[Music] A gem with a flavor of jazz, blues and boogie-woogie in the 60s -"Lady Madonna"-1968

Good afternoon everyone, welcome to this review made with much love for all of you. I extend a warm greeting to the Hive platform, and also from here to the wonderful project at https://scrobble.life/. I'm pleased to be with you again.

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Today I bring you a review dedicated to a wonderful song, with an initial feel of classic rock, jazz, blues, and a touch of boogie-woogie (The boogie-woogie it is a piano-based style of blues, generally fast and danceable, popular in the 1940s and 50s). According to McCartney himself, in an interview, he was inspired by Fats Domino, and it reached number 1 in England, while in the United States it reached number 4 on the Billboard charts, around mid-March 1968. With that unmistakable sound in the saxophone and opening piano, this piece is none other than "Lady Madonna," recorded in March 1968 at EMI Studios in London, acredited to Lennon-McCartney duo.

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I always found it strange that in the middle of the song, where we hear the saxophones, that sound in the background was them trying to imitate some wind instrument. And then, years later, I discovered it was them using their own vocals! Haha, in my younger days it sounded like a trumpet or some other wind instrument to me. Haha, time brings experience and knowledge.

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I should mention that this song was released as a single, with the A-side containing "The Inner Light," a George Harrison song, on the B-side. Two promotional videos were made, both recorded in February 1968 at EMI Studios in London, precisely during the days they were also recording "Hey Bulldog." That's why on platforms like YouTube we can see images of both "Lady Madonna" and "Hey Bulldog" as if they were the same video. However, they are two different songs, recorded on the same day, and the two songs had different fates, all within a matter of days. Curious, isn't it? "Lady Madonna" was not included on any LPs from that period, but it did appear on numerous compilation albums over the years, such as "Hey Jude" (1970), "The Beatles 1967/1970" (1973), "20 Greatest Hits" (1982), "Past Masters" Vol. Two (1988), "Anthology 2" (1996), the compilation album "1" (2000), and "Love" (2006).

It was also never performed live by the band, neither in concerts nor on television programs, but McCartney has performed it solo several times in different concerts and live performances. The version on the compilation album "Love" is somewhat different, as it's mixed with other Beatles tracks, and the interlude is placed at the beginning. The remix alters the song a bit; frankly, I didn't like that version, but I suppose some people might.

This extraordinary song features Paul on lead vocals and backing vocals, bass, and piano; John on rhythm guitar and backing vocals; George on lead guitar and backing vocals; and Ringo on drums and handclaps. It also features other musicians, specifically the saxophones. Here we can hear two baritones and one tenor: the tenor sax solo played by Ronnie Scott and the baritone saxophones played by Harry Klein and Bill Jackman.

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Well, my dear friends, this is the end of this review. I hope you like it. We'll see each other, read each other, and comment again soon... Blessings!