Tracked at Abbey Road Studios in February 1968 during a promotional video shoot for Lady Madonna, which was the A-side of the upcoming single, Hey Bulldog tends to fly under the radar of most casual fans, but it actually represents a critical point in the history of The Beatles: it was one of the last sessions tracked as a band before internal tensions drove the team apart.

Hey Bulldog turned out so well there was some campaigning from John Lennon for it to serve as the A-side of the single instead of Lady Madonna,” said producer Geoff Emerick in Mark Lewisohn’s 1998 book, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.

“Paul wasn’t thrilled with the idea, and the discussion was ended by George Martin, who stated flatly that it was far too late because the record sleeves had already been printed. That may or may not have been true, but I suspect that George, like Paul, felt that Lady Madonna was the more commercial song.”

Taking to his 1964 Rickenbacker 4001S, which had a fuller tone compared to the Höfner VIolin Bass, Paul McCartney is in peak form on Hey Bulldog. After four bars of John Lennon’s bluesy piano riff, he launches into the song’s syncopated hook with one of many hammer-ons, which give the rhythm its bounce.