Song Of The Week - Hey Jude

[nimrod]

One of Pauls greatest songs IMO, but who is it that swears during the song ?

At 2:58 of the song, someone can allegedly be heard to say, "Fucking hell!" There is some dispute as to who said this, and whether it was really exclaimed at all. Sound engineers Ken Scott and Geoff Emerick claim the exclamation came from McCartney, and that it was Lennon's idea to leave the mistake in the final mix. "'Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word,' Lennon gleefully crowed, 'but I insisted we leave it in, buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won't ever spot it...but we'll know it's there.'" However, in the book Recording the Beatles, engineer Malcolm Toft recalls, "Barry Sheffield engineered 'Hey Jude', but I mixed it... John Lennon says a very rude word about halfway through the song. At 2:59 you will hear a 'Whoa!' from him in the background. About two seconds later you will hear, 'Fucking hell!' This was because when he was doing a vocal backing, Barry sent him the foldback level [headphone volume] too loud and he threw the cans on the ground and uttered the expletive. But, because it had been bounced down [mixed] with the main vocal, it could not be removed. I just managed to bring the fader down for a split second on the mix to try to lessen the effect." Others argue that the voice is Ringo Starr's.

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.

Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express.
Still others, including John Lennon, have speculated that McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher when he wrote "Hey Jude" was an unconscious "message to himself." In fact, when Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him, McCartney denied it, and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.
Writer Mark Hertsgaard noted "many of the song's lyrics do seem directed more at a grown man on the verge of a powerful new love, especially the lines 'you have found her now go and get her' and 'you're waiting for someone to perform with.'" Tim Riley wrote, "If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey. He begins by singing to comfort someone else, finds himself weighing his own feelings in the process, and finally, in the repeated refrains that nurture his own approbation, he comes to believe in himself."
McCartney changed the title to "Hey Jude" because the name Jude was easier to sing than Jules.
Much as he did with "Yesterday", McCartney played the song for other musicians and friends. Ron Griffith of Badfinger (known at this time as the Iveys, and 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."
When McCartney introduced Lennon to his new composition, he came to "the movement you need is on your shoulder" and told Lennon "I'll fix that bit." Lennon asked why, and McCartney answered "...it's a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot." Lennon parried with "You won't, you know. That's the best line in the song." McCartney thus left the line in, and later said "...when I play that song, that's the line when I think of John, and sometimes I get a little emotional during that moment."

Personnel

Paul McCartney – lead vocal, piano, bass
John Lennon – backing vocal, acoustic guitar
George Harrison – backing vocal, electric guitar
Ringo Starr – backing vocal, drums, tambourine
Uncredited – 10 violins, three violas, three cellos, two double basses, two flutes, two clarinets, one bass clarinet, one bassoon, one contrabassoon, four trumpets, two horns, four trombones, and one percussion instrument.

Personnel per Ian MacDonald and Mark Lewisohn.

[tkitna]

Its a good song. I really get into it sometimes, but other times it can get on my nerves if I hear it to often. Honestly, its a two part song and both parts a tad too long. Shorten the song by two minutes and it becomes epic in my opinion.

[Hello Goodbye]

I liked this song a whole lot more when it was released than I do now.  I guess that's because not too long after its release, I saw the promo film on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour...


The Beatles - Hey Jude (Original Promo)


I really liked that film and sat there amazed as the camera pulled back and all those people were there singing.  I remember it spending a lot of time at #1 and it was played so often on the radio in the Fall of 1968 that I soon got tired of all the Na Na Na Nas at the end of the song.  That kind of coda was a brilliant idea the first time around with Hello Goodbye but I thought it was stale for Hey Jude and way too long.

I guess the promo film spoiled me.  I would rather watch that than listen to the whole song on CD or LP.

[Hello Goodbye]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I liked the line "The movement you need is on your shoulder."  It made no sense at all and I wondered what it meant for a whole year. 

In the fall of 1969 I thought it was a clue.    

[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

Probably the biggest song of the entire 1960's decade. Not necessarily the best, not even my favorite song, but if you put in the balance its huge success (9 weeks at #1 in US), the lyrics (probably the best words ever written by Paul), the beautiful sweet melody combined with the wild epic coda, and what the song meant at that time for the youth (e.g. the French May), it's very hard to beat it. "Take a sad song and make it better" was a wonderful image, and it still works today in different situations of life.

Actually John said that "Hey Jude" was Paul's best song. I agree.

[Hello Goodbye]

...and what the song meant at that time for the youth (e.g. the French May), it's very hard to beat it. "Take a sad song and make it better" was a wonderful image, and it still works today in different situations of life.

As a teenage college student in the Fall of 1968, I can tell you that Hey Jude meant nothing to those of us who were proactive at a very tumultuous time in United States history.  There was an escalating war in Viet Nam due to the Tet Offensive earlier in the year and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and the riots that followed were still fresh in our minds.  Songs like Abraham, Martin and John, Street Fighting Man, and Time Has Come Today were a whole lot more relevant to us.  There was also a resurgence of folk songs like "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and "Blowin' In The Wind" which held very great meaning for us in late 1968.  But Hey Jude was a very popular song.  It was #1 for 9 weeks.  It held meaning for someone, somewhere.  But not for those of us concerned with the future of this country.

The 1968 French May Protests was a noted anarchist uprising initiated by a few spoiled French students which quickly escalated to a mass student and workers strike.  It fizzled out just as quickly as it began.  Even their slogans defied any cogent political interpretation...








The protests were over before Hey Jude was released.  The De Gaulle goverment was stronger than ever after the June election.

[Hello Goodbye]

It took a year, but in late 1969 The Rolling Stones spoke strongly for the movement with Gimme Shelter...


The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter Live Pop Go The Sixites 1969


...in their own Rolling Stones way.   

[Bobber]

One of Pauls greatest songs IMO, but who is it that swears during the song ?

At 2:58 of the song, someone can allegedly be heard to say, "Fucking hell!" There is some dispute as to who said this, and whether it was really exclaimed at all. Sound engineers Ken Scott and Geoff Emerick claim the exclamation came from McCartney, and that it was Lennon's idea to leave the mistake in the final mix. "'Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word,' Lennon gleefully crowed, 'but I insisted we leave it in, buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won't ever spot it...but we'll know it's there.'" However, in the book Recording the Beatles, engineer Malcolm Toft recalls, "Barry Sheffield engineered 'Hey Jude', but I mixed it... John Lennon says a very rude word about halfway through the song. At 2:59 you will hear a 'Whoa!' from him in the background. About two seconds later you will hear, 'Fucking hell!' This was because when he was doing a vocal backing, Barry sent him the foldback level [headphone volume] too loud and he threw the cans on the ground and uttered the expletive. But, because it had been bounced down [mixed] with the main vocal, it could not be removed. I just managed to bring the fader down for a split second on the mix to try to lessen the effect." Others argue that the voice is Ringo Starr's.

It was even discussed at DM's: http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=4354.msg94828#msg94828

[Klang]

Loved it from the start. Can still give me goosebumps.

[nimrod]

It was even discussed at DM's: http://www.dmbeatles.com/forums/index.php?topic=4354.msg94828#msg94828

one of those things we'll never know..

[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

As a teenage college student in the Fall of 1968, I can tell you that Hey Jude meant nothing to those of us who were proactive at a very tumultuous time in United States history.  There was an escalating war in Viet Nam due to the Tet Offensive earlier in the year and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and the riots that followed were still fresh in our minds.  Songs like Abraham, Martin and John, Street Fighting Man, and Time Has Come Today were a whole lot more relevant to us.  There was also a resurgence of folk songs like "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and "Blowin' In The Wind" which held very great meaning for us in late 1968.  But Hey Jude was a very popular song.  It was #1 for 9 weeks.  It held meaning for someone, somewhere.  But not for those of us concerned with the future of this country.

The 1968 French May Protests was a noted anarchist uprising initiated by a few spoiled French students which quickly escalated to a mass student and workers strike.  It fizzled out just as quickly as it began.  Even their slogans defied any cogent political interpretation...

The protests were over before Hey Jude was released.  The De Gaulle goverment was stronger than ever after the June election.

Actually that's why "Take a sad song and make it better" or "Don't carry the world upon your shoulder" or "For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool by making the world a little colder" were suitable messages for the time, surely not taken the same way by everybody; I think the message is similar to the B-side "Revolution", by which many "revolutionaries" started to think about the Beatles as "sleepers". But the Fab Four were ahead in time, they knew that the riots and the violence were not the answer. Just see what happened to all the nice ideas of the 60's when the decade was over, because the objective was good, but the medium was wrong, and you won't get the objective if the medium contradicts it. In 1971, when even the Stones had forgotten their political side talking about the color of sugar they liked, Pete Townshend & the Who expressed brillantly the new feelings of youth in their song "Won't Get Fooled Again", something that the Beatles intended to warn before: "Greet the new boss, same as the old boss".

You're right, many people were not ready for "Hey Jude" in 1968, just needed a little more time.

[Ovi]

A timeless, breathtaking masterpiece. If I were to choose a Beatles song to suggest to someone who's never heard anything by them or that would sum up what they were all about, I'd pick 'Hey Jude' without a doubt. Accessible and memorable melody; powerful, resonant and uplifting lyrics and a great performance both vocally and musically. What else do you need? And the coda is just bliss. I wouldn't want it shortened at all, not even by 10 seconds.

All in all, even though neither my favourite Beatles song, nor my favourite of Paul's, I think 'Hey Jude' deserves all the praise it has gotten over the years.

[Kevin]

Great great song. And hats off to George Martin for the excellent production - his touch is as light as ever. A lesser talent could have made this horribly overblown.
How anyone can link this song to any kind of revolutionary message is beyond me. If the Beatles can be seen as giving  a "no violence" message in this song (and it's B-side) this doesn't make them "ahead of their time."
The President of the USA and the prime minister of the UK and De Gaulle were also  saying "no violence". Did that make them ahead of their time? Probably not, more likely members of the establishment with an interest in maintaining the staus quo. And James Paul McCartney MBE was definately an establishment member. Even Lennon on Revolution gives the Establishment Message of everything is going to be "alright", so please: don't blow anything up or burn anything down. Especially millionaire mansions in the Stockbroker Belt. Those buggers don't come cheap, even for rock stars.

It's a great song, with McCartney as usual playing with words that sounded good together. I don't think it goes any deeper than that.
Ahead of their time? For once I think Time was passing them by.

[Hombre_de_ningun_lugar]

How anyone can link this song to any kind of revolutionary message is beyond me. If the Beatles can be seen as giving  a "no violence" message in this song (and it's B-side) this doesn't make them "ahead of their time."
The President of the USA and the prime minister of the UK and De Gaulle were also  saying "no violence". Did that make them ahead of their time? Probably not, more likely members of the establishment with an interest in maintaining the staus quo. And James Paul McCartney MBE was definately an establishment member. Even Lennon on Revolution gives the Establishment Message of everything is going to be "alright", so please: don't blow anything up or burn anything down. Especially millionaire mansions in the Stockbroker Belt. Those buggers don't come cheap, even for rock stars.

You got me wrong, "Hey Jude" (as well as "Revolution") was not supposed to be revolutionary, it was a view at what was happening at the time. I say that the Beatles were ahead in time because they saw that the mediums (riots, violence, etc.) were wrong, they would lead to nothing, and it happened so. It was a fake revolution, that is, because how can you get Peace & Love with violence?

But the hippies were selfish because they wanted to change the world for themselves, and you cannot do that so fast. Drugs and selfish ideas like "free love" didn't help to get the dream either. If you fight with violence you're nothing different than those leaders of USA, UK and France. If you want to change the world you need patience, imagination and love. Use the power of art as the Beatles and fellows did. Act like the citizen of the city you want to live. It's better to change minds and hearts than temporary structures. But probably you won't enjoy the results of this inversion. You can get the promise land for your children, but not for yourself.

[Hello Goodbye]

You got me wrong, "Hey Jude" (as well as "Revolution") was not supposed to be revolutionary, it was a view at what was happening at the time. I say that the Beatles were ahead in time because they saw that the mediums (riots, violence, etc.) were wrong, they would lead to nothing, and it happened so. It was a fake revolution, that is, because how can you get Peace & Love with violence?

But the hippies were selfish because they wanted to change the world for themselves, and you cannot do that so fast. Drugs and selfish ideas like "free love" didn't help to get the dream either. If you fight with violence you're nothing different than those leaders of USA, UK and France. If you want to change the world you need patience, imagination and love. Use the power of art as the Beatles and fellows did. Act like the citizen of the city you want to live. It's better to change minds and hearts than temporary structures. But probably you won't enjoy the results of this inversion. You can get the promise land for your children, but not for yourself.

If you were there perhaps you would understand.  Hippies weren't selfish.  All they wanted to do was get stoned, listen to records and look for hidden meanings, and get laid.  They were as counter-revolutionary as can be.  There were others, more politically-minded, who were the vanguard of the movement.

The values shared by these lucid individuals did not die at the end of the 60s, as you indicated.  Rather, they served as a foundation for change which would come later.  And change which is still evolving.

Andrés, it's taken almost 45 years but you've come up with a political interpretation of Hey Jude which can be added to the others cited by Kevin in his opening post.

The Beatles continue to intrigue!