On 15 March 1968 – just over 53 years ago – the Beatles released their Lady Madonna/Inner Light single. And so, here you go, 11 things to know: 

1. The song was inspired by a picture Paul saw in National Geographic magazine – it featured an African woman and her children with the title ‘Mountain Madonna’.

2. The Piano and drum intro feel to Lady Madonna was inspired by the 1955 78rpm single by Humphrey Littleton and his band entitled ‘Bad Penny Blues’.

3. Paul’s vocal style on the song was based on his impression of Fats Domino.

4. Fats Domino also recorded the song in 1968 for his ‘Fats is Back’ LP and scored his last ever chart success in the US Billboard 100 with the single. 

5. Ringo, though, thought Paul sounded more like Elvis, ‘It doesn’t just sound like Elvis – it is Elvis!’

6. The lyrics include every day of the week – except Saturday! The song’s backing track was recorded on 3rd February 1968 – a Saturday. The song was finished on Tuesday the 6th.

7. A promo video of the new 45rpm (their last on the Parlophone label) was made of the Beatles playing in EMI, Studio 3 on 11 February 1968, but rather than mime to their new single the Beatles decided to record Hey Bulldog instead. And that’s the song that the video was loosely edited to.

8. George can be seen enjoying a tasty snack of cold baked beans from a tin in the outro of the video. The video also captures John and Paul recording their wild ad-libs across the fade out to Hey Bulldog. ‘You know any more?’.

9. The ‘B’ side, the Inner Light, composed by George Harrison, was the last Indian-influenced song the Beatles ever released.

10. When the single was released on March 15 March 1968, the Beatles were over 4,000 miles away studying Transcendental Meditation under Marharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India.

11. And finally, spare a thought for Ronnie Scott who played the Tenor Sax solo only to have the Beatles add ‘comb and paper’ backing vocals all over his avant garde riffing.