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TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney was fond of the instrumentation of The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna.”
  • The song’s instrumentation inspired Paul to sing like another rock star on the track.
  • “Lady Madonna” became a hit twice in the United Kingdom.
Paul McCartney in a chair during The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" era
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney | Fiona Adams/Redferns

The Beatles‘ “Lady Madonna” was Paul McCartney’s attempt to mimic boogie-woogie music. Paul said he was doing an impression of another rock star when he sang “Lady Madonna.” Subsequently, the rock star in question covered the track.

Paul McCartney liked a musical ‘juxtaposition’ in The Beatles’ ‘Lady Madonna’

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the origin of “Lady Madonna.” “‘Lady Madonna’ was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing,” he recalled. “I got my left hand doing an arpeggio thing with the chord, an ascending boogie-woogie left hand, then a descending right hand.

“I always liked that, the juxtaposition of a line going down meeting a line going up,” he added. “That was basically what it was. It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression.”

Paul McCartney had a theory about why Fats Domino covered The Beatles’ song

Paul elaborated on the connection between Domino and “Lady Madonna.” “[The Domino impression] took my voice to a very odd place,” he said. “Richard Perry got Fats to do it. I probably told Richard Perry that it was based on Fats.” Domino’s cover appeared on the album Fats Is Back, which came out in 1968, the same year as the original song.

The “Silly Love Songs” singer elaborated on the lyrics of “Lady Madonna.” “Recently [1994] I was writing the words out to learn it for an American TV show and I realized I missed out Saturday; I did every other day of the week, but I missed out Saturday,” he remembered. “So I figured it must have been a real night out.”

Related

Paul McCartney Compared Writing 1 of The Beatles’ Songs to Writing a James Bond Theme

The way ‘Lady Madonna’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Lady Madonna” became a hit in the United States. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the charts for 11 weeks. The track appeared on the compilation album 1967-1970. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a week, lasting 182 weeks in total.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Lady Madonna” peaked at No. 1 for two weeks in the 1960s, staying on the chart for eight weeks altogether. In 1988, the track reached No. 67 and stayed on the chart for two weeks. Meanwhile, 1967-1970 hit No. 2 and remained on the chart for 131 weeks.

“Lady Madonna” was a hit — and it highlights Domino’s influence on other artists.

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