This track didn't see the light of day for almost a year, finally appearing as part of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack originally released early in 1969. There is an animated section in the movie featuring this song, but American audiences didn't see it until 1999, when a new version of the flick was issued.
"Hey Bulldog," as it turns out, is a rare Beatles studio track that was videotaped during the actual recording sessions. Some footage was needed to help make a promotional video for "Lady Madonna," but the camera crew came out when the Beatles were already done with that song and had moved on to "Bulldog." Yet, the raw footage to this was somehow left undiscovered all these years, even after the extensive research for the Anthology series, until around 1999. At that time, a promotional video to coincide with the Yellow Submarine re-issue was crafted that synced up the in-studio performances to the recording, and released by the three surviving Beatles. The result is what you see here:
"One Track Mind" is a more-or-less weekly drool over a single song selected on a whim and a short thesis on why you should be drooling over it, too.
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Article comments
1 - nicolas
Yeah I loved Bulldog too. They knew at the time they were going to India and everybody was very excited.
I'm not sure about the "ill-fated" thing though. What do you mean, "ill-fated"?
As far as music, the Beatles never wrote that many songs EVER in their career: during the few months in India and just after, we got like about 50 new songs from the Beatles!!! That was incredible. And pretty much all of it went on to become a hit one way or another.
Bless was the year the Beatles decided to visit India!
2 - JC Mosquito
There's a whole lot of songs Len/Mac wrote but never recorded - they wrote quite a loto actually.
3 - Colin Ricketts
Thank you for posting the video clip, I've never seen that before. It's one of my favourites too - and I too first heard it on Rock And Roll, I'd have it down as one of the Beatles' best party records and a killer riff goes a long, long way. There must be some affection generated by the fact that it soundtracks one of the most effective sequences in Yellow Submarine too, It's All Too Much works similarly well with the animation while suffering without it.
4 - Marcelo Baeza Sequeira
this is one of my fav!! actually is my ringphone
Amazing, big riff, big solo, it was always like my little personal treasure until its released as a single.
About the video: John & Paul singing together ... beautiful, beautiful ...
5 - Stanz Man
oh yea great Lennon vocal and killer harmonies from McCartney not to mention McCartney's rollicking bass riff ...and yea this was a toss off !!! wow most people would be happy to have this as one of their hits ~~
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks for the reminder of one of my favorite toss-offs -- Bulldog's always been a lot of fun, and I don't mind when I can't get it dislodged from my mind for what seems like hours on end...
7 - Big Tom Wilson
Love George's solo and the signature guitar line. I think by "ill fated" he meant the stories planted in the press by "Magic Alex," the Beatles' hanger-on who (prior to Maharishi) would introduce himself as the Beatles' "Guru." Magic Al made up the stories about Maharishi fooling around with Mia Farrow (which Mia and her sister Prudence flatly denied). Sadly, John believed the stories and for a while denounced Maharishi, but the other Beatles kept meditating (Paul & Ringo still do). The press always gets the story wrong. I was there. In his last interview (Rolling Stone), John referred to Maharishi as the "father figure" of his life. Maybe he resolved it.
8 - Pico
Wow, I had long thought I was among a very few who loved this song; always nice to see many others who agree with me.
As for the "ill-fated" trip, Big Tom pretty much covered the explanation, including a few details I didn't know about. Thanks for filling us in, BT.
9 - Mark Dillman
There is another song from the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack worth mentioning:
"It's All Too Much"
I think this song is a psychedelic masterpiece. Even the finest books on the Beatles' music fail to do more than mention it in passing. This has befuddled me ever since I first heard the song in 1969 when "Yellow Submarine" (motion picture & soundtrack LP) first came out. There are sounds in this song that are totally alien to me. I still have no idea how they made them, especially some of the percussion which almost sound like grunts from Mr. Lennon but I'm just not sure.
For years I only guessed that "Hey Bulldog" was a number cut from the film. George's guitar solo, Paul's melodic bass notes, and Ringo's stop and start percussion all march through the tune with almost military-like precision.
In fact, I have always thought that all four tunes by the Beatles originally submitted for the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack are among their finest work, especially "It's All Too Much." Long ago I tired of reading comments like "throwaway" and "tossed-off" in regard to these songs. "After all, its JUST A CARTOON" seemes to be the attitude. I though Beatle fans would know better.
Remember, too, that when "Yellow Submarine", the motion picture, was released, the golden age of animated cartoons was over and even the bronze age was very quickly ending. This wonderful cartoon movie came out during what was quickly becoming a dark-age-like period for animated cartoons.
I tend to feverishly defend "Yellow Submarine". I think it is a masterpiece.
10 - Mike
Well, once again, it's a masterpiece of McCartney bass work, too... very thick!! ...