Hey Bulldog (3:08)

“Hey Bulldog” is a song by The Beatles which first appeared on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album in 1968. Written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney), the song was recorded during the filming of the “Lady Madonna” promotional video, and is one of the few Beatles songs to revolve around a piano riff.

During the recording, Paul McCartney started to bark without warning. The next lines, initially written as “Hey Bullfrog”, were changed mid-song to “Hey Bulldog”. This became the song’s title.

Geoff Emerick, the Beatles’ engineer, would subsequently claim this was the last song the band recorded that featured a team dynamic with enthusiasm from every member. When the group reconvened in the studio in May 1968 for the The Beatles sessions, their group cohesion had already been undermined by the business, artistic, and personal differences that would culminate in their eventual breakup.

During these sessions, a film crew photographed the four Beatles recording the song. It was one of the few times they allowed themselves to be extensively filmed recording in the 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).

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.