| "Hey Bulldog" | |
|---|---|
 Sheet music cover | |
| Song bythe Beatles | |
| from the albumYellow Submarine | |
| Released | 13 January 1969 (1969-01-13) |
| Recorded | 11 February 1968 |
| Studio | EMI, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:09 |
| Label | Apple |
| Songwriter(s) | Lennon–McCartney |
| Producer(s) | George Martin |
| Promotional film | |
| "Hey Bulldog" onYouTube | |
"Hey Bulldog" is a song by the Englishrock bandthe Beatles released on their 1969 soundtrack albumYellow Submarine. Credited toLennon–McCartney, but written primarily byJohn Lennon, it was finished in the recording studio by both Lennon andPaul McCartney.[1] 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 pianoriff.
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.[2]
John Lennon began composing "Hey Bulldog", originally "Hey Bullfrog",[3] afterUnited Artists requested another song bythe Beatles forYellow Submarine, the upcomingsoundtrack album for theiranimated film of the same name.[4][5]Demo recordings made in the winter of 1967–68 at hisKenwood estate inWeybridge include the melody that later became the song'schorus, as well as a section working out the "she can talk to me" passage.[6]
The finished composition of "Hey Bulldog" is incommon time (4
4) and employs a shifting key,[7] changing betweenB major,A major andB minor.[8] Commentators have variously described the song ashard rock,[9][10]blues-based rock,[11]psychedelic rock,[12]pop rock,[13]acid rock[14] or a simplerock number.[15][16] In a beginning reminiscent of the Beatles' cover ofBarrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)",[17] the song's opening pianoriff is played inoctaves before being doubled in a higher register by two guitars and a lower bass register.[18] The song includes twobridges and two middleverses, 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.[7] The song's lyrics utilize heavyword play,[7] which Lennon later said "[mean] nothing".[5]
The Beatles went toEMI's Studio Three on 11 February 1968 to record a promotional film for "Lady Madonna",[4] but decided upon arrival to record a new song instead.[19] Lennon suggested his half-completed idea "Hey Bullfrog",[4] which he andPaul McCartney finished while in the studio.[3] McCartney later recalled misreading Lennon's handwritten lyrics, changing "measured out in news" to "measured out in you", which Lennon preferred to the original.[20][21]
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.[22]
George Martinproduced the session, assisted bybalance engineerGeoff Emerick.[19] The camera crew remained in the studio with the band as they recorded the basic track,[23] featuring piano, drums, tambourine, bass guitar[19] and rhythm guitar.[23] As the band neared the end of the basic track for "Hey Bulldog", McCartney attempted to make Lennon laugh by barking like a dog.[21][note 1] Lennon changed the song's name to "Hey Bulldog",[4] though the title phrase does not appear until the outro.[7]
After the band had recorded ten takes, the last attempt was marked "best".[19] The camera crew left as the band continued working on the song with variousoverdubs onto take ten,[23] including off-beat drums fromRingo Starr, a distortedGibson SG fromGeorge Harrison for the song's intro,double tracked vocals from Lennon and a harmony vocal from McCartney.[4] Borrowing Harrison's SG, Lennon recorded a lead guitar solo.[25][note 2]
That was a really fun song. We were all into sound texture in those days and during the mixing we put ADT (automatic double tracking) on one of the "What did he say? Woof woof" bits near the end of the song. It came out really well.[19]
After the band finished adding overdubs, Martin and Emerick mixed the song formono twice. While the Beatles would oftenad lib offhandedly at the end of recordings, their other songs faded out before this became audible.[19] Martin and Emerick decided to instead leave the dog barks, shouts and screams in the final recording,[19] at one point adding heavycompression to some of Lennon's dialogue and dog noises.[27] They raised the song in pitch slightly, running the playback fast. With the mono version intended for use in the animated film, Emerick returned to Studio Three on 29 October 1968 to mix the song forstereo, this version being included on the original soundtrack LP.[23]
Apple releasedYellow Submarine in the US on 13 January 1969, with "Hey Bulldog" sequenced as the fourth track, between "All Together Now" and "It's All Too Much".[28] Release in the UK followed four days later.[29] Emerick praised McCartney's bass playing on the recording, describing it as his most inventive since that ofSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[26]
During these sessions, a film crew photographed the Beatles recording the song atEMI's Abbey Road studios for a promotional film to be released during their scheduled four-monthretreat to India (which was later edited together as a promotional film for the single "Lady Madonna").[30]
The song was used in a segment of the animated filmYellow Submarine. Initially, it appeared only in some European theatrical prints. It was cut from the American version by the movie's producerAl Brodax as he and the group felt the film was too long.[31] 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 (titled1+) of the Beatles' 2015 video compilation1.[32]
According toWalter Everett,[4] except where noted:
In 2018, the music staff ofTime Out London ranked "Hey Bulldog" at number 28 on their list of the best Beatles songs.[2]Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 81 in its list of the 100 best Beatles songs.[33]
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