"Lady Madonna"

Song: “Lady Madonna”

Album: (Not released on LP)

“Lady Madonna” was primarily written by McCartney (although Lennon helped with some of the lyrics) and recorded in February of 1968, before the Beatles left for India. It was released as a single in March—reaching #1 in the U.K. and #4 in the U.S.—but never appeared on an L.P.  McCartney has said the driving boogie-woogie piano in the tune was inspired by Fats Domino, who recorded his own version of the song later in 1968.

The song is about an exhausted working-class mother, of which there were many in Liverpool at the time. There are also many Catholics in Liverpool, due to its proximity to Dublin, hence the Catholic iconography.

This video was a promotional release for the song, which I believe actually features footage of the Beatles recording “Hey, Bulldog!”  The footage was later recut and released as a promotion for that tune.

An Aretha Franklin cover of “Lady Madonna” served as the theme song to the popular 1990’s sitcom Grace Under Fire on ABC.