Hey Jude

The Beatles

Posted Dec 09, 2004 12:00 AM

Album at Rhino.com

Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Produced by: George Martin
Released: Aug. '68 on Apple
Charts: 19 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

The Beatles' biggest U.S. single -- nine weeks at Number One -- was also their longest, at seven minutes and eleven seconds. During the recording sessions, the Beatles' producer, George Martin, objected to the length, claiming DJs would not play the song. "They will if it's us," John Lennon shot back. Paul McCartney wrote "Hey Jude" in June 1968, singing to himself on his way to visit Lennon's soon-to-be-ex-wife, Cynthia, and their son, Julian. The opening lines were, McCartney said in The Beatles Anthology, "a hopeful message for Julian: 'Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you're not happy, but you'll be OK.' " McCartney changed "Jules" to "Jude" -- a name inspired by Jud from the musical Oklahoma! -- and presented a demo tape to Lennon, who loved the song. He also thought McCartney was singing to him, about his relationship with Yoko Ono and the strains on the Lennon-McCartney partnership. But his self-centered reading underscored the universal comfort in McCartney's lyrics and the song's warm, rolling charm, fortified in the fade-out by a thirty-six-piece orchestra whose members (with one grumpy exception) also clapped and sang along -- for double their usual fee.

Appears on: 1 (Apple/Capitol)

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