“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.

 

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Bài viết do The Labelle Foundation Alumnis (@labellealumni) chia sẻ

Loyal dog Martha definitely made a big impression on Paul McCartney, and is forever immortalized in the classic song “Martha My Dear.”

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