Hey Bulldog | Page 6 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Lady Madonna was recorded 3 and 6 February 1968 as a contender for single release while they were away in India, @Into the Sky with Diamonds, along with Across The Universe  on 3 and 4 February, and George overdubbing the vocals for The Inner Light onto an instrumental track recorded in India on 12 January on 6 February.

John wasn’t happy with AtU, and so the single was Lady Madonna /The Inner Light . Needing a promo film for the single, especially as they would be on a retreat when it was released, and so went into the studio on 11 February to film a promo film “showing” them “working” on LM to get around the Musicians Union ban on miming. I think it was Paul who suggested that rather than waste the time just being filmed pretending, they should use the time to record if anyone had something they thought could be worked on. John brought in Hey Bulldog .

So the 11 February session was primarily to film a promo film for LM (of which there were 2), and was also used to record HB.

Extended footage of the session can be found in post 89 on the previous page. It was not the only filmed session, as the 30 July 1968 session for Hey Jude  was filmed for a documentary called Music!, made by the National Music Council of Great Britain, and extended footage of that session also exists, and can be found in that song’s thread.