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.