Lady Madonna

“Lady Madonna”

Single by The Beatles

Released

15 March 1968 (UK)
18 March 1968 (US)

Format

Recorded

Abbey Road Studios:
3-6 February 1968

Genre

Rock

Length

2:16

Label

Writer(s)

Producer

The Beatles singles chronology

"Lady Madonna" / "The Inner Light"
(1968)

"Hey Jude"
(1968)

“	It sounds like Elvis, doesn't it? No, it doesn't sound like Elvis... it IS Elvis. Even those bits where he goes very high.	„
—Ringo Starr, 1968

“	Paul. Good piano lick, but the song never really went anywhere. Maybe I helped him on some of the lyrics.	„
—John Lennon, 1980

“	'Lady Madonna' is all women. How do they do it? --bless 'em. Baby at your breast, how do they get the time to feed them? Where do they get the money? How do you do this thing that women do?.	„
—Paul McCartney, 1986

“	The original concept was the Virgin Mary, but it quickly became symbolic of every woman-- the Madonna image but as applied to ordinary working-class women. 'Lady Madonna' was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing. It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression. It took my voice to a very odd place.	„
—Paul McCartney, 1994

“	Of all The Beatles, Paul was the most talented musician. When I first met him he could not play the piano at all. It was a very short time indeed from then to 'Lady Madonna,' which is a very complicated and extremely good piano track played entirely by Paul, and a measure of his great musicianship. Paul could play the drums, technically, better than any of the others, including Ringo (although he could never get anything like the distinctive sound Ringo got from his kit). So, by default, Paul took over the most difficult instrument to play with any originality in a rock'n'roll band: the bass guitar.	„
—George Martin, Summer of Love , 1994 & 2006