Recording "Lady Madonna"

From mid-February to late April, The Beatles had planned a trip to India to continue their studies of Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They scheduled some studio time just before their departure to record a new single to be released in their absence. As it happened, those five days at EMI Studios produced four new songs, all mixed and ready for issue.

On this day, from 2:30 pm to 6 pm, they began the recording of Paul McCartney’s “Lady Madonna“. The basic track was only Paul on piano and Ringo Starr on drums (using brushes instead of sticks).

Paul plays piano on it. We said to George Martin, ‘How did they do it on “Bad Penny Blues”? And he said, ‘They used brushes.’ So, we put an off-beat on it.

Ringo Starr – (“Bad Penny Blues” as a minor hit for the Humphrey Lyttleton Band in 1956, produced by George Martin)

By Saturday February 3 all four Beatles were ready to go ahead with recordings for a single, First new number to be tackled was “Lady Madonna”, Paul having done most of the words and music for this item. At the first session George and John put their two guitars through one amplifier while Ringo played drums. Then Paul added bass guitar and his own voice.

Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall – From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°57, April 1968

After some rehearsals, three formal takes were recorded. Take 1 was incomplete. Take 2 was completed and was released on the White Album’s 50th anniversary re-release in 2018. Take 3 was the master.

The piano… It’s still there at Abbey Road actually, but we used to call it Mrs. Mills piano because there was a pianist who used to do all this, sort of…stride. But Mrs. Mills piano inspired that. I wrote it at home but it was like, ‘I’ve got to do this on that funky little piano.’

Paul McCartney – From “McCartney 3,2,1” documentary

The overdubbing process started in the second session of the day, from 7 pm to 1:30 am. Ringo added more drums. John Lennon and George Harrison played fuzzed guitars, played through the same amplifier. Paul played bass.

Paul then recorded the first of his lead vocal tracks, deliberately overloaded to create an edgy quality. John added some mouth noises in imitation of a tuba. And Paul, John and George sang backing vocals.

MORE THAN A FEW BEATLE PEOPLE ARE SURPRISED TO KNOW THAT PAUL IS THE SOLO SINGER ON “LADY MADONNA”. ALTHOUGH THIS IS AN OUT AND OUT ROCKER, THE SOUND OF PAUL’S SINGING IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM EARLIER THINGS HE DID LIKE “LONG TALL SALLY” OR “I’M DOWN”, THE REAL OLD SCREAMIN’ RAVERS! IN FACT SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN CONVINCED THE SINGER IS RINGO, IT ISN’T!

Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall – From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°57, April 1968

There’s a lovely sound on ‘Lady Madonna,’ that’s like sort of muted trumpets, or a kazoo, or something. But, in actual fact, it’s just John and Paul (and George as the recording suggests) sort of humming through their hands into a mike. It was purely by accident that we discovered that sound. We had just finished taping a bit of the record, and John and Paul started to hum into the mike with their hands cupped round their mouths. When we played back the piece of tape with this bit tagged on the end, it sounded great, so we decided to use it.

Ringo Starr

The four Beatles also contributed some backing vocals, gathering together round a microphone to contribute some mock brass. Also Paul added some mellotron lines. This track with backing vocals and mellotron was released on the White Album’s 50th anniversary re-release in 2018.

Work on “Lady Madonna” would continue on February 6, 1968.

Session activities

1. Lady Madonna

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 1

2. Lady Madonna

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 2

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (50th anniversary boxset)

3. Lady Madonna

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 3

4. Lady Madonna

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 3

Staff

Musicians on "Lady Madonna"

Production staff

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