Oh! Darling – Round 2

“Oh Darling/Please believe me/I’d never do you/No harm” – On “harm” Danny is almost inside 237, calling out to Wendy, and Jack is calling out to Lloyd. In both cases the hotel is luring the men in, while a different person/ghost waits in store for them (the 237 ghost/Grady).

“I’ll never make it/Alone” – The first part of this phrase starts when Jack has just entered the ghost ball, and the word “Alone” happens just as he’s crossed back over the threshold, and just as forward Wendy is hearing his screams from his nightmare. This feels apt, if terribly sad, since Jack will have to make it alone, due to Wendy’s dawning abandonment of him (finding Danny’s bruises), which drives Jack into the arms of Lloyd. Oh! Darling is one of the strangest love songs, for the brutal violence in Paul’s voice. It’s sort of like James Blunt’s Beautiful for the way it uses simple lyrics to deceive the listener into thinking it’s a plain old love song. As the lyrics go on, we realize that the singer has already been told he wasn’t needed anymore, which caused him to lay down and die. But he’s back now! And this time he’s really sure he doesn’t want to be left. This is similar to the Jack-Wendy story generally, but especially here, since forward Jack’s nightmare will lead him to have his only moment of clarity in the entire post-madness section of the film.
Also, Danny got sucked into 237 partly because he was left alone. And his abuse is happening approximately now.
Also, on “make it” there’s a moment of the mirrorverse being totally black (the camera passing between the Gold Room and the hallway), so that we only see forward Wendy. And Wendy does make it.

“When you told me(!)/You didn’t need me anymore” – On “told”, the most intensely sung word in an intensely sung line, we cut to Jack’s nightmare face, screaming.
Also, there’s a nice pairing of Paul/Jack not being needed anymore because Wendy has now taken over both halves of Jack’s responsibilities (parent/caretaker), rendering him obsolete.
Actually, there’s another (dark) pairing of this song’s meaning and Danny’s current abuse at the hands of 237. Readers of my Lessons and Escapes section will know that forward Danny, by entering 237, has received all the lessons and keys he’ll need in order to perform his escapes. So, while Danny will certainly need Dick and Wendy to run interference to survive, he’s gone beyond needing his father to survive this place.

“Well, you know, I nearly broke down/And cried” – Jack is breaking down crying here, but only because he’s murdering his family with an axe.

“When you told me” – Again, on the “told” we cut to Wendy rushing to the rescue.

“Well you know, I nearly falled down, and died!” – This is technically on the following “Oh!” but they’re sung right together. Jack is fallin’ down and dyin’. Why does he die? Cuz he tried to dream murder his family with an axe. Moral of the story: don’t murder your family with an axe. Just don’t do it. Work it out. Find another way.
When we last heard this line (round 1) was from the moment after Hallorann’s murder, of gloating murderer face Jack. That was right before the backward fall of Hallorann, who is here arranging the conditions of his murder.

“Darling” – On the hard D of “Darling” we cut to Jack seeing his own darling (his “Wendy!? Darling!? Light of [his] life!”) alive and well.

“If you leave me/I’ll never make it/Alone” – I love this overlay, generally, because Hallorann’s light does such a good job of showing how in this moment, the hotel’s fog of war on Jack’s mind has lifted for a moment, and he’s having his moment of clarity. He’s seeing what would really come from obliterating his family. And for the last time he’s able to realize how repulsive that idea is. He descends back into the fog after Wendy mistakes Danny’s bruises for Jack’s doing.

“Believe me when I tell you/I’ll never do you/No harm” – Backward Jack is staring down at the spot where his photo will hang forever and ever. And also, this is where Hallorann gets axed. Oh! Darling was playing then, too.

“Believe me darling…When you told me(!)” – Jack telling Wendy about the contents of his dream.
Also, note that Wendy’s overlaid with AY Jackson’s Red Maple. Jack’s son. “I dreamed I…killed you and Danny.”

“Well you know, I nearly broke down and cried” – On “cried” Jack grabs his face in wretched humiliation, saying “I must be losing my mind!”

“When you told me/You didn’t need me anymore/Well you know I nearly falled down/And died” – Wendy suggests getting Jack up off the ground, the opposite of falling down and dying.
But also, this last “didn’t need me anymore” feels rather petulant over backward Jack storming away from backward Wendy’s suggestion to leave the Overlook, and even over Jack’s murder dream. It’s almost like the murder dream was his way of pushing away his family before they could push him away. Like, you can’t fire me, I quit! But also, I’m gonna murder you.

“I’ll never let you down!” – As backward Jack storms from Suite 3, he gives Danny’s room an angry sneer. In light of this lyric, it’s almost as though Jack’s failure to protect Danny, which he must understand on some level is the result of his neglect and shame, is why he’s storming away. This isn’t just letting Danny down. It’s letting him down for letting him down.

“Believe me when I tell you-WHOOO!” – On the “WHOOO!” Jack’s finger vibrates in the air exactly as long.

In the silence between songs we almost reach the point where Jack is no longer exploding at Wendy. I mention this because the next track almost perfectly segments backward Jack’s outburst from Wendy’s coming outburst over Danny’s bruises. It’s off by about four seconds. But you can read Oh! Darling as a track about Paul’s frustration with John for detonating the band, and Octopus’s Garden is definitely about Ringo’s despair over being in the band, so this transition from angry Jack (Paul) to horrified Wendy (Ringo) is darn apt.

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