"Martha My Dear" is a Beatles song written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), which first appeared on the double album The Beatles (more popularly known as The White Album).

The song features a music hall-inspired piano line that recurs throughout the piece, as well as a brass band. Typical of Beatles songs of the period, the song modulates smoothly through several keys.

Martha My Dear was no doubt inspired by the tune and lyrics of M'appari' tutt' amor from the opera MARTHA by Friedrich Von Flotow(1812 - 1883), first performed in Vienna in 1847, and thereafter appears in the following films: Rosalie (Nelson Eddy), 1937 This Time for Keeps (Lauritz Melchior; traditional and swing versions by Johnnie Johnston), 1947 The Toast of New Orleans (Mario Lanza), 1950 The Great Caruso (Mario Lanza), 1951 The Seven Hills of Rome (Mario Lanza), 1958 Also performed in recitals by Fritz Wunderlich and by Pavarotti ).

One web site [lyrics.html" target="_blank">http://www.james-joyce-music.com/song12_lyrics.html] attributes the lyrics to James Joyce (1882-1941), but the opera was performed 35 years before Mr. Joyce's birth, and some 120 years before the Beatles hit. The similarities in sentiment are also unmistakeable. It is reported by others that the title "Martha My Dear" was inspired by McCartney's _Old English Sheepdog, also named Martha. McCartney has said, cryptically, that the song itself is probably about McCartney's longtime love interest Jane Asher. Asher broke off their engagement in mid-1968 when she found McCartney in bed with an Apple employee. McCartney chides her with the lyrics in the song "...when you find yourself in the thick of it, help yourself to a bit of what is all around you..." Asher inspired many of McCartney's songs, including Here, There, and Everywhere and We Can Work It Out. (A later "Martha" lyric explains, "You have always been my inspiration..." McCartney has also said, cryptically, that the song is about his "muse"—the voice in his head that tells him what words and music to write. )

McCartney's 1993 live album, Paul Is Live, features one of Martha's offspring on its cover.