Hey Jude
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Hey Jude" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by the Beatles | ||
| B-side(s) | "Revolution" | |
| Released | 1968-08-26 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | Trident Studios: 1968-07-31 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 7:05 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Chart positions | ||
| the Beatles singles chronology | ||
| "Lady Madonna" (1968) |
"Hey Jude" (1968) |
"Get Back" / "Don't Let Me Down (1969) |
| Music sample | ||
|
"Hey Jude" (file info) |
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"Hey Jude" is a rock ballad written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and recorded by the Beatles. Despite being over 7 minutes long, it lasted two weeks as number one in the British charts, and spent nine weeks as number one in the United States, the longest spell at the top of the American charts for a Beatles single. Originally titled "Hey Jules", it was written by McCartney to comfort John Lennon's son Julian when Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Powell, were divorced. The song made many "Best of..." lists compiled by magazines such as Rolling Stone, where it was number 8 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Contents |
[edit] Inspiration and composition
After Lennon and Powell divorced, McCartney drove out to see Powell and Julian, Lennon's son with her. "We'd been very good friends for millions of years and I thought it was a bit much for them suddenly to be persona non gratae and out of my life," he said.[1] The original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parent's divorce. "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."[1]
Later, Powell 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."[2]
Julian Lennon discovered the song had been written for him almost twenty years later. He remembered being closer to McCartney than to his father: "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit — more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad."[3]
Although McCartney originally wrote the song for Julian Lennon, John Lennon thought it had actually been written for him:
| “ | "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."[4] | ” |
In his 1970 Rolling Stone Magazine interview, Lennon gave rare praise to this as one of McCartney's best and most genuine songs.
Other people besides John Lennon thought the song was about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express.[5] Still others, including Lennon, have speculated that McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher when he wrote "Hey Jude" was an unconscious "message to himself".[6]
Much as he did with "Yesterday", McCartney played the song for other musicians and friends. A member of Badfinger, the first band to join the Beatles-owned record label Apple Records, recalled that on their first day in the studio, "Paul walked over to the grand piano and said, 'Hey lads, have a listen', and he sat down and gave us a full concert rendition of 'Hey Jude'. We were gobsmacked.[3][7]
[edit] Recording
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).[8] One take from 29 July is available on the Anthology 3 CD.[9] The master rhythm track was recorded on 31 July at Trident. Four takes were recorded; take one was selected. The song was completed on 1 August with additional overdubs including a 36 piece orchestra for the song's long refrain, scored by George Martin. The orchestra included 10 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 2 flutes, 1 contra bassoon, 1 bassoon, 2 clarinets, 1 contra bass clarinet, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 2 horns, percussion, and 2 string basses. While adding backing vocals, The Beatles asked the orchestra members if they would clap their hands and sing along to the refrain in the song's coda. Most complied (for a double fee), but one declined, saying "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!"[10]
Ringo Starr almost missed his drum cue. He left for a toilet break—unnoticed by the other Beatles—and the Beatles started recording. In 1994, McCartney said, "Ringo walked out to go to the toilet and I hadn't noticed. The toilet was only a few yards from his drum booth, but he'd gone past my back and I still thought he was in his drum booth. I started what was the actual take, and 'Hey Jude' goes on for hours before the drums come in and while I was doing it I suddenly felt Ringo tiptoeing past my back rather quickly, trying to get to his drums. And just as he got to his drums, boom boom boom, his timing was absolutely impeccable."[11]
During the recording of the master take, Lennon shouted "Ohhhh!" followed by "Bloody 'ell!" at 2:56 and 2:58, respectively, into the song. This occurs after he sings "let her into your skin" under McCartney's "let her under your skin." Sound engineer Ken Scott later told Mojo's Chris Hunt, "I was told about it at the time but could never hear it. But once I had it pointed out I can't miss it now. I have a sneaking suspicion they knew all along, as it was a track that should have been pulled out in the mix. I would imagine it was one of those things that happened—it was a mistake, they listened to it and thought, 'doesn't matter, it's fine'."[7][12]
George Harrison and McCartney had a disagreement over this song. According to McCartney, during a rehearsal Harrison played an answer to every line of the vocal. This did not fit with McCartney's idea of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it.[10][11] In a 1994 interview, McCartney said:
| “ | "We were joking when we made the Anthology: I was saying: 'I realise 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.[11] | ” |
Ron Richards, who worked for George Martin at both Parlophone at AIR Studios, and who discovered the Hollies,[13] was present for many Beatle recording sessions. He said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio," and that he was driven to make the best possible record, at almost any cost.[14]
[edit] Credits
- Paul McCartney — lead vocal, piano, bass
- John Lennon — acoustic guitar, backing vocals
- George Harrison — guitar, backing vocals
- Ringo Starr — drums, tambourine
And a 36-piece orchestra as described in the text.
- Credits per Ian MacDonald.[15]
[edit] Single release
Even though "Hey Jude" was recorded during the sessions for the The Beatles, aka The White Album, it was always intended as a single and not an album track.[8][16][17] It was the first release for Apple Records, who released it on 26 August 1968 in the U.S. and 30 August in the UK, with "Revolution" on the B-side of a 7" single.[18] "Hey Jude" became the biggest-selling debut release for a record label ever, selling over eight million copies worldwide and topping the charts in eleven different countries.
Lennon intended "Revolution" as an A-side single, but the other Beatles did not agree. In his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, he said "Hey Jude" was worthy of an A-side, "but we could have had both."[19] Ten years later in 1980, he told Playboy he still disagreed with the decision.[20]
[edit] United States
"Hey Jude" entered the U.S. charts on September 14, where the song would stay for the next nineteen weeks. Two weeks later, "Hey Jude" was number one in the charts, and held that position for the following nine weeks,[21] in the process setting the U.S. record for the longest time spent by a Beatles single at number one,[22] as well as being the longest-playing single to reach number one.[21]
American radio stations were averse to playing anything longer than the usual three to three-and-a-half minutes, and Capitol Records pressed a shortened version specially for airplay.[21]
Because of the U.S. practice of counting sales and airplay for the A- and B-sides of a single separately, at one point Record World listed "Hey Jude" at number one, followed by its B-side partner, "Revolution", at number two. "Hey Jude" was also the first Beatles single to be issued in a paper sleeve instead of a picture cover.[23] Five months after its release, 3.75 million copies of "Hey Jude" had already been sold. To date, five million have been sold in the U.S. alone. The record was certified gold the day before it entered the U.S. charts, but took almost 30 years to be certified platinum, on 17 February 1999.[24]
[edit] United Kingdom
In the UK, "Hey Jude" began its sixteen-week chart run on 7 September, claiming the top spot a week later. It only lasted two weeks on top before being knocked off by another single from Apple, Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days".
"Hey Jude" remains the Beatles' most commercially successful songs, fending off stiff competition from songs such as "Let It Be" and "Yesterday", both of which are also McCartney compositions. The released version clocked in at seven minutes and eleven seconds. The only other chart-topping song worldwide in the 1960s that ran over seven minutes was Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park". In the UK, where "MacArthur Park" did not top the chart, "Hey Jude" remained the longest number one hit for nearly a quarter of a century, until it was surpassed in 1993 by Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", which ran seven minutes fifty-eight seconds as a single.[24]
[edit] Love
In 2006, George and Giles Martin remixed the song for the Love album.
[edit] Promotional film
The Beatles hired Michael Lindsay-Hogg to shoot the "Hey Jude" promotional film. Hogg had previously directed a "promo" film for "Paperback Writer." They settled on the idea of performing in front of a live — albeit controlled — audience. Hogg shot the promotional film for The Frost Programme, with McCartney himself designing the set. A friend of the Beatles later described the set as "the piano, there; drums, there; and orchestra in two tiers at the back." The eventual final film was a combination of two different takes, with David Frost introducing the Beatles as "the greatest tea-room orchestra in the world".[25] The film was also broadcast in the U.S. on the The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and can be seen in the Anthology DVD series.
[edit] Critical acclaim
Music analyst Alan Pollock, praised "Hey Jude" saying, "it's such a good illustration of two compositional lessons — how to fill a large canvas with simple means, and how to use diverse elements such as harmony, bassline, and orchestration to articulate form and contrast." He also said it is unusual for a long song because it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression."[26]
The song starts to fade out mid-way through the latter section, the fade lasting over two minutes. During this time, the chorus "Na, na, na...Hey Jude" is repeated 18 times. Pollack described it as "an astonishingly transcendental effect,"[26] while Unterberger observed, "What could have very easily been boring is instead hypnotic".[6]
"Hey Jude" was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 1968 in the Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal categories, but failed to win any of them.[27] It did win the 1968 Ivor Novello Award for "A-Side With the Highest Sales". In the NME 1968 Readers' Poll, "Hey Jude" was named the best single of the year.[28]
In 2001, "Hey Jude" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Hall of Fame.[29] In 2004, it was ranked number 8 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.[30] It came in third on Channel 4's list of 100 Greatest Singles.[31] Broadcast Music Incorporated ranked "Hey Jude" the 11th-best jukebox single of all time.[32]
- "Hey Jude" was the top Billboard Hot 100 single for 1968, according to year-end charts, marking the Beatles' second appearance at the top of a year-end Hot 100 chart (they were #1 of 1964 with "I Want To Hold Your Hand"). McCartney would later place at the top spot again in 1976, with his band Wings and the song "Silly Love Songs".
[edit] Auctioned lyrics
In 1996, Julian Lennon paid £25,000 for the recording notes to "Hey Jude" at an auction. Lennon spent another £35,000 at the auction buying John Lennon memorabilia. John Cousins, Julian Lennon's manager, stated, "He has a few photographs of his father, but not very much else. He is collecting for personal reasons, these are family heirlooms if you like."[33] Lennon reportedly later sold the production notes back to McCartney. As of 2006, Lennon owns the publishing rights to "Hey Jude", one of the few Beatles songs not controlled by Michael Jackson.
In 2002, the original handwritten lyrics for the song were nearly auctioned off at Christie's in London. The sheet of notepaper with the scrawled lyrics had been expected to fetch up to £80,000 at the auction, which was scheduled for 30 April 2002. McCartney went to court to stop the auction, claiming the paper had disappeared from his West London home. Richard Morgan, representing Christie's, said McCartney had provided no evidence that he had ever owned the piece of paper on which the lyrics were written. The courts decided in McCartney's favour and prohibited the sale of the lyrics. They had been sent to Christie's for auction by Frenchman Florrent Tessier, who said he purchased the piece of paper at a street market stall in London for £10 in the early 1970s. In the original catalogue for the auction, Julian Lennon had written, "It's very strange to think that someone has written a song about you. It still touches me."[34]
| Preceded by "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single September 28, 1968 |
Succeeded by "Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes |
| Preceded by "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" by Bee Gees |
UK number one single September 11, 1968 for two weeks |
Succeeded by "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin |
[edit] Cover versions
"Hey Jude" has also been covered by several artists.
- The most commercially successful cover version was by Wilson Pickett, whose rendition featured Allman Brothers' guitarist, Duane Allman, as a session player, and was the only cover to make the U.S. Billboard HOT 100 chart.
- Elvis Presley, Maynard Ferguson, and the Grateful Dead also produced cover versions. Toots & the Maytals covered it on Here Comes the Sun: A Reggae Tribute to the Beatles album.
-
- Dame Shirley Bassey has recorded the song and often performs it at her live concerts. Her 1994 performance of the song at the Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Prince Charles brought the first standing ovation at the event for over twenty years.
- Metallica recorded a short parody.
- The Brothers Johnson covered the song for the 1976 evanescent musical documentary All This and World War II.
- A contemporary cover version sung in Czech by Marta Kubišová was used to accompany the Prague Spring montage sequence in the 1988 film adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
- A slightly modified version is sung in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, which provides hints that part of the book series occurs on a parallel universe that in some ways resembles modern Earth. Here the opening line is slightly different: Hey Jude, I see you, lad.
- The satire tribute band Beatallica remade the song as 'Hey Dude' on the eponymously titled album Beatallica.
- A cover of the song by the Mutato Muzika Orchestra is featured on the soundtrack of the 2001 Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums.
[edit] Cultural references
- "Remember to let her into your heart" is quoted in the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was credited to Lennon and McCartney. The song is later mentioned in the chapter.
- "Hey Jude" is referenced in the song "Shangri-la" by Electric Light Orchestra. The song "Shangri-la" is about falling out of love because of the loss of one's significant other. Part of the lyrics state the person's "Shangri-la" has gone away: "Faded like the Beatles on Hey Jude". "Shangri-la" was also the title of a song by The Rutles, which partly parodies "Hey Jude".
- Cookie Monster and The Beatle's own parody band, The Beetles, sang a parody of this song called "Hey Food" on Sesame Street. [35]
- British band Kula Shaker mock the title of the song by naming one of their songs "Hey Dude".
- "Hey Dude" is also the title of a poem by Roger McGough. In the poem McGough helps inspire the song while in Scaffold with McCartney's brother Mike McGear. The description of the song's genesis in the poem conflicts greatly with the established version, not mentioning Julian Lennon at all.
- On the radio comedy panel game show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Tim Brooke-Taylor sang the tune of the song to the lyrics of Funky Gibbon by the Goodies of which he was a member.
- In a sketch in the third series of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Hugh Laurie performs the song in a high-pitched squeaky voice, with Stephen Fry adding the "na na na na"s in an extremely low-pitched voice.
- In the novel "Vivianne" by Richard Hoyt, the title character uses the lyrics as a message to the character Jim Quint on the back of a photograph of her sister. The character of Vivianne was noted as being interested in the music of the Beatles.
- In the Japanese Animation movie "The End of Evangelion", the vocal song played near the end of the film's climax, titled "Komm süßer Tod" (Come Sweet Death), is heavily inspired by the song "Hey Jude".
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 465. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles: Day-by-Day, Song-by-Song, Record-by-Record. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 366. ISBN 0-595-34663-4.
- ^ a b Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles, 367.
- ^ David Sheff (interviewer) (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press, 186. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ Bill Harry, (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated. London: Virgin Publishing, 517. ISBN 0-7535-0481-2.
- ^ a b Richie Unterberger,. "Hey Jude" Review. Retrieved on January 20, 2006.
- ^ a b Hunt, Chris (2003). The Story Of Hey Jude. Beatles Special. Mojo.
- ^ a b Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 145. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ Anthology 3, (1996), The Beatles, notes from: booklet. Apple Records, London: 34451.
- ^ a b Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 146.
- ^ a b c Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, 466.
- ^ Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles, 368.
- ^ George Martin with Jeremy Hornsby (1994). All You Need Is Ears. New York: St. Martin's Press, 137, 183. ISBN 0-312-11482-6.
- ^ Bob Spitz (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 783. ISBN 0-316-80352-9.
- ^ MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, Second Revised Edition, London: Pimlico (Rand), 302. ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- ^ Bob Spitz (2005). The Beatles: The Biography, 782.
- ^ Ian MacDonald (1994). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 242. ISBN 0-8050-2780-7.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 200.
- ^ Jann S. Wenner (interviewer) (2000). Lennon Remembers (Full interview from Lennon's 1970 interview in Rolling Stone magazine). London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-600-9.
- ^ David Sheff (interviewer) (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press, 187. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ a b c Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles, 539.
- ^ Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles, 604-605.
- ^ HEY JUDE publisher=Beatles.com. (broken link; page not found on site)
- ^ a b Craig Cross. AMERICAN SINGLES. Retrieved on January 20, 2006. (broken link; site down or moved)
- ^ Craig Cross. BEATLES SONGS - H. Retrieved on January 20, 2006. (dead link; site down or moved as of 2007-03-03)
- ^ a b Alan W. Pollack (2000). Notes on "Hey Jude". Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
- ^ Awards Database. The Envelope (LA Times). Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
- ^ The Ivor Novello Awards 1968. This Day In Music. Retrieved on January 20, 2006.
- ^ Brett Atwood (2001-02-13). Beatles, Byrds & Supremes Songs Added To Grammy Hall Of Fame. Yahoo! Music.
- ^ The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
- ^ "Channel 4 : The 100 best singles". ProcolHarum.com. Retrieved on January 20, 2006.
- ^ AMOA ANNOUNCES TOP 40 JUKEBOX SINGLES OF ALL TIME. BMI. Retrieved on January 20, 2006. (Dead link; URL defaults to home page)
- ^ Lennon and son finally work it out. Hey Jules (from London Sunday Times) (1996-09-29). Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
- ^ Jane Wardell (2002-04-30). McCartney In 'Hey Jude' Battle. CBS News/Associated Press.
- ^ Hey Food - Classic Sesame Street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwcFA4nHvho
[edit] External links
- The Hey Jude Story The Hey Jude Story by Chris Hunt, published in Mojo Beatles Special, 2003
Categories: Articles with unsourced quotes | The Beatles songs | 1968 singles | Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles | Number-one singles in the United Kingdom | Number-one singles in Germany | Number-one singles in Canada | Grammy Hall of Fame Awards | Paul McCartney songs | Apple Records singles | Wilson Pickett songs | Songs produced by George Martin
