Hey Bulldog

"Hey Bulldog" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles released on their 1969 soundtrack album Yellow Submarine. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, but written primarily by John Lennon, it was finished in the recording studio by Lennon and McCartney.[5] The song was recorded during the filming of the "Lady Madonna" promotional film, and, like "Lady Madonna", is one of the few Beatles songs based on a piano riff.

"Hey Bulldog"
Sheet music cover
Song by the Beatles
from the album Yellow Submarine
PublishedNorthern Songs
Released13 January 1969 (1969-01-13)
Recorded11 February 1968
StudioEMI, London
Genre
Length3:09
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin
Music video
"Hey Bulldog" on YouTube

It had a working title of "She Can Talk To Me". For many years, "Hey Bulldog" was a relatively obscure and overlooked song in the Beatles' catalogue; it has since been reappraised by fans and a number of critics and musicians as one of the band's best rock songs.

Overview

A few days before the recording session on 11 February 1968, Paul McCartney played drums on a Paul Jones rocker called "The Dog Presides", which had barking sound effects. During the Beatles recording, McCartney started to bark without warning.[6] The next lines, initially written as "Hey Bullfrog" by Lennon, were changed mid-song to "Hey Bulldog", which became the song's title.[7]

Geoff Emerick, the Beatles' engineer, praised the Beatles' performance on the song. In his book Here, There and Everywhere, he writes: "Paul's bass line was probably the most inventive of any he'd done since Pepper, and it was really well played.

"Harrison's solo was sparkling, too – one of the few times that he nailed it right away. His amp was turned up really loud, and he used one of his new fuzz boxes, which made his guitar absolutely scream."[8]

During these sessions, a film crew photographed the Beatles recording the song at EMI's Abbey Road studios for a promotional film to be released during their scheduled four-month retreat to India (which was later edited together as a promotional film for the single "Lady Madonna").[9]

The song was used in a segment of the animated film Yellow Submarine. Initially, it appeared only in some European theatrical prints. It was cut from the American version by the movie's producer Al Brodax as he and the group felt the film was too long.[10] It was restored for the film's 1999 re-release. To promote the reissue, Apple went back to the original footage shot for the "Lady Madonna" promo film and restructured it for use as a promotional clip for "Hey Bulldog" (as it is possible to identify what they were playing, and therefore possible to synchronise the music with the original footage). The 1999 clip was included in the three-disc versions (titled 1+) of the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1.[11]

McCartney spoke fondly of "Hey Bulldog" in 1994:

I remember [it] as being one of John's songs and I helped him finish it off in the studio, but it's mainly his vibe. There's a little rap at the end between John and I, we went into a crazy little thing at the end. We always tried to make every song different because we figured, 'Why write something like the last one? We've done that.' We were on a ladder so there was never any sense of stepping down a rung or even staying on the same rung, it was better to move one rung ahead.

Personnel

Accolades

In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked "Hey Bulldog" at number 27 on their list of the best Beatles songs.[12]

References
  1. DeRogatis, J. (2003). Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Milwaukie, Michigan: Hal Leonard. p. 48. ISBN 0-634-05548-8.
  2. O'Grady, Terence J. (1 May 1983). The Beatles, a musical evolution. Twayne. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-8057-9453-3. Finally, Lennon's "Hey Bulldog," also recorded in January, 1968, is a rhythm and blues-influenced pop-rock song...
  3. Mojo. 150–153. EMAP Performance Limited. 2006.
  4. Neaverson, Bob (March 1999). The Beatles Movies. Cassell. p. 94. ISBN 9780304337972. One of Lennon's most powerful acid-rock songs to date ('Hey Bulldog')...
  5. "Beatles Songwriting & Recording Database: Yellow Submarine". Beatlesinterviews.org. 17 January 1969. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  6. "81 – 'Hey Bulldog'". Rolling Stone. 100 Greatest Beatle Songs. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  7. Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology. Oxford University Press. pp. 155. ISBN 0-1951-2941-5.
  8. Emerick, Geoff; Massey, Howard (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles. New York City: Gotham. pp. 222–23. ISBN 978-1-59240-179-6.
  9. Womack, Kenneth (2014). The Beatles Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 514. ISBN 978-0-3133-9172-9.
  10. "Article". Billboard. Vol. 111 no. 37. 11 September 1999. p. 25.
  11. Rowe, Matt (18 September 2015). "The Beatles 1 To Be Reissued With New Audio Remixes... And Videos". The Morton Report. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  12. Time Out London Music (24 May 2018). "The 50 Best Beatles songs". Time Out London. Retrieved 11 December 2018.

Sources
  • MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-84413-828-3.
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