In the seven (yes, only seven) years The Beatles actively released albums (their first album was 1963’s Please Please Me, their last release was 1970’s Let It Be… though that album was actually recorded before 1969’s Abbey Road) they released an incredibly large volume of music.

What is astonishing is not only the amount but how uniformly good/great most of it was.

But when one releases that much material, there are bound to be some songs that rise to the top and others which don’t.  Some may be viewed as not very good -not all of ’em can be winners- while some simply fade away and are liked but perhaps never quite loved.

Hey Bulldog may well be one of those -somewhat- forgotten tunes.  Here are some sounds from the recording of that song back in 1968, with the memorable piano intro…

I like the song but, like many others, consider it a decent but not “terrific” Beatles tune.

Nonetheless, the song has one major distinction which no other Beatles songs have: There are those, like Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, who feel this is the last Beatles song the entire band collaborated on relatively equally.

Yes, you read that right.

Though they would go on to release plenty of other material in the time they remained a band, the fact of the matter is that in 1968 The Beatles were only a couple of years away from breaking up and their personal relationships had already started to fray.

Again, there was still plenty of music to be made and released before the breakup but these songs tended to be done in “camps”. The four Beatles would work on their stuff individually and, its been reported, might get together -or not- to finish off something that was already nearly done.

In the case of Hey Bulldog, the four Beatles were together in the studio and worked on this track from its inception to end in a 10 hour session.  The song was brought in by John Lennon yet it was in collaboration with the other three Beatles that Mr. Lennon’s initial ideas and the finished product was worked out.

Find that bit of trivia about the song fascinating?

Then check out the link below.  In the article, the SirusXM Editors offer…

Hey Bulldog: 9 Things You Didn’t Know About This Overlooked Beatles Song