Skip to main content

TL;DR:

  • The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” inspired a song by Helen Reddy.
  • Some listeners thought Reddy’s track was cryptic.
  • The songwriter behind the track thought it was easy to understand.
Helen Reddy putting her hand in her hair
Helen Reddy | GAB Archive/Redferns

The Beatles‘ “Lady Madonna” was a hit. Subsequently, it inspired a Helen Reddy song that was even more popular. The writer of Reddy’s song said the track became even stranger over time.

The Beatles’ ‘Lady Madonna’ ‘killed’ an artist who wrote 1 of Helen Reddy’s most famous songs

In The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, songwriter Alan O’Day discussed how a Beatles track inspired his work. “The song ‘Lady Madonna’ by The Beatles just killed me,” he said.

“I thought, ‘Well, I’m gonna write a song about somebody who’s growing up with the radio playing in the background of their life, with this rock ‘n’ roll time we live in … there are songs for all our emotions, and the radio really speaks for us in a way that nothing else does,” he added.

The heroine of Helen Reddy’s song inspired by The Beatles was boring at 1st

It took awhile, but O’Day’s song eventually became Reddy’s “Angie Baby.” “But the heroine of my song came out real boring … at this point there was no ‘Angie Baby,’ just scraps of paper trying to work out something … so I took my ingenue and made her a little bit weird,” he recalled. “The song started getting interesting. The weirder she got, the more interesting the song became.”

While many listeners found “Angie Baby” cryptic, O’Day did not feel this way. “It’s a fantasy trip but it’s real clear,” he opined. “And the very thing that made the song a hit was what happened to the guy in the song. I never intended it to be (a mystery).”

Related

Kiss’ Ace Frehley Hated That Gene Simmons Made a Song With Helen Reddy

How ‘Lady Madonna’ and ‘Angie Baby’ performed on the pop charts in the United States

“Lady Madonna” became a hit for The Beatles. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 11 weeks. The tune appeared on the compilation album 1967-1970. The compilation peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a week and stayed on the chart for a total of 182 weeks.

“Angie Baby” was far more popular. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a week and remained on the chart for 17 weeks altogether. After “Angie Baby” hit No. 1, Reddy never had a No. 1 single in the United States again. She released “Angie Baby” on her album Free and Easy. The album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and lasted 28 weeks on the chart.

“Angie Baby” was one of Reddy’s most famous hits and it wouldn’t be the same without “Lady Madonna.”

Best in Entertainment