Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 11 February 1968
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 17 January 1969 (UK), 13 January 1969 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, piano, guitar
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, tambourine
George Harrison: guitar
Ringo Starr: drums
Available on:
Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine Songtrack
Released on the soundtrack to the Yellow Submarine animation, Hey Bulldog was written and recorded while The Beatles were being filmed for a promotional film for Lady Madonna.
The song started life as Hey Bullfrog, based on a few ideas sketched out by John Lennon. The line 'Some kind of solitude is measured out in you' was originally 'measured out in news', but McCartney claimed to have misread Lennon's handwriting.
Paul said we should do a real song in the studio, to save wasting time. Could I whip one off? I had a few words at home so I brought them in.
The Beatles, Hunter Davies
The title came about after McCartney made a barking sound during the session, as he and Lennon ad-libbed during the finale. The Beatles decided to keep the barking in, changing the title to Hey Bulldog to fit.
Hunter Davies also recounted how Lennon originally tried playing a sitar on the track, strumming it like George Formby's ukulele and singing in a Lancashire accent. Although an intriguing proposition, The Beatles were unable to work this into the song.
Musically, the song harks back to the early R&B riffs of songs such as Money (That's What I Want), and retains a similar blues feel as Lady Madonna – the two songs were combined on the Love album.
An animated sequence for Hey Bulldog was made for the Yellow Submarine film, although it was originally included only in European prints.
That's me, 'cause of the Yellow Submarine people, who were gross animals apart from the guy who drew the paintings for the movie. They lifted all the ideas for the movie out of our heads and didn't give us any credit. We had nothing to do with that movie, and we sort of resented them. It was the third movie that we owed United Artists. Brian had set it up and we had nothing to do with it. But I liked the movie, the artwork. They wanted another song, so I knocked off Hey Bulldog. It's a good-sounding record that means nothing.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
The recording of Hey Bulldog, unusually, was captured by a film crew. As The Beatles were preparing to travel to India, a promotional film for Lady Madonna was commissioned, to be issued in their absence.
The Hey Bulldog animated sequence was restored for the 1999 worldwide re-release of Yellow Submarine. At the same time Apple revisited the original studio footage of The Beatles and synchronised it with the song, to create a new promo clip.
When we were in the studio recording Bulldog, apparently it was at a time when they needed some footage for something else, some other record, and a film crew came along and filmed us. Then they cut up the footage and used some of the shots for something else. But it was Neil Aspinall who found out that when you watched and listened to what the original thing was, we were recording Bulldog. This was apparently the only time we were actually filmed recording something, so what Neil did was, he put it all back together again and put the Bulldog soundtrack onto it, and there it was.
Hey Bulldog was later cited by The Beatles' engineer Geoff Emerick as one of their final true group efforts, with equal contributions from all members. Following their Indian jaunt The Beatles' sense of togetherness began to sour; they tended to work separately, with increasingly frequent disagreements which eventually led to their split.
In the studio
On 11 February The Beatles recorded, completed and mixed Hey Bulldog during a 10-hour session. The basic rhythm tracks consisted of piano, drums, tambourine, lead guitar and bass.
By take 10 they had a good version, and so onto this were overdubbed more drums, fuzz bass, a guitar solo, double tracked lead vocals by Lennon and backing vocals from McCartney.
I remember Hey Bulldog 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.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
The first version from 1968 wasn´t recorded in the way Lennon wanted it. He gave it up and instead .It came to be released on a charity record for the World Wildlife Foundation.It ouight to have been released as a single.
Then it was recorded in a new commercial sentimental way with strings and a lower speed, and was included on the Let It Be-album 1970..
To what are you referring? Which song I mean? Please
You’re talking about Across the Universe, I think.
You mean Across the Universe I think. Hey Bulldog never had strings.
Johan.. so Lennon obsessed he can’t even stay on-topic.
Yes, I am sorry. That about Across The Universe i the comment 24 december 2016, was a answer to a comment from 17 december 2016.
First time I listened to this song, I was completely into it. The mood, the instruments, specially that great walking bass line, but above all, John’s voice and melody of the lyrics. A great rock song.
Strong riff, good vocals, really nice rock vibe. It’s catchy, the kind of tune that sticks in your head. Would have made a superb single, with “It’s All Too Much” as the B-side.
I’m surprised there are so few comments on this one..
Love John’s chunky guitar solo. You can always tell Lennon’s distinctive style. He always worked chunky chords into his solo’s. Like in “You Can’t Do That” from the “Hard Day’s Night Album”. When asked if he remembered who played what on the final guitar duel on “Abbey Road” McCartney couldn’t distinguish between his part and George’s, but he remembered John’s: “John plays the stuff on the low strings. The funky stuff”. He had a really grungy sound. And it’s on display on “Hey, Bulldog”.
Geoff Emerick remembers Harrison playing the solo, and claims it was one of the few times in the recording studio that George “nailed” a solo so quickly. Although his book has some errors, this seems to be a quite specific memory. (I always thought it was McCartney).
George could really RIP it up to.
That was definitely George playing the solo. I’ve never understood why the film doesn’t show him playing it, or John with his hands on the piano (except for about a second). Did the film crew go to lunch when the solo was recorded?
the solo was an overdub, the cameras weren’t rolling at that point
Shouldn’t Paul be credited for “barks”?
Yep, it’s definitely John on the guitar solo
Yes is Sound rough and nice, No one could play it better than John
The rock band game has George playing. It had to be approved by Paul, Ringo, Olivia, and Yoko. If John had played the solo, there is no way Yoko would’ve allowed them to have George play it for the game.
Doesn’t sound like Lennon’s style at all. Actually, it sounds very McCartney, though George could pull it off as well.
This is one song that felt like a rediscovered gem to me, rarely played (and I hadn’t heard!) before the Beatles channel on XM recently played it a lot. But I just now loved watching the video of them recording it, such a rare thing of beauty to watch them play it and have fun that late in their run together. You only hear about the frictions in ’69 on and only visually tend to think of the rooftop concert from the end of the Beatles, but seeing them in early ’68 (with almost no facial hair) and joking around is really magical. Like finding an old home movie of your parents when they were young and vibrant and lovingly raising small kids. I didn’t think the Beatles could affect me in a new way at this point, but this did, thanks!
Rough sound ! So Lennon, so walrus!
Sometimes, the ones that are meaningless can be the most fun to listen to.