“Hey Jude” is one of the Beatles’ greatest and most timeless hits. The song topped the charts in countries around the world and was the best-selling single of the year in the UK, US, Australia and Canada. The song stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks, a record in 1968 – a feat that no one else managed to repeat for the next nine years. The single alone sold around eight million copies and is still cited as one of the greatest contemporary songs today.
How did the song “Hey Jude” come about?
Listeners were officially able to listen to it for the first time on August 26, 1968 and quickly fell in love with the piece. McCartney did not hide that he got the idea for the composition when, as an old family friend, he was going to visit Cynthia Lennon and her five-year-old son Julian in May 1968. He wanted to comfort the baby somehow.
‘I thought I’d go to Weybridge and tell them everything would be all right. I wanted to cheer them up and just see how they were doing. I had about an hour’s drive ahead of me. I always turned off the radio on those occasions and tried to make up songs just in case. And that’s when I started singing: Hey Jules, don’t make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better. It was optimistic, hopeful news for Julian: I know your parents are getting divorced, I know you’re not happy. But you’ll be fine. I finally changed my name from Jules to Jude. One of the characters in ‘Oklahoma!’ her name was Jud and I like that name – McCartney himself told about how he came up with the lyrics of the song, and about what in the book “The Beatles Anthology” from 2012.
Why does “Hey Jude” sound like that?
The Beatles recorded their hit “Hey Jude” at Trident Studios in London. Paul McCartney played piano and sang, John Lennon played acoustic guitar, Harrison played electric and Ringo Starr played drums, of course. Years later, the author of the composition said that there was a slight commotion at the beginning of the session, which could have resulted in a longer break in work. Ringo Starr went to the toilet, and McCartney didn’t realize it and started singing the first take.
– I didn’t know he was gone, I thought he was sitting in his drum booth, which was kind of hidden from us. So I started with ‘Hey Jude’ and I’m working my way through the introduction. It’s a long intro with no drums and when I was halfway through I suddenly saw a silhouette flash across the studio. It was Ringo, just back from the restroom and trying to get back to his seat. He understood that we were already recording and didn’t want to stop because he heard we were doing quite well. This is the approach. He sat behind the drums literally at the last minute to get the drums where he needed to be and started playing. Oh mother, this guy is blessed,” McCartney said of the recording that later made its way onto the album. The band recorded four versions and chose the first one as the best.
The Beatles recorded the song midway through the sessions for what fans now call the “White Album”. Needless to say, it was an exceptionally explosive moment in the group’s shared history – McCartney, while recording “Hey Jude”, argued with George Harrison about how to record the guitar part.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
