# The silly Beatles song that somehow caused a major rift in 1968: “I’m the bastard”

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-silly-beatles-song-that-somehow-caused-a-major-rift-in-1968-im-the-bastard/
- Published: 2026-10-26T22:06:13+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-26T23:27:59+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-beatles-song-caused-a-major-rift-1968/
- Topics: Americas, Celebrity, Entertainment, Music, World

## Key points

- McCartney made the song largely on his own.
- Lennon felt hurt at being left out.
- Ringo Starr played drums and accepted the arrangement.

## Summary

While The Beatles recorded the 1968 White Album, growing tensions and increasingly separate studio work meant some songs were made by only part of the band. Paul McCartney recorded “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” largely by himself, turning an observation of monkeys mating in India into a deliberately primitive song about sex, freedom and social convention.

John Lennon later said he felt hurt that McCartney had completed the track without involving the others, though his objection was mainly about being left out. McCartney played almost all the instruments, while Ringo Starr played drums and recalled that the recording was just the two of them. The episode reflected a wider strain in how the band worked, even as Starr said there were no problems with the song being released as a Beatles track.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.