Song Of The Day - July 24, 2008

Today's rendition comes from that band across the pond whose music was considered innovative, creative, cutting-edge, inappropriate, weird, and awesome all at the same time. The Beatles are one of the greatest rock bands of all time. In fact, in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine selected them number one on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Beatles are  well known for stretching the envelope and innovating in the recording studio by introducing instruments, sound effects, sound loops, double tracking, and many other studio tricks. With more than 40 singles, albums and EPs that reached the number one sport on the music charts it is difficult to select just one of their masterpieces, so expect more from Paul, John, George, and Ringo in future song of the day posts.

Without question, today's song is from perhaps the strangest album produced by the band. The Yellow Submarine album is unique in that the band did not consider it to be a true studio release since several of the songs had been previously released on other albums (including "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need Is Love"). Today's song was initially supposed to be called "Hey Bullfrog", but unexpectedly started to bark during the recording sessions and the title was changed to "Hey Bulldog." The video is a clip from Yellow Submarine (the movie). This version of the film was only released in Europe (the song was a bonus segment) because it was thought at the time that American audiences would not be comfortable with the length of the movie. Behold, The Bealtes in animated (and no doubt drugged) brilliance.

Fun fact: the Yellow Submarine album was produced by Apple Corps, a record label founded by The Beatles. Ten years after its formation in 1968, Apple Corps filed a lawsuit in 1978 against newly created Apple Computer for trademark infringement. A settlement was reached in 1981, although relations between the two companies have always been on thin ice. Since the original settlement, several additional lawsuits have been filed. For a better synopsis of their embattled history, click here.