018- Lady Madonna - Amanda Homi

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Song - Lady Madonna

Artist - Amanda Homi

Original version recorded February 3-6, 1968

Ukulele version recorded April 15, 2009

Amanda Homi - Vocal

Roger Greenawalt - Ukulele & Bass

Lightning - Dog Sounds

Produced by Roger and Dave at The Abbatior Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

For best results, download the Roger And Dave ukulele version of Lady Madonna, and then make a playlist of our version and the Beatles version and loop them back-to-back while reading this essay.

ABOUT THE SONG

Lady Madonna is a Paul McCartney song written with a little help from his friend, John Lennon. Lennon came up with the “See how they run” line, which is a reference to an I Am The Walrus lyric from the previous year. This is the only spot in the song where John sings along. It was released in March ’68 while The Beatles were in India, and went to Number One.

Lady Madonna is a testimonial to Female Power. And the grim determination of mommies everywhere. It was written in the period where McCartney was breaking up with the self centered Jane Asher, and was soon to hook up with uber-MILF Linda Eastman. A very good move.

McCartney deservedly has just about the best feminist reputation of any major male rock star. His writing is full of terrific sympathy for women. It is this reputation and the great love of the public for Paul that explains the intense universal hatred for all things Heather Mills.

(Is it a coincidence that dance music queens Lady Gaga and Madonna both took their name from this song? Yes.)

The meaning of Lady Madonna is simple. It is a song about the Madonna/Whore complex.

The sexy salacious stripper music sets the tone, and informs the backstory.

“Lady Madonna, children at your feet, wonders how you manage to make ends meet? Who finds the money, when you pay the rent?”

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realize that financial trouble has forced Our Lady to become a Commercial Sex Worker.

B section, “Friday night arrives without a suitcase.” Friday night is a john, a client; he doesn’t sleep over so there’s no need for a suitcase.

“Sunday morning creeping like a nun.” This is the naughty priest slipping back to the rectory before dawn after spending Saturday night with LM. Nice Catholic pun.

“Monday’s child has learned to tie his bootlace.” This is a young soldier client who LM has a soft spot for. He has to run and march around. She gives him a discount.

“Lady Madonna, baby at your breast, wonder how you manage to feed the rest?” We know how.

I have to say that for a pop song to use the word “breast” in 1968 was pretty hot stuff. You would visualize a topless beauty in your mind. You had to imagine nipples back then, except in the case of National Geographic.

“Lady Madonna, lying on the bed, listen to the music playing in your head.”

This is just blatant. There is a saying describing the unfortunate duties an ambitious young lady must perform with her much older rich husband.

“Lay back and think of England.” This is what Wendi Deng has to do every time Rupert Murdoch pops a Viagra. Yuck. But you need to produce heirs to insure your benefits. Especially if you intend to outlive your husband by at least 50 years. Like Brooke Astor.

There’s another clever pun here, she’s not “laying” but “lying’ in bed. As in pretending to achieve orgasm. Between perfunctory moans Lady Madonna’s eyes are tightly closed and her favorite song is circling in her brain as she tries not to think of the horrible beast who is banging her.

“Tuesday afternoon is neverending.” Tuesday is a very fit client with lots of stamina. Hookers hate that. Speed is of the essence. “Wednesday morning papers didn’t come.” This was before Viagra. Wednesday, an alcoholic writer, couldn’t get it up. “Thursday night your stockings needed mending.” Thursday likes a bit of rough sex. Negligee may be damaged. “See how they run” is the lamest pun in the song. Too obvious.

Back to the first line. Lady Madonna is making ends meet very well thank you. And Paul is not judging her. He’s just reporting.

Now the music. This song is a based on a fabulous boogie-woogie piano part played by Paul. Most people aren’t aware of this, but the Piano is designed to be played by right-handed musicians. The left hand plays the slower moving bass, or chords, and the right hand plays the fancy fast paced melody parts.

McCartney is a left-handed pianist. Weirdly enough, some of the best piano players of all time were/are left-handed. Lefties are believed to have more communication between both sides of their brains, which is associated with increased creativity/achievement.

Like Leonardo da Vinci. And Obama. And Dave. Lefties all.

Ringo is also left-handed, but plays the drum kit right-handed.

The left hand of the piano part on Lady Madonna is a wicked octave blues line. It is hard to play. Paul plays it beautifully. Meanwhile he puts on one of his thousand and one voices, this time Fats Domino. He gets a very deep baritone timbre. It takes his vocal to an unusual place.

The solo section and last B-section features McCartney doing a 20’s style clarinet section using his only his overdubbed voice. This is pure showing off. And I like it.

The orchestration is excellent. Verse two has a distorted electric guitar then a real horn section, and a brief, not very good saxophone solo by Ronnie Scott. By the final verse the entire brass section and guitar are all playing the main riff together. It builds very logically.

There are two separate drum parts on Lady Madonna that interact brilliantly. In the left speaker we hear a drum kit that is continuous and mainly topkit, as in cymbals and hi hats. Then a second drum kit comes in with the vocal and bass, much more spare and heavy, featuring a very compressed and splatty snare drum. Handclaps are thrown in for good measure. Clapping is always a good idea. It reminds the audience to applaud.

Our version, sung by the lovely and talented Amanda Homi, harkens back to an earlier, dirtier era. A scratchy blues 78 that you play on a wind up Victrola while sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of the House Of The Rising Sun. It’s a hot and sticky southern night. Pour yourself a stiff mint julep and ENJOY!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Amanda Homi 1910- 1938

A Gypsy blues singer from West Virginia.

The Illegitimate daughter of a medicine man and traveling actress, she was born in a trunk at the local theatre, where

she was abandoned to be raised by her Grandma, a fortune teller and washboard virtuoso.

She was only 16 years old when she ran off with a visiting marching band from Macedonia.

Her Grandma was not at all distraught at her disappearance and was heard to say "good riddance to the little tramp"

Sporadic recordings have mysteriously appeared in various regions of the globe ever since.

She is known to have led a life of flagrant dissipation.

Her death is estimated at 1938. It remains a mystery.