“I would always turn the radio off and try and make up songs, just in case… I started singing: ‘Hey Jules–don’t make it bad–take a sad song, and make it better.” —Paul McCartney1
In June of 1968, Paul McCartney went to visit John Lennon, his wife Cynthia, and their five year old son Julian. While hanging out and visiting, John and Cynthia announced to Paul that they were getting a divorce. Paul, who Julian considered more his father than John due to their closer connection, thought about how it would affect Julian. It was rumored that the reason why John and Cynthia were getting a divorce was because of John’s infidelity with an artist named Yoko Ono. In a letter written by John to Cynthia, he addressed the fact that John knew that their marriage was long over before the events that happened with Yoko Ono.2
Paul McCartney said, “I thought, as a friend of the family, I would motor out to Weybridge and tell them that everything was all right: to try and cheer them up, basically, and see how they were. I had about an hour’s drive. I would always turn the radio off and try and make up songs, just in case… I started singing: ‘Hey Jules – don’t make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better…’ It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: ‘Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you’re not happy, but you’ll be OK.”3
“Hey Jude” was recorded at Abbey Road on July 29-30, in 1968. John and Paul finished the final touches for the song in Paul’s house. They recorded it with Ringo and George that following Monday at Abbey Road. While they were figuring out how to play the song, they brought out an orchestra, and one of the other orchestra men, didn’t thinking that the song would be a huge hit at the time, walked out saying that he wasn’t “going to clap [his] hands and sing Paul McCartney’s bloody song.”4
The Beatles only took one take to record their hit song. While recording the song, Ringo Starr had to go to the bathroom, got up and left, and didn’t let anyone know. He came back, and nobody realized what had happened, for the first couple of seconds in the song. Paul liked how there was no drums and ended up sticking with it.
The final song is 7 minutes and 11 seconds long, and nobody intended on it being that long. “Hey Jude” was released as a single, that later was put into a collection of singles release by The Beatles. The song was released in the Unites States on August 26, 1968 and in the UK on August 30, 1968. “Hey Jude” had a permanent residence at #1 on the Billboards Top 30 for 8 weeks. All in all, it spent 18 weeks in the Top 30. Within the initial release of the song, there were five million sales in the first six months, and 7.5 million in 4 years. 5
When John first heard the song, he though it was about him and Yoko, and telling him “to go out and get her.” “Well, when Paul first sang ‘Hey Jude’ to me… or played me the little tape he’d made of it… I took it very personally. ‘Ah, it’s me,’ I said, ‘It’s me.’ He says, ‘No, it’s me.’ I said, ‘Check. We’re going through the same bit.’ So we all are. Whoever is going through a bit with us is going through it, that’s the groove.”6
In 1987, after the song was released, Paul reached out to Julian and said that the song was about him, and that Julian always felt a better connection to Paul, than his dad, John. The recording notes were auctioned off by Julian in 1996, and then Cynthia Lennon tried to auction off the original handwritten lyrics, but Paul took it to court preventing it from even happening.7
People and critics believe that throughout all the rough, creative, and changing time in America, “Hey Jude” gave people a sense of “letting go of your childhood innocence,” by giving them a message of reassurance, and trying to help them make the step to move forward with their lives. “The process of singing the song testifies that uplifted spirits are earned, not just willed; no peace is possible without struggle.”8
To this day, the Beatles are one of the most well-known bands in the world. They were part of “The British Invasion” and created an international legacy that will never die. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney were also inducted as solo artist.
- Andrew Leonard, “Hey Jude,” The Beatles Bible. 7 June 2018. Accessed September 09, 2018. www.beatlesbible.com/songs/hey-jude/ . ↵
- John Lennon to Cynthia Twist, November 15, 1976, in Steve Marinucci, “John Lennon Disputes Yoko Ono Ending His marriage In Unearthed Letter to First Wife,” Billboard, August 8, 2017. https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7896840/john-lennon-yoko-ono-cynthia-lennon-divorce-letter. ↵
- Andrew Leonard, “Hey Jude,” The Beatles Bible, 7 June 2018. Accessed September 09, 2018. www.beatlesbible.com/songs/hey-jude/. ↵
- Guesdon, Jean-Michel. All The Songs, The Story Behind All The Beatles Release. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2013. ↵
- Dmitry Murashev, “Beatles History,” DM’S Beatles Site, 2012. Accessed 13 November 2018. ↵
- John Lennon, interview by Jonathan Colt, in Rolling Stone Magazine, November 23, 1968, reproduced in Dmitry Murashev, Beatles History – 1968 Year. Accessed November 10, 2018. http://www.dmbeatles.com/interviews.php?interview=67. ↵
- Andrew Leonard, “Hey Jude,” The Beatles Bible, 7 June 2018. Accessed September 09, 2018. www.beatlesbible.com/songs/hey-jude/. ↵
- Encyclopedia Of Great Popular Song Recordings, 2013, s.v. “Hey Jude (1968)—The Beatles.” ↵
92 comments
Jacob Silva
In all the times that I have listened to this iconic song I have never really took the time to understand and interpret the lyrics of this song. However, I know hold an even greater understanding of this song and its meaning thereby making it a more enjoyable and relatable song to hear. Essentially this song was written for someone who was going through a bumpy road and letting them know that things well turn out better than it was at the moment.
Cassandra Sanchez
I really loved the concept that there is no peace without struggle because that is something that every reader can interpret into their own lives in some way and it gives a sense of connection to the band and the fans who listen to this song. I also admire how this song was written in support of someone going through a rough time in their lives. I was never really aware of that when listening to this song but now that I know the reason behind this, it truly gives the song a deeper meaning.
Margaret Maguire
I think the Beatles are really cool and they made a lot of good songs including “Hey Jude” this article had some really neat facts about the song “Hey Jude” that I didn’t know about. First, this song was for his son, Julian to help him cope with his parents getting a divorce. The song also starred with the line, “Hey Jules” instead of what we know of today as, “Hey Jude.” Secondly, the song you hear today was done in only one take which is crazy because the song is so good for only having one take. And lastly, the song was number one on the Billboard Top 30 for eight weeks, which is a really long time for a song to stay in one spot on the Billboard Top 30.
Nicole Ortiz
Growing up, my parents would always play the Beatles and they were one of the few bands that I still listen to from my childhood. Whether if we were at home, in the car heading to Walmart, and most especially when we would go on road trips, we would do a sort of The Beatles karaoke and just sing along. I had done some research on them a couple of years ago on their rise to fame during the British Invasion but it was nothing like this article. It was really interesting to get to know and see the reasoning and inspiration behind one of their well-known songs such as this one.
Ariana Brown
Wow. I love The Beatles and I love “Hey Jude” but it honestly made me judge John Lennon’s character a little. From what I gathered, he left his children and never really bonded with him. He then was narcissistic and thought a song was all about him rather than considering what his son may be going through. I have read other articles about John’s selfish character but this just shocked me as to how someone could be so callous to their own child and so self absorbed that he wouldn’t even consider that a song written by a friend and bandmate could be about his son or the bandmate himself even.
Roberto Rodriguez
I decided to read this article because I love this song, and after learning the upbringing of this song I can say without a doubt that I appreciate the song even more. It is a great story of turning a sad and depressing situation into something that is uplifting and timeless. It is really inspiring how Paul thought about Julian in their desperate time. He did not think about himself, but somebody else that he believed really needed it more. In the process of doing so he not only helped Julian, but probably millions of others as well that needed it.
Isabella Torres
To be completely honest, I didn’t really get into the Beatles’ music until pretty recently. Because of this, I’m not very familiar with each member’s background nor the backstory behind their songs. I found it very interesting that Paul was more of a father figure to Julian than John ever was; this article really changed my perspective of this song in that I always assumed it alluded to a romantic relationship as most songs do. I also really liked how the author included the details of how the song was made, especially the part about how one of the orchestra members didn’t take it seriously, when in reality, the song became one of the Beatles’ biggest hits. This article was informative and very well done!
Michael Lazcano
The Beatles has always been a band that has stuck with me through my early years through today, and I remember Hey Jude most distinctly compared to the rest. I had never considered the backstory behind the song, and quite frankly never saw anything on the topic. This article provided me with a clearer understanding of what the song was really about and the significance it had to Paul and especially Julian. Most of the time the number of sales and where a song sits on the charts is held to be more important than the actual lyrics and meaning itself. I really appreciate all the research the author took to tell the tale of how the song came to be, the infidelity of John, and Paul giving Julian words of encouragement to “take a sad song, and make it better”.
Kimberly Parker
I have always loved the Beatles, due to the fact that my parents would play them all the time when I was younger, but what I didn’t realize that there was always a story, a meaning, behind each and every one of their songs. When reading this article, I was shocked to learn that Paul McCartney had actually made “Hey Jude”, as an optimistic message for Julian, John Lennon’s son, during the time that John and his wife were getting a divorce. I had no idea that there was actually so much history connected to such a popular song because when I had first heard it, I had thought that they were probably singing about some girl because that was usually what people wrote about. This article opened up my eyes to the reality that songs aren’t just made from nothing and that they aren’t generic. There is so much history and emotions behind them, that we just don’t realize until someone publishes an article about it.
Jose Chaman
The first thing that impressed me about this song is his main intention to give moral support to Julian, when for the first time I listened to “Hey Jude” I thought it was dedicated to a woman, perhaps to a mother or girlfriend. Now that I’ve read this article I can tell how wrong I was, besides knowing that John Lennon’s birthborn appreciated Paul more than his own father, a fact I never knew, it’s interesting to be able to tell anyone you’re with in street, cafeteria or even to your family and friends the funny fact that Ringo Star had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the recording! Just incredible! Apart from all this, the story of why an for what “Hey Jude” was written is a pretty touching and noble story.