Remembering When The Beatles Knocked off a Killer New Track While Recording a Video for an Entirely Different Song in 1968

One of the more underrated aspects of The Beatles’ success is how they kept the quality level so high while keeping an insanely busy schedule. Folks expected them to churn out product at a much faster rate than the standard for artists today.

They learned to multitask so that they could maintain that pace. As one example, they took the opportunity to record a song in 1968 while they were ostensibly in the studio filming a promotional video clip for an entirely different song.

Multitasking Megastars

As they progressed through the 60s, The Beatles started to chafe at the never-ending demands on their time. They helped alleviate this pressure a bit when they decided to stop touring in 1966. That left them more time to work in the studio, which led to classic albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

They realized the no-touring decision would make it tougher to promote their work. The group then came up with the clever idea of filming promotional clips of their singles. Indirectly, they helped to create what we now know as the music video.

In February 1968, The Beatles knocked out the single “Lady Madonna” over a pair of sessions. They scheduled a studio session the next week with the intent of filming a video clip for the song. It would be a kind of performance video of sorts. But they decided that, instead of simply miming along to the already-recorded song, they’d get something else done in the process.

A Song for the Film

Around that time, the filmmakers who were responsible for the animated film Yellow Submarine were bugging the group for material. The Beatles had already made it clear that they wouldn’t be recording a full soundtrack album for the film. They considered it a nuisance contractual obligation.

But they agreed to hand over whatever leftovers they had to be used along with already-released songs. Paul McCartney suggested that they try to record something new that day when they were being filmed. Luckily, John Lennon had some quirky lyrics that he had lying around that he thought might work.

The haste of the recording was evident in the fact that the group accidentally changed one of the song’s lines because McCartney couldn’t properly read Lennon’s handwritten lyrics. They came up with the title in the studio when the duo ad-libbed some barking noises. Hence, the song came to be known as “Hey Bulldog”.

Making “Hey”

For a thrown-together song, “Hey Bulldog” is utterly captivating. Lennon sings the stuffing out of it, showing urgency that contradicts the seemingly nonsensical lyrics. Lennon and George Harrison offer some tough guitar work that slides effortlessly into the bluesy rhythm. McCartney’s barking at the song’s end is engagingly silly.

Sure enough, “Hey Bulldog” appeared in Yellow Submarine, one of four new songs the group delivered to the film that arrived later in 1968. While they didn’t much care for the demands placed on them by the movie’s producers, they were pleased when the film turned out to be a critical and commercial hit.

Many years down the road, the group released a clip that included video clips of them in the studio with the music from “Hey Bulldog” behind it. The thrilling song proved that The Beatles could produce impromptu musical magic even while technically tending to other matters.

(Photo by Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

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