"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, released on their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"). Short and simple, it was written and sung by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon–McCartney. At 1:42, "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" comprises 34 bars of a twelve-bar blues idiom. It begins with three different percussion elements (a hand banging on the back of an acoustic guitar, handclaps, and drums) and features McCartney's increasingly raucous vocal repeating a simple lyric with only two different lines. Background McCartney wrote the song after seeing two monkeys copulating in the street while on retreat in Rishikesh, India, with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He marvelled in the simplicity of this natural scenario when compared to the emotional turmoil of human relationships. He later said: When asked what inspired the song during a 2001 interview with NPR's Terry Gross, Paul quipped "that was inspired by... Lord knows what. Probably sexual feelings, Terry!" Recording On 9 October 1968, while John Lennon and George Harrison were working on two other songs for the album, McCartney recorded five takes of the song in Studio One at EMI Studios. Unlike its heavy blues result, the song began as an acoustic guitar number with McCartney alternating by verse between gentle and strident vocal styles. On this first night, McCartney played all the instruments himself. This version of the song can be found on the Beatles' Anthology 3. On 10 October, McCartney and Ringo Starr finished the song, Starr adding drums and handclaps, McCartney adding more vocals, bass guitar, and lead guitar. Lennon and Harrison were again occupied, supervising string overdubs for "Piggies" and "Glass Onion". Lennon's reaction Upon learning about the recording, Lennon was unhappy that McCartney recorded the song without him. In his 1980 interview with Playboy, he was asked about it: Playboy: "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" Lennon: That's Paul. He even recorded it by himself in another room. That's how it was getting in those days. We came in and he'd made the whole record. Him drumming . Him playing the piano. Him singing. But he couldn't—he couldn't—maybe he couldn't make the break from the Beatles. I don't know what it was, you know. I enjoyed the track. Still, I can't speak for George, but I was always hurt