All Posts Tagged Boogie-Woogie

The Beatles' Lady Madonna (released March 15, 1968) was "inspired" by Humphrey Lyttelton's trad jazz hit Bad Penny Blues (released 1956). Per Wikipedia:

According to musicologist Walter Everett, "Lady Madonna" is a raucous rock and roll song. Paul McCartney based his piano part for the song on Humphrey Lyttelton's 1956 trad jazz rendition of "Bad Penny Blues" which had been recorded by George Martin in the 1950s. According to Ringo Starr in Recording the Beatles, "We asked George how they got the sound on Bad Penny Blues." McCartney said of writing the song in a 1994 interview, "'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 other voice to a very odd place." Domino himself covered the song later in 1968. The Fats Domino hit "Blue Monday" from 1956 tracks the feelings of a hard working man over each day of the week. "Lady Madonna" imagines the situation from a woman's perspective.

Lady Madonna (:00) VS Bad Penny Blues (:00)