The Story Behind The Beatles' "Hey Bulldog"

In The Beatles vast canon, there are many, many great rockers: Day Tripper, Ticket to Ride, Come Together, Revolution, to name a few… But there is one that rarely made the Top 10 lists. This is the story behind Hey Bulldog, the 1968 eventual-classic that refused to be forgotten. The odds were stacked against it: it was recorded in one day in one session, not widely included in the film it was written for, and eventually relegated to a throwaway spot on what is arguably the group’s most obscure album. But in recent years, it’s taken on a life of its own, propelled by a growing respect from fans, rockstars, and the surviving Beatles, although the most love Lennon ever gave it was when he called it “a good-sounding record that means nothing." Most pop tunes start with at least a fragment to build from - lyrics or music - and Hey Bulldog was no exception. Before the sheepdog and the bullfrog took center stage, Lennon’s initial idea for the song was “She Can Talk To Me,” a bluesy demo featuring a rough piano part and double tracked vocals. At this point, the song is far from complete. Compared to the finished product, it’s lacking its trademark riff, and frankly, all of the production elements that made the song a loud, infectious rocker. But that would change on February 11, 1968 when The Beatles finished writing, and then arranged and recorded Hey Bulldog in one ten-hour studio session. Like they had done countless times over the last 5 plus years, they headed to EMI Studios at Abbey Road, with long time producer George Martin at the controls. On this day they were in Studio 3 instead of their more famous home, Studio 2, to shoot a promo film for “Lady Madonna.” That song had been completely recorded in the last couple of weeks, and had already been chosen as their next single. The way the story goes, The Beatles were initially going to be filmed in the studio, pretending to work on the-now-finished Lady Madonna for the film crew. The details about how Hey Bulldog came to be recorded that day get a little muddy here. According to Lennon, “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.” On the other hand, Geoff Emerick, the Beatles’ famous engineer, was also present that day and has a different story. He recalled in his 2006 book, “Here, There, and Everywhere,” that recording the new song was John’s idea. “Oh, the hell with ‘Lady Madonna.’ I’ve got a new song for us to do - let’s film that instead.” Emerick notes that Paul was annoyed at this, but couldn’t overrule John, “who was like a bulldozer that day.” My gut tells me that Paul probably doesn’t regret standing down. While we don’t know exactly how the “She Can Talk To Me” demo morphed into Hey Bulldog, we do know that by the time Paul heard it, it was more fleshed out and known as “Hey Bull*frog*.” The name was changed after Paul playfully barked during the recording session, and then he and Lennon ad-libbed other dog sounds in the fadeout. For the studio recording, aside from overdubs, it only took ten takes to create a solid backing track, with John saying to George Martin in the middle the attempt, “Just tell us when we get a good one!” As for that main riff, in the beginning of the recording it’s piano-based, and the guitar doubles - and later triples - the lick. The decision to start with it solely on piano was likely John’s call. It was mostly his tune, and he was behind the keys in the studio. Beyond that, it doesn’t take a musical genius to hear similarities between Hey Bulldog and Lady Madonna. The latter would have been top of mind - they just finished its recording and, again, were in the studio this day to record the promo video for it! Lady Madonna was Paul’s song, and as any Beatle fan knows, the friendly rivalry between John and Paul could be fierce. So, one week Paul has a throwback piano-based song, and John follows up almost immediately with a bluesy, piano-based answer. This was no accident. While we’re discussing opinions: who plays the solo - George? John? Paul? We may never know the real answer. For one, since the solo was overdubbed late in the session, the cameras had already stopped rolling. The final video does show George’s beautiful 1964 cherry red Gibson SG being traded back and forth between him and John, even though John’s Epiphone Casino is within reach, so you could say they’re both contenders for playing the solo. Opinions still abound, including some that say it’s Paul’s style. As a guitarist, I can say this solo would not be technically beyond any of them, so without a definitive answer, it comes down to what your ears tell you or who you want to believe. You’re probably safe to assume it wasn’t Ringo though. Let’s go back to Geoff Emerick, who was the only person present in Studio 3 that day who has written more than a sentence or two on the song. Emerick says it was George Harrison’s solo, and 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.” Screaming guitar? That’s a great way to put it. The promo film for Lady Madonna was released on March 14, 1968, on BBC’s Top of the Pops, just a little over a month after the studio sessions for Lady Madonna and Hey Bulldog. Mind you, it was the same footage we now know and love as Hey Bulldog, but officially - the footage was all about Lady Madonna. The filming for the day was directed by Tony Bramwell, long time friend of the band and future head of Apple Films. Bramwell, who had produced previous Beatles promo films like Rain and Paperback Writer, said after the film had been edited, all of the raw footage: “ …vanished, completely disappeared. We thought it had been stolen, as things often were if not nailed down.” In the time between the release of the Lady Madonna promo video and the late 90s, serious Beatles fans knew the band was actually recording Hey Bulldog in the video - not Lady Madonna! However, there were only crude fan-made edits of the video syncing the right song with the right footage. There was too much video missing to do much else. But, as George Harrison said in 1999: “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 (the unused footage) all back together again and put the 'Bulldog' soundtrack onto it, and there it was!” Whether you love the Beatles, or you just appreciate pop culture, this footage is spectacular to watch. First, the group is obviously having a great time in the studio. As diehard fans know, things wouldn’t be this bright for much longer. Second, aside from the Let It Be era, there is very little footage of the band working in the studio. And there’s even less footage of the band actually recording parts that made it to record. This is hard to imagine today, when artists in the studio go live from their phones on social media, but in the 60s it just didn’t happen. In January 1969 - a long 11 months after it was recorded - Hey Bulldog finally saw a release, and even then, seemed destined for obscurity. Not only was it not a single, it wasn’t even a B-side, or included on a normal album. (It should be noted that, according to Emerick, Lennon was vying for Bulldog to replace Lady Madonna as the next single, but couldn’t persuade Paul and George Martin.) Hey Bulldog eventually did surface, appearing on the soundtrack for the Yellow Submarine animated film that featured only 4 new songs, 2 re-released classics, and on the flip-side, George Martin’s film score. I won’t take anything away from Martin’s work here or the other Beatles songs appearing for the first time, but suffice it to say, most fans today still don’t play this LP as often as, say, A Hard Day’s Night or Revolver. And I’d imagine that was the case at the time: there was some known disappointment from the public with the lack of new tunes. Mark Lewsiohn mentioned this in “Recording Sessions,” saying that “fans were having to buy a full-price album for just four “new” songs.” This likely resulted in a sales drop - and therefore fewer ears hearing Hey Bulldog in the years immediately after its release. Beyond getting buried as a very deep track in the LP, the song was only included in the movie for some audiences. There was a drawn sequence for Bulldog, with themes from the lyrics in in the animation. But unfortunately, only a fraction of audiences paying to see the movie in 1969 got to see the Bulldog sequence. In the US version, it was edited out the film entirely! Why? The story I’ve always heard was that it was removed as producer Al Brodax tried to tighten up the film in editing. But whether that’s incomplete or simply incorrect information, I’ve recently learned that, according to the animation director for the film, Bob Balser: 1) the song was a late addition making it harder to fit with the rest of the movie, and 2) the sequence was animated more in the style of the Beatles cartoon TV show, much to the distaste of both Balser and the film’s art director, Heinz Edelmann. Balser said simply: “*I* took it out.” But back to the song: it simply seems to have been severely under-appreciated by its creators since the breakup. For instance, Paul nor John ever played it live in their solo years. And it was rarely brought up in interviews. (Producer George Martin told Rolling Stone in 1976, just 8 years after the record was made, that the band didn’t care for the song: “They said, ;We really don't need this in the album, let's just give them that one.’”) And to illustrate the way the group thought of the song up until very recently, The Beatles Anthology book, the band’s official word on their time together, barely mentions “Hey Bulldog” once in 365 pages. It’s only in passing, as part of a letter detailing which songs were to be included in the Yellow Submarine film, and the letter itself is pasted over a photo collage. Fast forward a few years, and the tide has turned. Even as early as 1998, Beatle author and fan Alan Pollack noted: “Nowadays the song enjoys a cult-like popularity and high regard among the cognoscenti that I am convinced is amplified and enhanced in part by the song's accidental, relative obscurity.” And this was apparently contagious, as the fans’ love for the song eventually made its way to the top. Here are 4 recent big examples of Apple Corp, the band’s holding company, trying to bring it more awareness: 1. It was featured in The Beatles Rock Band video game, released in 2009, and was the only song from the Yellow Submarine album to be included. And for what it’s worth, the game-play closely mimics the footage shot that February day, with one exception: it shows George playing the guitar solo! A 2. In 2012, Hey Bulldog was included on an iTunes compilation of what was called the group’s “most influential” rock songs. Other tunes on the digital album included Helter Skelter, Savoy Truffle, and Back in the USSR. 3. Shortly after the 2017 launch of the Beatles Channel on SiriusXM satellite radio, Hey Bulldog was played over and over again on the broadcaster’s primary modern hits station. No explanation was ever given, but I’d bet money it was guerrilla marketing to get people talking about the new channel and The Beatles in general. 4. Most recently, as of the making of the video you’re watching, the sync’d promo video for the song has been re-mastered and uploaded in full on The Beatles Vevo YouTube channel - no small deal considering there are only a few full-length tracks available there. Add it all up, and this single track has gotten significantly more attention than most Beatles tunes in the last 20 years, even well known hits like Help! or Can’t Buy Me Love . Sure, Hey Bulldog may have nonsense lyrics, but they are full of fun, classic, and near-tangible imagery from John. The music is the highlight here anyway - Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, a massive Beatles fan himself, called the song a “quintessential Beatles rocker.” It all comes together with a little in-your-face fuzz bass from Paul, *somebody’s* blistering guitar solo, Ringo’s driving drums, the clever artificial double tracking on the ad-libbing, the piano groove, and of course John’s unique throaty vocal performance. Engineer Geoff Emerick has said “this was their last song that they approached with a team dynamic.” Undoubtedly there was something special about this recording session, and that’s saying something considering all sessions with these four men must have been special - this is The Beatles after all. Like so much of their work, Hey Bulldog has truly stood the test of time, and as its recent increasing popularity proves: it has refused to be forgotten. Hello hello! I'm Lance. Thanks a lot for watching this video. I had a blast putting it together, so I really hope you enjoyed it. If you have any suggestions for future videos, or if you have any comments on this one for Hey Bulldog please leave them in the comments section below. And also don't forget to subscribe to this channel for future updates. Take care! See ya next time!

Channel: FabFourArchivist

Views: 1,857,890

Keywords: beatles, hey bulldog, hey bulldog album, hey bulldog sirius xm, yellow submarine album, yellow submarine lp, yellow submarine movie, beatles rock band, abbey road, john lennon, paul mccartney, george harrison, ringo starr, george martin, tony bramwell, mark lewisohn, beatles anthology, lady madonna, beatles cartoon, beatles tv show, beatles gibson sg, beatles epiphone casino, hey bulldog meaning, hey bulldog spoon, hey bulldog dave grohl, hey bulldog toad wet sprocket, sg

Id: oeBdeGNbFXg

Length: 12min 34sec (754 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 28 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/LanceTOsborne]

Thought /r/beatles would appreciate this!

Serious fans will know most of the info here, but hopefully it's presented in a way you'll dig. There are also a few not so well-known tidbits I dug up, too. e.g. the guitar solo, and why the song was cut from some versions of the Yellow Sub film.

[u/spicywookiee]

That was a really good video, and I really enjoyed it. I would love if you made more video essays on the Beatles.

[u/blueglove92]

This rocks.

[u/xizorkatarn]

Fantastic video history lesson. I’m glad to see Hey Bulldog is on the rise, it’s the track that got me obsessed with the lads for the last 10 years, and I’ve always been astonished as to how obscure it was in comparison to the rest of their catalogue.

Here’s hoping It’s All Too Much starts gaining the same steam!

[u/Somewhat-irrelevant]

This is amazingly well done and entertaining! Hope to see more!

[u/HereticalSkeptic]

Huge Beatle fan here, loved them since 1963, never yet heard Hey Bulldog. Saving it for my death bed.

[u/[deleted]]

Very cool video!

There is no fuzz or any FX on the bass guitar in Hey Bulldog however.

[u/Redyoshi9]

This is a very well made video! I'm interested to see another one! Good job!

[u/trackybirthday]

Very nice work! You did not mention the outstanding bassline by Paul, which does rank it among one of the top Beatles basslines (among "Rain", "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite", and "With a little help from my Friends"...)