[9] Author Jonathan Gould views the timing as propitious, since the British music press in early 1968 "[began] to tout the idea of a 'rock-and-roll revival' as a corrective to the excesses of psychedelia".

[23] McCartney first recorded his piano part, using EMI's "Mrs Mills" Steinway Vertegrand upright,[18] accompanied by Ringo Starr playing a snare drum with brushes.

[27] Music journalist John Harris highlights the significance of McCartney's "salute" to Elvis Presley, who would make his comeback later in 1968 with a return to his formative, rock 'n' roll style.

Harris also identifies the influence of the Mills Brothers, whose act included the four singers mimicking brass instruments, in the Beatles' "scat harmonies" on "Lady Madonna".

[28] Early mixes of the song indicate that Mellotron and tambourine were cut from the completed track, along with extraneous vocals and dialogue that reveal the band in high spirits during the sessions.

Harry Klein, who played baritone saxophone on the track, recalled that the session was organised at the last minute, while Bill Povey, the second tenor saxophonist, said that no music had been written out for the musicians to follow and McCartney offered them only vague instructions.

In his book Revolution in the Head, MacDonald writes that Scott's "audibly exasperated" solo was prompted by McCartney's "unprofessional" failure to provide the players with a proper horn arrangement.

[45] Among contemporary reviews of the single, Billboard magazine described "Lady Madonna" as a "powerful blues rocker"[46] while Cash Box's reviewer wrote: "Take one step back, the Beatles ease their progressive pace with this knocking rhythm side that features Ringo Starr in a rare vocal showing with hard-rock and kazoo orking and lyrics that view working class hardship with a pinch of salt.

"[49] Chris Welch of Melody Maker expressed doubts about the song, saying: "Best bit is the piano intro, then you can have fun wondering why Paul['s singing] sounds like Ringo … then go out and buy another record."

"[50][51] Time magazine recognised the Beatles as the leaders of an "upsurge" of renewed interest in 1950s rock 'n' roll and said that the band had re-engaged with the "simple hard-driving style they left behind in Liverpool".

[60] In Jonathan Gould's opinion, the song is a "witty, powerful, yet willfully inconsequential track" with "all the makings of a classic Beatle B-side", whereas ideally the lead side of the single should have been a Lennon composition.

[10][nb 4] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone considers that, at this stage in their career, "the Beatles didn't need to push – they could have hit #1 with a tape of themselves blowing their noses", which, he suggests, "would have been catchier" than "Lady Madonna" and the band's previous single, "Hello, Goodbye".

[66] Writing in 1988, Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn described "Lady Madonna" as a "terrific" single that was "curiously overlooked today by those analysing the group's output".

[67] Writing for Mojo in 2003, John Harris bemoaned that the song was overlooked as a key recording in the Beatles' development and "one of the foundation stones" for the late 1960s "roots-rock revival".

He identified it as the precedent for the Rolling Stones' return to form on Beggars Banquet, for Eric Clapton to exchange Cream's "virtuoso head-rock" for a musical path that resulted in the formation of Derek and the Dominos, and for Chuck Berry and Little Richard to assume "the rarified pedestals where the British Invasion groups had originally placed them".

[32] The Beatles' version of "Lady Madonna" has appeared on the following compilation albums, released by Apple Records: Hey Jude (1970), 1967–1970 (1973), 20 Greatest Hits (1982), Past Masters, Volume Two (1988), Anthology 2 (1996; takes 3 and 4 of the song), 1 (2000) and Love (2006).

[69] The mix used in the 1968 single had obscured much of Ronnie Scott's saxophone; the versions subsequently issued on Anthology 2 and Love feature a more prominent use of his solo, at the end of the song.