THE BOW-WOW BACKSTORY OF THE BEATLES’ “HEY BULLDOG”
It’s one of the great dog-themed anthems of rock ’n’ roll, but up until the last minute “Hey Bulldog” was supposed to be about a frog. It was early February 1968, as the Beatles were preparing for their fateful trip to India to meditate with the Maharishi. Pressed for time, and with a commitment for one more song to round out the soundtrack of the “Yellow Submarine” movie, the group decided to bang one out quickly. John Lennon had notes for a song he called “Hey Bullfrog” and brought the idea into the studio. Paul McCartney helped polish it up, and in one of their typical all-night recording sessions the band worked out a bluesy, no-frills arrangement—just the four Beatles playing together, with none of the psychedelic effects that characterized their work of the period.
During the session McCartney began barking to amuse his mates. Lennon got into the spirit of it, and soon the two were ad-libbing a crazed dog-and-master routine during the song’s fadeout. They enjoyed the bit so much they decided to keep it in the final recording. To justify the inclusion of the impromptu horseplay, they simply changed the song’s title from “Hey Bullfrog” to “Hey Bulldog.”
John sang lead and played guitar and piano, Paul sang backup and played bass, George Harrison was on guitar, and Ringo Starr was in his regular seat behind the drums. It took 10 hours and 10 takes to get a usable track, over which they double-tracked the vocals and dubbed the guitar solo.
Source: AKC blog
