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Hey Jude

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Musical Recordings and
compositions

                        "Hey Jude"
   "Hey Jude" cover
                  Single by The Beatles
   Released    August 26, 1968
   Format      7"
   Recorded    1968
   Genre       Pop
   Length      7:11
   Label       Apple Records / EMI (UK)
               Apple Records (U.S.)
   Producer(s) George Martin
                     Chart positions
     * #1 (UK) (2 weeks)
     * #1 (U.S.) (9 weeks)
     * #1 (Canada)
     * #1 (Germany)

              The Beatles singles chronology
               "Hey Jude"
               (1968)    " Get Back"/" Don't Let Me Down
                         (1969)

   "Hey Jude" is a ballad recorded by The Beatles at Trident Studios. It
   was written by Paul McCartney but credited to Lennon-McCartney and
   originally written for the The Beatles album (also known unofficially
   as The White Album), but was released instead as a single. Despite the
   song's length at seven minutes, eleven seconds, it lasted two weeks as
   number one in the British charts. Due to concerns among American radio
   stations about the length, a shortened version was also released, which
   spent nine weeks as number one in the United States — the longest spell
   at the top of the American charts a Beatles single ever made. Although
   it has often been claimed that "Hey Jude" was The Beatles' best-selling
   single, in reality, that record is held by "I Want to Hold Your Hand".

   The song, originally titled "Hey Jules", was written by McCartney to
   comfort John Lennon's son Julian when John Lennon and his first wife,
   Cynthia Powell, were divorced. The song and its single release have
   made many "Best of..." lists compiled by magazines such as Rolling
   Stone and other media outlets.

Sympathy of a friend

   In 1968, Lennon was living with Yoko Ono, and on the verge of divorcing
   Powell. McCartney was profoundly affected, and decided to cheer up
   Lennon's son, Julian, by writing a little song for him while he was on
   his way to see him at Powell's home. McCartney said later, "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 divorce... I had the idea by the time I got there."

   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 his 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."

   Julian Lennon only discovered the song had been written for him almost
   twenty years later; however, he did remember 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."

   McCartney was dissatisfied with the original song draft, particularly
   with the line "The movement you need is on your shoulder", thinking it
   sounded like he was talking about a parrot. However, Lennon was
   strongly opposed to the idea of drastically altering the song,
   especially the aforementioned line, considering it "marvellously
   avant-garde". McCartney recalled in 1974: "I remember I played it to
   John and Yoko, and I was saying, 'These words won't be on the finished
   version.' Some of the words were: 'The movement you need is on your
   shoulder,' and John was saying, 'It's great!' I'm saying, 'It's crazy,
   it doesn't make any sense at all.' He's saying, 'Sure it does, it's
   great.'"

   McCartney eventually came to the conclusion that Jude was a much easier
   name to sing than Jules, and modified the song accordingly.

   Although McCartney originally wrote the song for Julian Lennon, John
   Lennon thought it had been actually written for him: "...I always heard
   it as a song to me. Now I'm sounding like one of those fans reading
   things into it... Think about it: Yoko had just come into the picture.
   He is saying. 'Hey, Jude' — 'Hey, John.' Subconsciously, he was saying,
   'Go ahead, leave me.' On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go
   ahead." Others have speculated that as McCartney was about to leave
   Jane Asher for Linda Eastman when he wrote "Hey Jude", the song was a
   subconscious "message to himself".

   Much as he did with " Yesterday", McCartney played the song to anyone
   he met. A member of Badfinger, the first band to join The Beatles-owned
   record label Apple Records, recalled that on their first day, "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."

Working in the studio

   The Beatles, excited by the song, insisted on recording as flawless a
   rendition of "Hey Jude" as possible. They tried as many as twenty-five
   takes at the Abbey Road Studios on July 29 and July 30, 1968, but
   eventually decided that they needed an orchestra for the recording.
   Upon hearing of the availability of an eight-track recording machine at
   Trident Studios, they decamped there on July 31, as the Abbey Road
   machine was still undergoing testing. They proceeded to try several
   different versions, but eventually settled on their very first take at
   Trident.

   This decision was surprising, as the drumming came in much later than
   expected. It turned out that Ringo Starr, The Beatles' drummer, had
   left for a toilet break, and not noticing his absence, the other
   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."

   On August 1, George Martin arranged for the 36-piece orchestral
   accompaniment that would later be edited into the recording. The
   Beatles asked the orchestra members if they would mind clapping their
   hands and singing along to the refrain in the song's coda. Most
   complied, but one obstinately replied, "I'm not going to clap my hands
   and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!" and stormed out of the studio.

   Other arguments had also emerged over the course of the song's
   recording. George Harrison had wanted to do a guitar riff for the song,
   but McCartney refused to allow it. McCartney later said, "I remember on
   'Hey Jude' telling George not to play guitar. He wanted to do echo
   riffs after the vocal phrases, which I didn't think was appropriate. He
   didn't see it like that, and it was a bit of a number for me to have to
   'dare' to tell George Harrison — who's one of the greats — not to play.
   It was like an insult. But that's how we did a lot of our stuff."

   It later emerged that John Lennon had shouted "fucking 'ell!" 2:58 into
   the song after playing the wrong chord on the song's initial take.
   Sound engineer Ken Scott later said, "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'."

Instant classic

   "Hey Jude" had originally been made for The Beatles' self-titled The
   Beatles, which was released in the same year as the single. However,
   the idea of releasing the song on the album was abandoned, and "Hey
   Jude" was never released on an original album by The Beatles. Instead,
   it was decided to pair "Hey Jude" on the A-side with " Revolution" on
   the B-side of a 7" single. "Revolution" had originally been written by
   John Lennon as the A-side of a single he had planned to release as a
   statement about the Vietnam War (manager Brian Epstein had insisted
   that they avoid mentioning it), but, by the time he had polished the
   song sufficiently, McCartney had finished "Hey Jude", which the other
   Beatles felt was more deserving of the single's top billing. Lennon
   said: "We were getting real tense with each other. I did the slow
   version and I wanted it out as a single: as a statement of The Beatles'
   position on Vietnam and The Beatles' position on revolution."

   The single came out in the U.S. on August 26, 1968 on the Apple Records
   label, entering the charts on September 14, where the song would stay
   for the next nineteen weeks. Two weeks later, "Hey Jude" was propelled
   to number one in the charts, and held on to that position for the
   following nine weeks, in the process setting the U.S. record for the
   longest time spent by a Beatles single at number one, as well as being
   the longest-playing single to reach number one. As mentioned earlier,
   however, American radio stations were averse to playing anything longer
   than the regulation three to three-and-a-half minutes, and Capitol
   Records pressed a shortened version specially for airplay.

   Due to 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. 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 just the day before it entered the U.S. charts, but took
   almost 30 years to be certified platinum, on February 17, 1999.

   Meanwhile, "Hey Jude" came out in the United Kingdom four days after
   the American release, on August 30. It 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. The
   single began its sixteen-week chart run on September 7, claiming the
   top spot a week later. It only lasted two weeks, before being knocked
   off by another single from Apple, this time Mary Hopkin's " Those Were
   the Days". However, to this day, "Hey Jude" remains The Beatles' most
   commercially successful song, fending off stiff competition from songs
   such as " Let It Be" and " Yesterday", both of which were 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.

   The Beatles hired Michael Lindsey-Hogg, who had previously directed
   their "Paperback Writer" promotional video, to shoot the "Hey Jude"
   promotional video. 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". The
   video was broadcast also in the States on the "The Smothers Brothers
   Comedy Hour".

   It has often been claimed that "Hey Jude" is The Beatles' best-selling
   single. However, the title-holder is actually "I Want to Hold Your
   Hand", The Beatles single that led the " British Invasion" of America.

Awards, acclaim and cover versions

   "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. However, 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.

   In 2001, "Hey Jude" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording
   Arts and Sciences Grammy Hall of Fame. The song was ranked as the
   eighth best song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, and came in
   third in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Singles. Broadcast Music Incorporated
   also places "Hey Jude" as the 11th-best jukebox single of all time.

   In addition to acclaim from music industry media, "Hey Jude" has also
   been covered by several artists. The most commercially successful cover
   version was by Wilson Pickett, whose rendition featured the Allman
   Brothers' guitarist, Duane Allman, as a session player. Elvis Presley,
   Maynard Ferguson, and the Grateful Dead also produced cover versions.
   Metallica also recorded a short parody consisting of the lines of "Hey
   junkie Jude, don't shoot up again, or you'll get AIDS" during a
   recording session for their album Load which later surfaced on bootlegs
   and as part of a box set released to fan club members of these sessions
   entitled "FanCan". After playing this, lead singer and rhythm guitar
   player James Hetfield remarked that this would be a particularly
   relevant and topical cover to record. . The song has also been covered
   by reggae band,Toots & the Maytals for the "Here Comes the Sun: A
   Reggae Tribute to the Beatles (Reggae Rocks Series)" album.

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." 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 April 30, 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 were
   originally sent to Christie's for auction by Frenchman Florrent
   Tessier, who 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."

Lyrics and melody

   The first half of the song is written in a traditional two-bridge
   manner. McCartney alternates the bridges, using "Let her into your
   heart" followed by "Let her under your skin". At one point McCartney
   sings a duet with himself, something which comes to prominence in the
   latter half of the song, comprising a single musical phrase repeated 18
   times. McCartney sings a wordless melody culminating at the end of each
   cycle with the song's title. Midway through the song's finale the
   orchestra's brass section counterpoints the vocal melody, whilst the
   string section joins slightly later, almost inaudible, holding a single
   note until the song fades.

   The melody elaborated in the verses has several arches, and
   incorporates high and low points in a way that conceals the
   composition's subtlety behind a veneer of singalong simplicity
   reminiscent of hymns or nursery rhymes. The bridge is based around a
   characteristically "Beatlesy" descending chord sequence, whilst the
   melody for the second half's refrain is an unbalanced arch somewhat
   biased toward the upper end. The first half uses the common chords of
   I, II, IV, and V, but the latter half instead opts for the double
   plagal cadence.

   The song starts to fade out mid-way through the latter section, the
   fade lasting over two minutes. One reviewer described it as "an
   astonishingly transcendental effect," while another stated "[w]hat
   could have very easily been boring is instead hypnotic".
   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
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
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