he left the studio in disgust.

As Whatley describes, as the split grew between Lennon and McCartney, they moved from writing songs together to working separately on their numbers before coming together in the recording studio with George and Ringo to record them. The rule of thumb was generally that whoever wrote the song got to sing it.

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The article explains how this process had initially seen McCartney take the lead on the creative process, most notably with the creation of the masterpiece that was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club. While the album is one of the most beloved amongst Beatles fans to this day, John Lennon later said it was his least favourite album - partly because of how dominant his fellow songwriter was in the creative process.

Lennon tried to reassert his role in the creative process by the time the band came together for their next album, The Beatles - known to most fans as The White Album. But as Whatley points out, there was one track on the album that was distinctly of McCartney's style - the always catchy 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da.'

Lennon was said to never be a fan of the song, but his anger reportedly reached boiling point during the recording of the ditty. Writing in his 2006 memoir, Geoff Emerick, a recording engineer at Abbey Road studios, recalled the moment.

He claimed that Lennon had 'openly and vocally detested the song', labelling it 'more of Paul's granny music.' Emerick claimed John went 'ballistic, ranting and raving' before storming out of the studio, with Yoko following close behind.

In his book The Art of and Music of John Lennon, Peter Doggett wrote that for McCartney, the row in the studio was a turning point for the band, reportedly stating: “There was a lot of friction during that album. We were just about to break up, and that was tense in itself.”

Despite the tensions within the band, The White Album went on to sell 14 million copies.

In sales, The White Album by The Beatles has sold 14 million copies. Far Out Magazine ranked it as their third most commercially successful album behind Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper's.