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Though I am an avid Beatles fan, the articles in this series are the result of research and fact checking rather than personal insight or actual interviews - so this is more of a report and not an editorial by any means. For more information, please visit www.beatlesbible.com - a site where you'll find a wealth of information about The Beatles, from their earliest days to their final recording sessions in 1970.
This series will run every Monday evening for 12 consecutive weeks in an effort to comprehensively cover the entire Beatles' canon with a focus on one particular song each week. Each Monday evening we will play an entire Beatles' album in it's entirety to coincide with this feature.
You can listen to the Beatles' album The Beatles [aka The White Album], preceded by the single Hey Jude, in it's entirety beginning at 5:30 PM CST and again at 11PM CST on Jivewired Radio. To listen, activate the radio player in the right sidebar, or follow this link to launch Jivewired Radio in a new window.
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Day Ten: Hey Jude
The Beatles' biggest U.S. single -- nine weeks at Number One -- was also their longest, clocking in at seven minutes and eleven seconds. During the recording sessions, the Beatles' producer, George Martin, objected to the length, claiming radio DJs would not play the song.
"We recorded Hey Jude in Trident Studios. It was a long song. In fact, after I timed it I actually said, 'You can't make a single that long.' I was shouted down by the boys - not for the first time in my life - and John asked: 'Why not?' I couldn't think of a good answer, really - except the pathetic one that disc jockeys wouldn't play it. He said, 'They will if it's us.' And, of course, he was absolutely right."
-- George Martin, Beatles Anthology
Hey Jude was recorded during the sessions for the album The Beatles (aka The White Album), but was never intended to be a part of the album release. Instead, Hey Jude was released as a single and was the debut release of the Beatles' record label, Apple Records.
Despite the album's official title, which emphasized group identity, studio efforts on The Beatles captured the work of four increasingly individualized artists who frequently found themselves at odds. Hey Jude was no exception and is essentially a Paul McCartney song with the rest of the band relegated to backing roles in the recording.
"Hey Jude is a damn good set of lyrics and I made no contribution to that."
-- John Lennon, 1980
"We were joking when we made the Anthology: I was saying: 'I realize I was a bossy git.' And George said, 'Oh no, Paul, you never did anything like that!' ... But it was essential for me and looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure."
-- Paul McCartney, 1994
Along with the rest of the Beatles' canon, The Beatles was re-released on CD in newly re-mastered stereo and mono versions on September 9, 2009.
On November 13, 2012 The Beatles released a full vinyl box set of their entire canon, manufactured on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl with replicated artwork.
The recording sessions for The Beatles were mired in turbulence. The album was written and recorded during a period of turmoil for the group. After visiting the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India and having a particularly productive songwriting session in early 1968, the group returned to the studio for recording from May to October 1968, only to have conflict and dissent drive the group members apart. Drummer Ringo Starr quit the band for a brief time, leaving bassist Paul McCartney to perform drums on some of the album's songs.
The sessions for The Beatles marked the first appearance in the studio of Lennon's new girlfriend and artistic partner, Yoko Ono, who would thereafter be a more or less constant presence at all Beatles sessions. Prior to Ono's appearance on the scene, the individual Beatles had been very insular during recording sessions, with influence from outsiders strictly limited. McCartney's girlfriend at the time, Francie Schwartz, was also present at some of the recording sessions.
Hey Jude was released on August 26, 1968 in the United States and August 30, 1968 in the United Kingdom, backed with Revolution on the B-side of a 7" single. Lennon wanted Revolution to be the A-side of the single, but the other Beatles did not agree.
"I wanted to put [Revolution] out as a single, I had it all prepared, but they came by, and said it wasn't good enough. And we put out what? 'Hello, Goodbye' or some shit like that? No, we put out 'Hey Jude', which was worth it - I'm sorry - but we could have had both."
-- John Lennon, 1970 - Rolling Stone Magazine
Hey Jude was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1969 for the Record of the Year, as well as in the Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal categories, but failed to win any of them. The song is frequently included on professional lists of the all-time best songs. In 2004, it was ranked number 8 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Written by: Paul McCartney (100%) (credited as Lennon-McCartney)
Producer: George Martin
Recorded: 29-31 July, 1 August 1968 (Trident Studios, London, England)
John Lennon: harmony vocals, rhythm guitar (1963 Gibson "Super Jumbo" J-200)
Paul McCartney: lead vocals, bass guitar (1961 Fender Bass VI), piano (C. Bechstein)
George Harrison: harmony vocals, lead guitar (1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster)
Ringo Starr: drums (Ludwig), tambourine
Bobby Kok: cello
Bill Jackman: flute
Unknown orchestra musicians: violins (ten), trumpets (four), trombones (four), violas (three), cellos (three), double basses (two), flutes (two), clarinets (two), horns (two), bass clarinets (two), bassoon, contrabassoon, percussion
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Track Listing:
BONUS: Hey Jude
01-01. Back In The USSR
01-02. Dear Prudence
01-03. Glass Onion
01-04. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
01-05. Wild Honey Pie
01-06. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
01-07. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
01-08. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
01-09. Martha My Dear
01-10. I'm So Tired
01-11. Blackbird
01-12. Piggies
01-13. Rocky Raccoon
01-14. Don't Pass Me By
01-15. Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
01-16. I Will
01-17. Julia
02-01. Birthday
02-02. Yer Blues
02-03. Mother Nature's Son
02-04. Everybody's Got Something To Hide....
02-05. Sexy Sadie
02-06. Helter Skelter
02-07. Long, Long, Long
02-08. Revolution 1
02-09. Honey Pie
02-10. Savoy Truffle
02-11. Cry Baby Cry
02-12. Revolution 9
02-13. Goodnight
About Hey Jude:
The song's original title was Hey Jules, and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parents' divorce. It was written in June 1968, as McCartney drove his Aston Martin to Weybridge to visit Cynthia Lennon and her son. On the journey he began thinking about their changing lives, and of the past times he had spent writing with Lennon at the Weybridge house.
Cynthia Lennon recalled, "I was truly surprised when, one afternoon, Paul arrived on his own. I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare.... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us."
"I started with the idea 'Hey Jules', which was Julian, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. Hey, try and deal with this terrible thing. I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces ... I had the idea [for the song] by the time I got there. I changed it to 'Jude' because I thought that sounded a bit better."
-- Paul McCartney, 1997
John Lennon felt there was more than one meaning to McCartney's lyrics and thought it might have actually been written for him as well:
"But I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it... Yoko's just come into the picture. He's saying. 'Hey, Jude—Hey, John.' I know I'm sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me ... Subconsciously, he was saying, Go ahead, leave me. On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead."
-- John Lennon, 1980
McCartney originally intended many of the lyrics, especially the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder," as mere placeholders, but John insisted they were perfect just as they were, and there they stayed. He had recorded a demo tape on his own and played it for Lennon and Yoko Ono.
"I got to the line, 'The movement you need is on your shoulder,' I looked over my shoulder and I said, 'I'll change that, it's a bit crummy. I was just blocking it out,' and John said, 'You won't, you know. That's the best line in it!' That's collaboration. When someone's that firm about a line that you're going to junk, and he said, 'No, keep it in.' So of course you love that line twice as much because it's a little stray, it's a little mutt that you were about to put down and it was reprieved and so it's more beautiful than ever. I love those words now..."
-- Paul McCartney, 1997
The Beatles recorded 25 takes of Hey Jude at Abbey Road Studios in two nights, 29 July and 30 July 1968. These were mostly rehearsals, however, as they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilize their eight-track recording machine (Abbey Road was still limited to four-tracks).
The basic track was recorded on 31 July 1968, the orchestra overdubs, clapping, and "na-na-nas" of the lengthy coda recorded on August 1. (Part of the rehearsal was filmed for a BBC documentary simply entitled Music!; the footage features George playing bass, though he does not play on the final recording.) Four takes were recorded, but the first was deemed best and used for the overdubbing.
Some interesting facts about the song:
- Ringo took a bathroom break during the recorded take of this song, but managed to finish up and quietly work his way back to the drum kit just in time to begin his part.
- When, in an effort to recapture the spirit of A Day In The Life, Paul asked the orchestra musicians to sing and clap along with the song (for double the money, mind you), one blustered, "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!" and stormed out.
- John can clearly be heard shouting something after the last "Let her under your skin," right on the beat, and then exclaiming "f***ing hell!" at 2:58. Remarkably, the expletive has never been removed or censored on radio.
- There are 19 repetitions of the "Na... na-na na-na-na-na / na-na-na-na / Hey Jude" chorus in the coda.
- Hey Jude spent an unprecedented nine weeks at Number One in the US, making it the biggest Beatles single ever in America. It has sold over eight million copies, three million in just the first two months.
- Totalling more than seven minutes in length, Hey Jude was at the time the longest single ever to top the British charts.
- The Amusement & Music Operators Association ranked Hey Jude the 11th-best jukebox single of all time.
- During recording, Paul and George became involved in a famous argument over the arrangement of the song: George wanted to echo each of Paul's lines in the verse with an accompanying guitar flourish, but Paul didn't see it that way, leaving a permanent chip on the guitarist's shoulder.
-- Paul McCartney, Beatles Anthology
Previous In This Series: Day Nine: I Am The Walrus
Visit The Beatles Bible!
Sources: The Beatles Bible; Many Years From Now - Barry Miles (author); Beatles Interview Database; The Beatles Recording Sessions - Lewisohn, Mark (author); Whitburn, Joel (2007), Billboard Top Pop Singles 1955-2006. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin; Playboy Magazine; Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, Ian McDonald (author); The Compleat Beatles Vol. 2, Milton Okun (author); Apple Records; Oldies Music Guide, Robert Fontenot (author); The Beatles On Record, BBC Televison; What Goes On, The Beatles' Anomalies List; The Beatles, Hunter Davies (author);