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 both Lennon and Paul 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 piano riff.

"Hey Bulldog"
Sheet music cover
Song by the Beatles
from the album Yellow Submarine
Released	13 January 1969 (1969-01-13)
Recorded	11 February 1968
Studio	EMI, London
Genre	Rock hard rock psychedelic rock pop rock acid rock
Length	3:09
Label	Apple
Songwriter(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)	George Martin
Promotional film
"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.^[2]

Background and composition

John Lennon began composing "Hey Bulldog", originally "Hey Bullfrog",^[3] after United Artists requested another song by the Beatles for Yellow Submarine, the upcoming soundtrack album for their animated film of the same name.^[4][5] 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.^[6]

The finished composition of "Hey Bulldog" is in common time (⁴
₄) and employs a shifting key,^[7] changing between B major, A major and B minor.^[8] Commentators have variously described the song as hard rock,^[9][10] blues-based rock,^[11] psychedelic rock,^[12] pop rock,^[13] acid rock^[14] or a simple rock number.^[15][16] In a beginning reminiscent of the Beatles' cover of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)",^[17] 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.^[18] 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.^[7] The song's lyrics utilize heavy word play,^[7] which Lennon later said "[mean] nothing".^[5]

Recording

The Beatles went to EMI'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 and Paul 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]

– Paul McCartney on "Hey Bulldog", 1997

George Martin produced the session, assisted by balance engineer Geoff 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 various overdubs onto take ten,^[23] 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.^[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]

– Balance engineer Geoff Emerick on "Hey Bulldog", 1988

After the band finished adding overdubs, Martin and Emerick mixed the song for mono twice. While the Beatles would often ad 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 heavy compression 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 for stereo, this version being included on the original soundtrack LP.^[23]

Release

Apple released Yellow 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 of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.^[26]

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").^[30]

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.^[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 (titled 1+) of the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1.^[32]

Personnel

According to Walter Everett,^[4] except where noted:

• John Lennon – double tracked vocals, piano, lead guitar^[25]
• Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass, tambourine^[23]
• George Harrison – 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.^[2] Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 81 in its list of the 100 best Beatles songs.^[33]

Notes

1. Earlier in the month, McCartney participated in a recording session at EMI for singer Paul Jones's new Apple Records single, "And the Sun Will Shine". Beatles writer John C. Winn suggests that the single's B-side, an acid rock song titled "The Dog Presides", likely inspired McCartney with its sound effects of a dog barking.^[24]
2. Among Beatles writers and musicologists, Everett, Ian MacDonald and Winn write Lennon performed the song's guitar solo.^[25] In his 2006 memoir Here, There and Everywhere, Emerick instead recalls Harrison as having performed the solo, writing: "Harrison's solo was sparkling ... 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."^[26]

References

Citations

1. "Beatles Songwriting & Recording Database: Yellow Submarine". Beatlesinterviews.org. 17 January 1969. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
2. Time Out London Music (24 May 2018). "The 50 Best Beatles songs". Time Out London. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
3. MacDonald 2007, p. 277.
4. Everett 1999, p. 155.
5. Sheff 1981, p. 213, quoted in The Beatles 2000, p. 292.
6. Winn 2009, p. 150–151.
7. Pollack, Alan W. (1998). "Notes on 'Hey Bulldog'". soundscapes.info. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
8. MacDonald 2007, p. 495.
9. "Mojo". No. 150–153. EMAP Performance Limited. 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2022. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
10. R. Staley, Samuel (2020). The Beatles and Economics - Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Making of a Cultural Revolution. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780429776410. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
11. Inglis 2009, p. 114.
12. DeRogatis 2003, p. 48.
13. O'Grady 1983, p. 149: "Finally, Lennon's "Hey Bulldog," also recorded in January, 1968, is a rhythm and blues-influenced pop-rock song ..."
14. Neaverson 1997, p. 94: "One of Lennon's most powerful acid-rock songs to date ('Hey Bulldog') ..."
15. Hertsgaard 1995, p. 229.
16. Spitz 2005, p. 749.
17. Riley 2002, p. 242.
18. Everett 2006, p. 91.
19. Lewisohn 1988, p. 134.
20. MacDonald 2007, p. 278n1.
21. Cowan 1978, p. 24, quoted in Everett 1999, p. 155.
22. Miles 1998, p. 482.
23. Winn 2009, p. 157.
24. Winn 2009, p. 152.
25. Everett 1999, p. 155: "Lennon's distorted lead guitar solo ..."; MacDonald 2007, p. 287: "Lennon: ... lead guitar"; Winn 2009, p. 157: "John apparently recorded the biting guitar solo himself: At one point in the footage, he can be seen borrowing George's Gibson SG Standard, and the finished solo has all the trademarks of a Lennon performance in its jaggedness".
26. Emerick & Massey 2006, pp. 222–223.
27. Everett 2009, p. 345.
28. Miles 2007, pp. 281, 284.
29. Lewisohn 1988, p. 164.
30. Womack, Kenneth (2014). The Beatles Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 514. ISBN 978-0-3133-9172-9.
31. "Article". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 37. 11 September 1999. p. 25.
32. Rowe, Matt (18 September 2015). "The Beatles 1 To Be Reissued With New Audio Remixes... And Videos". The Morton Report. Archived from the original on 29 December 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
33. "81 – 'Hey Bulldog'". Rolling Stone. 100 Greatest Beatle Songs. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

Sources

• Beatles, the (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8.
• Cowan, Philip (1978). Behind The Beatles Songs: The Book that Sets the Record Straight. London: Polytantric Press. ISBN 0-905150-09-0.
• DeRogatis, J. (2003). Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing. ISBN 0-634-05548-8.
• Emerick, Geoff; Massey, Howard (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles. New York City: Gotham. ISBN 978-1-59240-179-6.
• Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512941-0.
• Everett, Walter (2006). "Painting Their Room in a Colorful Way: The Beatles' Exploration of Timbre". In Womack, Kenneth; Davis, Todd F. (eds.). Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 71–94. ISBN 0-7914-6716-3.
• Everett, Walter (2009). The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes". Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531024-5.
• Hertsgaard, Mark (1995). A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-31377-2.
• Inglis, Ian (2009). "Revolution". In Womack, Kenneth (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 112–124. ISBN 978-0-521-68976-2.
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. London: Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-600-63561-1.
• MacDonald, Ian (2007) [1994]. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Third ed.). Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-55652-733-3.
• Miles, Barry (1998) [1997]. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
• Miles, Barry (2007) [1998]. The Beatles: A Diary: An Intimate Day by Day History. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84772-082-5.
• Neaverson, Bob (1997). The Beatles Movies. Ann Arbor: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-33796-X.
• O'Grady, Terence J. (1 May 1983). The Beatles, A Musical Evolution. Twayne. ISBN 978-0-8057-9453-3.
• Riley, Tim (2002) [1988]. Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After (Revised and Updated ed.). Cambridge: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81120-3.
• Sheff, David (1981). Golson, G. Barry (ed.). The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono. New York: Berkley. ISBN 0-425-05989-8.
• Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-80352-9.
• Winn, John C. (2009). That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-307-45239-9.

External links