"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 both Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was recorded during the filming of the "Lady Madonna" promotional film, and, with "Lady Madonna", is one of the few Beatles songs based on a piano riff.
Background and composition
John Lennon began composing "Hey Bulldog", originally "Hey Bullfrog", after United Artists requested another song by the Beatles for Yellow Submarine, the upcoming soundtrack album for their animated film of the same name. Demo recordings made in the winter of 1967–68 at his Kenwood estate in Weybridge include the melody that later became the song's chorus, as well as a section working out the "she can talk to me" passage.
The finished composition of "Hey Bulldog" is in common time () and employs a shifting key, blues-based rock, psychedelic rock, pop rock, acid rock or a simple rock number. In a beginning reminiscent of the Beatles' cover of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)", the song's opening piano riff is played in octaves before being doubled in a higher register by two guitars and a lower bass register. The song includes two bridges and two middle verses, with the bridge closer in style to a refrain. The song's introductory riff repeats throughout the song, appearing at the end of the refrain and the outro, as well as further influencing the refrain.
George Martin produced the session, assisted by balance engineer Geoff Emerick. The camera crew remained in the studio with the band as they recorded the basic track, featuring piano, drums, tambourine, bass guitar and rhythm guitar. As the band neared the end of the basic track for "Hey Bulldog", McCartney attempted to make Lennon laugh by barking like a dog.
After the band had recorded ten takes, the last attempt was marked "best". The camera crew left as the band continued working on the song with various overdubs onto take ten, including off-beat drums from Ringo Starr, a distorted Gibson SG from George Harrison for the song's intro, double tracked vocals from Lennon and a harmony vocal from McCartney. Borrowing Harrison's SG, Lennon recorded a lead guitar solo.
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. 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.
Personnel
According to Walter Everett, except where noted:
- John Lennon double tracked vocals, piano, lead guitar
- Paul McCartney harmony vocal, bass, tambourine
- George Harrison rhythm guitar
- Ringo Starr drums
Accolades
In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked "Hey Bulldog" at number 28 on their list of the best Beatles songs. Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 81 in its list of the 100 best Beatles songs.