Hey Jude

Paul McCartney had been dominating the A-sides of most Beatles singles since 1966, but John Lennon had high hopes when the group recorded the fast version of his song Revolution in the summer of 1968.  He figured there was simply no way that the others could deny his screaming rocker as the logical choice for the next A-side...until Paul played him his latest composition.  Not only did the usually-combative Lennon yield the prime position to his partner's song, in interviews he always spoke of Hey Jude with nothing but the highest regard as being one of McCartney's greatest achievements.

Paul famously got the idea for the song while driving over to visit Cynthia Lennon, as encouragement to young Julian whose parents were going through a bitter divorce.  The genius of the lyric is that it is universal in its appeal, so much so that John thought the words were addressed to him, urging him to go out and get Yoko.  Once Paul changed Jules to Jude, because he thought it sounded better, the original inspiration for the song was effectively masked.

The Beatles spent two full sessions merely rehearsing the song with the tape rolling on June 29th and 30th at Abbey Road Studios.  Actual recording did not begin until June 31st at a new studio in London called Trident, which the group was eager to work at because it had eight-track capabilities.  With Paul on piano, George on electric guitar, John on acoustic guitar and Ringo on his drum kit, they only recorded four takes after so much rehearsal the previous two days.  As it turned out, take one was the best.

On August 1st, still at Trident, Paul overdubbed his bass part and added his superb lead vocal, with an absolutely inspired performance during the coda.  John provided a skillful harmony vocal in places, and he and George sang backing vocals.  Even Ringo joined in for the "Na na na" chorus.  A thirty-six member orchestra then reported to the studio and played one of producer George Martin's simplest arrangements.  They, too, were then recorded joining in vocally for the extended chorus.

The Trident tape proved problematic when mixing began back at Abbey Road, but with the assistance of Geoff Emerick, who had recently quit working with the group due to increasing tensions, engineer Ken Scott salvaged the two days of work.  Still, there is no denying that this record sounds quite unlike any other in the band's catalog, especially in the early part of the song.

On September 4th, the group reported to Twickenham Film Studios to make promotional clips for Hey Jude and Revolution.  This happened to be Ringo's first day back at work, as he, too, had quit the band in the interim.  Two very similar variations for Hey Jude featured David Frost introducing the group before they mime to the record, though Paul sings a new live vocal, in front of an orchestra and surrounded by a huge gathering of fans, who join in the chorus.  Both versions of this film, directed by Michael Lindsey-Hogg, can be viewed on 1+.

Aside from being one of the group's most successful singles (and that is saying quite a lot), Hey Jude also served as the title track of a 1970 American compilation album.  It naturally was included on the 1973 Blue Album.  While it is featured on both the 1982 UK and US albums 20 Greatest Hits, the US version is notorious for being clipped short at around the five-minute mark to help preserve the fidelity of the vinyl record.  Anthology 3 gives us the opportunity to hear one of the early rehearsals from June 29th, 1968.  Other appearances of the song include Past Masters Volume Two in 1988 and the worldwide smash album 1 in 2000.

Hey Bulldog

Following the wishes of the Beatles, manager Brian Epstein had made sure in early 1967 that their participation in the animated film Yellow Submarine would be minimal.  All that was required of the group was to give the producers four new songs to debut with the feature.  By the start of 1968, the film was nearing completion, yet only three original songs had been delivered for inclusion in the story.  Meanwhile, the Beatles were so happy with what they had seen of the film that they agreed to shoot a live action sequence for the end of the movie in January, even miming to McCartney's number All Together Now.

On February 11th, 1968, an opportunity presented itself to add a fourth song into the mix, late though it was.  The Beatles happened to be in the studio to shoot a promotional clip for their latest single Lady Madonna.  Rather than pretend to be playing that song, they chose to actually make a recording while being filmed.  And, for the occasion, Lennon had this fun little piano-based rocker which would end up serving both purposes.

It took ten takes to get the best backing track, with John on piano, George on guitar, Ringo on drums and Paul shaking two tambourines.  Moving on to overdubs, Paul played a bass line, George added a stinging electric guitar solo and Ringo played an additional drum part.  The highlight for the film crew featured John and Paul standing at a single microphone to record their vocals, which turned into a free for all during the extended fade out.  It was Paul's barking at this point that lead to the song's title becoming Hey Bulldog.  One final overdub saw John double-tracking his lead vocal in a few places.

Once this film was edited, it looked for all the world as if the group was actually recording Lady Madonna, even though John was seen playing piano instead of Paul.  It easily fooled everyone at the time.  Years later, in 1999, the footage was re-edited and matched back alongside Hey Bulldog to promote the re-release of Yellow Submarine on VHS and DVD.  Both of these promotional clips can be viewed in the collection 1+.

A sequence utilizing the song was added to the film Yellow Submarine, but British fans thought the movie was overlong, prompting the producers to cut the sequence before the film made its American premiere.  It has since been restored in subsequent re-releases of the feature.

As for the song itself, it was a highlight of the 1969 soundtrack album Yellow Submarine.  It was one of the few late-career songs featured on the 1976 compilation Rock and Roll Music.  And, naturally, it is on the 1999 Yellow Submarine Songtrack.  A rare treat is the mono version of the song, available only on The Beatles in Mono box set.

Her Majesty

Ever since I first read of this song's placement at the end of the album Abbey Road in Mark Lewisohn's book The Beatles: Recording Sessions, it has become one of my favorite stories of the group's career.  For such a brief song snippet, the tale surrounding it is rather long and complex.

On July 2nd, 1969, Paul McCartney arrived at the studio first, as was his custom.  He had this little ditty running around in his head and took the opportunity to get it down on tape.  Playing an acoustic guitar, it only required three takes before he was satisfied.  He thought that the song might fit nicely in the long medley that he and producer George Martin were planning, so it was set aside for just that purpose.

By July 30th, every song earmarked for the medley was in some state of production and a rough mix of the proposed running order was assembled for a listening session.  Remarkably, the songs were already laid out in the exact order that we would come to hear them - with one exception.  Her Majesty was placed between two John Lennon compositions, Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam.  Upon hearing it in that position, Paul felt that his quick acoustic number killed the flow, so he told second engineer John Kurlander to cut it out of the tape and throw it away.

Of course, Abbey Road Studios engineers were instructed to never throw anything away.  Kurlander thus stuck about 20 seconds of leader tape onto the front of the song and attached it to the end of the medley so it would not get lost.  The next time Paul heard the medley, he was surprised to hear his song suddenly play after a long silence.  What made it sound even more surprising was the fact that Kurlander's rough edit began with the final crashing chord of Mean Mr. Mustard.  And it cut off before the final chord of Her Majesty, which makes it seem as if it had been done by design, since the other side of the album ends with a hard edit of I Want You (She's So Heavy).

The Beatles were always fond of embracing happy accidents, and this was no exception.  Early pressings of the album did not even list the song on the back cover, making it a surprise for fans, as well.  This unexpected little delight even serves to undercut the grandiose finale, much like George Harrison's decision to put some laughter after his serious number Within You Without You on Sgt. Pepper.

Bootlegs have given fans the chance to hear the song as originally recorded, including the simple final chord, which is buried under the opening of Polythene Pam on the album, and minus the crashing chord left over from Mean Mr. Mustard.