Background & Meaning
Lennon’s “acid phase” lasted from 1966 to 1968 and was typified by a suppression in his energies. During the first phase of Beatlemania, his songwriting output was enormous -peaking in 1964 when he knocked out 10 of the 12 tracks on Hard Day’s Night. When acid entered his life, he increasingly sat back in an introspective lethargy. McCartney enjoyed a run as the defacto leader of the band – which luckily coincided with his best work – and while Lennon carried on writing stunning songs, the vision of the band was undoubtedly more that of McCartney at this time.
Hey Bulldog marked the resurgence of Lennon as the impatient rocker who’d dominated the early years of the Beatles’ output. Starting life as a halting piano number called You Can Talk To Me (which ultimately became the song’s refrain), Lennon bulked the song out around a pounding piano riff and a mischievously subversive lyric which seems to take several pokes at McCartney – perhaps as a backhanded compliment for his achievements during Revolver and Pepper (“what makes you think you’re something special when you smile?”)
Like a lot of Beatles songs, a lot of the song’s impact actually results from the structure – which leads to the kind of extended outro that typified the group during the Pepper era (think of the end of Lovely Rita as a forebear). The opening piano riff is doubled up first with Harrison’s Gibson SG and McCartney’s classic Rickenbacker bass, before a typically rough, dry and searing Lennon vocal builds climactically to the sneering chant of the chorus.
The free-spirited larrikins the Beatles had started to bring to their recordings during the psychedelic years is much in evidence in the fade out, in which McCartney’s bass playing goes wildly improvisatory under the band fooling around making dog noises and engaging in comic dialogue (“don’t ask me – I already have 10 children”). A charming example of the band gelling as a unit – and one of the last to capture the Beatles having fun.
What Key is Hey Bulldog In?
A minor mystery surrounds the proper key of the song. The Beatles Complete: Guitar
My suspicion is that the answer lies with the original vinyl recordings. Anyone who’s picked up a copy of the mono mix of Pepper will have noticed that She’s Leaving Home sounds distinctly odd. In fact, it is sped up a semitone – presumably to fit the limited running time of the vinyl format.
My best guess is that Hey Bulldog was similarly treated for its vinyl release – and probably not mixed back down for the initial CD releases. I’d love to hear from anyone who can find a version of Hey Bulldog in C.. my best guess being one of the old ‘Beatles Rock and Roll’ compilations. In fact, to my ears it still sounds a fraction sharp.
A Note on the Guitar Solo
For some reason, the idea has taken root that the guitar solo is by Lennon. Listening to the sum total of his other guitar solo work (For You Blue, Get Back, Honey Pie, Yer Blues etc) it’s hard to reconcile the piercing simplicity of these with the relative technical difficulty of the solo work here – which has fairly tricky fingering for a Beatles song. If anything, the style is more reminiscent of McCartney, particularly with those octave leaps and slides which definitely echo his famous Taxman solo.
That neither McDonald
Lyrics
Sheep dog standing in the rain
Bullfrog doing it again
Some kind of happiness is
measured out in miles
What make you think you’re
something special when you smile?
Childlike no-one understands
Jack knife in your sweaty hands
Some kind of innocence is
measured out in years
You don’t know what it’s like
to listen to you fears
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
If you’re lonely, you can talk to me
Big man walking in the park
Wigwam frightened of the dark
Some kind of solitude is
measured out in you
You think you know but you haven’t got a clue
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
If you’re lonely, you can talk to me
Hey Bulldog