Lady Madonna (Version 1)

The promotional clip was filmed when the Beatles recorded “Hey Bulldog” in the recording studio. If the intention was to film the Beatles miming “Lady Madonna“, the end result shows them playing “Hey Bulldog“.

On February 11, they recorded Hey Bulldog at Abbey Road, while I filmed the entire process. We didn’t need any promo material for Bulldog, but Paul had also recorded Lady Madonna, the song he had written in memory of his mother, which did need some promotional film. I cut the Bulldog shoot, using the bits of the lads playing and sitting about in the studio, and we used that. Then it vanished, completely disappeared. We thought it had been stolen, as things often were if not nailed down. Over thirty years later, in August 1999, my original film was rediscovered and used with a reissue of Bulldog to go with the revamped digital version of Yellow Submarine.

Tony Bramwell – From “Magical Mystery Tours: My life with the Beatles“, 2005

With “Lady Madonna” already completed, the plan was to film the group miming to it, but when they got to the studio, an unusually assertive Lennon had second thoughts. “Oh, the hell with ‘Lady Madonna)’” he said. “I’ve got a new song for us to do — let’s film that instead.” Paul was a bit annoyed, but John was like a bulldozer that day, and the decision stuck. The sounds of “Lady Madonna” would therefore accompany footage of the Beatles’ recording the new Lennon song “Hey Bulldog,” and nobody seemed too bothered about that. They knew that most viewers wouldn’t even notice that they were in fact playing a completely different song, and they were right.

Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006

Three versions of the “Lady Madonna” clip were edited from the footage, including special effects such as filters and double exposures and extra material filmed at the “Step Inside Love” session for Cilla Black in November 1967.

• Version 1 is the most common version. It begins with an overhead shot of Ringo Starr on drums and ends with footage of Paul McCartney from the “Step Inside Love” session picking up his coat and guitar and leaving the studio.
• Version 2 begins with Ringo Starr in a coat and tie and George Harrison eating a plate of beans. It was first shown on German TV on March 9, 1968.
• Version 3 was created for the Beatles Anthology project in the 1990s. It combines elements from both clips plus footage from the July 30, 1968 session for “Hey Jude.“

In 1999, the footage from the Lady Madonna clip was finally used to make a promo clip for “Hey Bulldog.”

“Lady Madonna” premiered on UK television via BBC’s “Top Of The Pops” on March 14, 1968. It remains unclear whether this was Version 1 or Version 2.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.